Turkey’s Erdogan aligns with Iran against Israel’s ‘attacks’

by Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner,

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for pan-Islamic solidarity “against Israel’s increasing inhumane attacks in Palestine” in a phone call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

“The call addressed the Turkiye-Iran relations and regional developments, including the Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque,” a Turkish presidential office announced. “President [Erdogan] highlighted the importance of the unity of the Islamic world against Israel’s increasing inhumane attacks in Palestine, especially on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Israel bombed Hamas outposts in Lebanon on Thursday night in retaliation for a rocket barrage that Israeli officials attributed to the terrorist organization. That exchange unfolded in the context of Israeli police raids at the mosque, which Israeli officials justified as a necessity to clear “rioters and mosque desecrators [who] barricaded themselves” in the mosque — a dramatic clash that Iran insisted would hasten the demise of the Jewish state.

“The Zionists are bewildered by the wave of convergence in the Islamic world as well as the outlook of the internal collapse of the regime,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Friday.

The tensions soared in Jerusalem amid the overlapping Islamic season of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover, two festivals that center on the same prized locale, as al Aqsa’s placement on Temple Mount makes it a holy site for Muslims and Jews. The latest exchange of Hamas rockets and Israeli missiles pales in comparison to the 11-day clash between Israel and Hamas in 2021, but the targeting of Hamas positions in Lebanon raised anxiety about the potential eruption of a war between Israel and Hezbollah — the main Iranian proxy in Lebanon, and a far more dangerous foe for Israel than Hamas, although both enjoy Iranian support.

“The strength of the Palestinian groups has increased,” Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boasted this week on Twitter. “We can’t say by several times. Rather, their strength has increased by tens of times compared to the past. We’ve received a report showing that the Palestinians carried out 27 operations in the Occupied Lands in 24 hours.”

Yet the Iranian government is not alone among Israel’s neighbors in maintaining ties with Hamas. Erdogan has praised Hamas as “a resistance movement that defends the Palestinian homeland against an occupying power” and hosted public meetings with some Hamas leaders in Turkey.

“Turkey is undeniably responsible — at least in part — for the infrastructure that Hamas is wielding in Lebanon,” Foundation for Defense of Democracy senior vice president Jonathan Schanzer told the Washington Examiner. “Turkey’s patronage of Hamas continues.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hewed to that line in a call with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, according to Turkish media.

“Cavusoglu told Eli Cohen that it was also unacceptable that Israeli security forces use violence against Palestinians worshipping during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,” the Daily Sabah summarized. “He also emphasized that Israeli forces have no excuse to resort to violence and that these acts, including airstrikes, should not repeat.”

Still, Erdogan signaled a desire to contain the crisis following his call with Raisi. “Underlining that common sense should prevail in order to prevent a new spiral of violence, President [Erdogan] stated that it would be beneficial to take initiatives to steer all parties to common sense,” his office said.

Erdogan has attempted to improve relations with Israel and some Arab states in recent months but is locked also in a difficult reelection campaign that could turn on his courting of “smaller, fringe Islamist parties in upcoming elections,” as Bloomberg put it.

“Perhaps he’s expecting this rhetoric to give him a boost of sorts among his Islamist base,” Schanzer surmised.