{"id":657513,"date":"2026-10-26T11:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T11:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/657513\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T11:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T11:34:10","slug":"would-israels-opposition-change-its-policy-toward-turkiye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/657513\/","title":{"rendered":"Would Israel\u2019s opposition change its policy toward T\u00fcrkiye?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot\u2019s centrist Yashar party leads the latest polls<\/a> ahead of Tuesday election, although the opposition has yet to secure a governing majority.<\/p>\n

A possible coalition would include Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid\u2019s right-centre alliance, Avigdor Liberman\u2019s secular nationalist Yisrael Beytenu, historically supported by Russian-speaking Israelis, and Yair Golan\u2019s center-left Democrats.<\/p>\n

Bennett and Liberman previously served under Netanyahu, while Bennett and Lapid later led the government that restored ambassadorial relations<\/a> with T\u00fcrkiye in 2022. Their common security concerns would limit changes in policy, although their different approaches to diplomacy could still matter.<\/p>\n

Would the opposition approach Syria differently?<\/p>\n

Eisenkot has taken one of the opposition\u2019s most demanding positions. Earlier this month<\/a>, he conditioned a stronger Israeli-Syrian security arrangement on the withdrawal of all Turkish and Russian forces, while leaving Israel\u2019s withdrawal from strategic positions open to negotiation. Ankara has little incentive to accept such conditions on its military relationship with Damascus.<\/p>\n

At Bennett and Lapid\u2019s party gathering in August<\/a>, Lapid defended an Israeli strike on a Syrian airfield over suspected Turkish deployment plans, while calling for mechanisms to prevent confrontation.<\/p>\n

Golan, a former deputy military chief, opposed the strike<\/a> because of its risks for relations with Ankara and Washington.<\/p>\n

Although Eisenkot seeks a far-reaching reduction in T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s military presence, Lapid envisages negotiated restraints and Golan questions the risks of military intervention, reflecting differences over methods among politicians who share significant Israeli security concerns.<\/p>\n

Israel and T\u00fcrkiye already began military deconfliction talks<\/a> under Netanyahu. A different government could strengthen these channels while continuing to object to certain Turkish military capabilities. Its coalition partners would have to determine whether such arrangements could satisfy Israel\u2019s security demands without requiring the wholesale Turkish withdrawal advocated by Eisenkot.<\/p>\n

\"Gadi
\n <\/p>\n

\n Gadi Eisenkot, Israel’s former military chief of staff and leader of the Yashar party, arrives for the party’s final campaign rally before the legislative election, in Tel Aviv on October 25, 2026. (AFP photo)\n <\/p>\n

Would Eastern Mediterranean become less confrontational?<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s established defense relationship with Greece and Greek Cyprus would likely survive any change of government. The latest \u20ac3 billion ($3.36 billion) air-defense contract<\/a> adds long-term industrial commitments.<\/p>\n

Opposition figures have also supported those partnerships in office. Bennett endorsed closer military cooperation in a 2021 trilateral declaration<\/a>, while Lapid assured Greece\u2019s prime minister<\/a> the following year that rapprochement with T\u00fcrkiye would not come at Greece\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Liberman has taken a more conditional approach. During a 2016 Knesset debate<\/a>, he argued that any reconciliation with T\u00fcrkiye had to be assessed against its effects on Israel\u2019s relations with Egypt, Greece and Greek Cyprus. While Lapid demonstrated a willingness to pursue these relationships simultaneously, Liberman regarded the interests of Israel\u2019s existing partners as an important constraint on rapprochement with Ankara.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s approval of the Turkish-Libyan maritime agreement<\/a> by eastern Libya\u2019s parliament brings these differences into focus. Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry joined Greece and Egypt in opposing the decision<\/a>, although Israel has no direct maritime boundary at stake. The dispute primarily concerns Greek and Egyptian maritime claims, giving a successor government room to calibrate its response while preserving its existing partnerships.<\/p>\n

Commercial interests also cross diplomatic divisions. Chevron, the operator of Israel\u2019s Leviathan field<\/a>, signed an exploration cooperation memorandum with T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s TPAO<\/a> and separately secured a Libyan exploration-block award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such overlapping interests give governments practical reasons to avoid treating every maritime dispute as a test of political alignment.<\/p>\n

\"A
\n <\/p>\n

\n A bus bearing a campaign poster featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside US President Donald Trump drives through Jerusalem on October 26, 2026. (AFP photo)\n <\/p>\n

Where would coalition partners agree and disagree?<\/p>\n

Gaza offers the clearest consensus. Bennett has promised to exclude<\/a> T\u00fcrkiye and Qatar from postwar security arrangements and bring Egypt in instead. Eisenkot has criticized their inclusion<\/a> and favors an Egyptian-trained multinational stabilisation force<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His senior ally, former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen<\/a>, prefers the Palestinian Authority to Ankara or Doha. Liberman rejects a Turkish presence<\/a>, while Golan has also opposed a Turkish-Qatari role in Gaza<\/a>, advocating greater involvement by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Turkish military participation would face broad opposition, although mediation and civilian reconstruction could be treated differently.<\/p>\n

Differences over Palestinian governance are deeper. Liberman wants the Palestinian Authority dismantled<\/a>, whereas Golan favours political arrangements and opposes annexation. Eisenkot rejects Palestinian statehood under present conditions but criticises settler violence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such divisions would constrain any common offer to Ankara on the issue most responsible for the deterioration in bilateral relations.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s approach also reflects his dependence on far-right coalition partners Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose opposition to ceasefires<\/a> has narrowed his political room for compromise. A coalition excluding them could find restraint easier, although security priorities would endure. Bennett and Liberman themselves opposed Netanyahu\u2019s 2016 reconciliation agreement<\/a> with T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n

Could regional pressures change the calculation?<\/p>\n

A June 2026 Mitvim poll<\/a> found that 54% of Israelis favored improving relations with T\u00fcrkiye through diplomacy, with most preferring security understandings to broader normalization. Pew polling<\/a> found 60% of Americans viewed Israel unfavorably, while Chicago Council research<\/a> showed a majority favored reducing or ending U.S. military assistance. These trends could increase the diplomatic costs of repeated confrontations for a country dependent on American support.<\/p>\n

The Iran war has introduced regional constraints of its own. Iranian attacks reached all six Gulf Cooperation Council states<\/a>, exposing economic infrastructure to the costs of escalation. Saudi Arabia continues to condition normalisation<\/a> with Israel on progress toward Palestinian statehood, while its defence agreement with T\u00fcrkiye and Pakistan<\/a> reflects a search for additional security partnerships. The resulting relationships complicate attempts to divide the region into competing blocs.<\/p>\n

A renewed U.S.-Iran escalation could make caution toward T\u00fcrkiye more valuable. Trump has ruled out attacks before the Nov. 3 midterms<\/a>, while leaving heavier strikes afterward<\/a> possible. An Israeli government anticipating another confrontation with Iran would have good reason to avoid creating additional military disputes with a regional power.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s policies also respond to geopolitical changes that extend beyond Netanyahu and his coalition. The new balance of power in Syria, T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s increased influence in Damascus and Washington\u2019s reduced military role in Iraq<\/a> are reshaping Israeli security calculations across party lines.<\/p>\n

A different government might nevertheless seek to reverse some of Israel\u2019s diplomatic isolation by pursuing more workable arrangements with Ankara. That would require reconciling the coalition\u2019s shared security demands with the costs of enforcing them, particularly if another war with Iran becomes the immediate priority.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

October 26, 2026 01:18 PM GMT+03:00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot\u2019s centrist Yashar party leads the latest polls ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-657513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}