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Share The Bismarck Cables

• Before the bombs had stopped falling on Iran, Israel had already begun searching for the next enemy.
• On February 17, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, positioning himself for a comeback in this fall’s elections, stood before the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and declared: “A new Turkish threat is emerging. Turkey is the new Iran.”
• He called Erdogan “sophisticated, dangerous,” accused Ankara of building a hostile Sunni axis with Qatar and nuclear Pakistan, and warned that Israel must act “simultaneously” against threats from Tehran and Ankara.
• Later, he went further: “If they try to surround us, we won’t stay idle. After Iran, Turkey…”
• He left the sentence unfinished.
• But the implication required no completion.
• Prime Minister Netanyahu, never one to leave a useful threat narrative unclaimed, announced plans for a “hexagon of alliances” to counter what he called an “emerging radical Sunni axis.”
• The alliance would supposedly include Israel, India, Greece, and Cyprus, alongside unnamed Arab, African, and Asian states.
• (side note: presumably, and looking at the pattern of Security deals and diplomatic overtures, Morocco and Ethiopia would be there from Arab/African states…)
• He framed it as a complement to the U.S. alliance, a self-sustaining security architecture for the post-Iran Middle East.
• Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant added that Turkey is “no longer a partner on the periphery” but “a central power” best positioned to fill the vacuum Iran leaves behind.
• The narrative machinery is running at full speed.
• Washington think tanks have joined the chorus.
• Michael Rubin of AEI asked whether Ankara in 2036 will resemble Tehran in 2026.
• Bradley Martin urged NATO to reconsider Turkey’s membership in the Wall Street Journal.
• This is an unhinged and dangerous narrative against a core NATO power and an indispensable ally, and if the United States allows itself to be pulled into Israel’s framing, the consequences for NATO, for Ukraine, and for American strategic interests will be severe.