Comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the Middle East, and his visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have raised concern in Israel. The visits resulted in comprehensive agreements on regional cooperation, especially in the fields of defense and security, which Hebrew media described as a “siege” of Tel Aviv in the region.
Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia and then Egypt this week as part of a series of diplomatic contacts. During the two visits, he signed cooperation agreements covering a wide range of fields, from economy to defense.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said these contacts, which enhance Turkey’s influence in the Arab world, will put the Tel Aviv government in an awkward position, as reported by Turkish newspapers including Hurriyet and Milliyet
Yedioth Ahronoth’s report said Erdogan’s visit, and the resulting strengthening of his relations with Arab countries may weaken Israel’s political position in the region. It stressed that the partnership between Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia “isolates Israel,” and that Tel Aviv should “be concerned about this situation.”
Analyses in the Hebrew report said Ankara is deepening its relations with Cairo and Riyadh at a time when the normalization process with Israel is receding.
Israeli experts told Yedioth Ahronoth that the political and military cooperation options Turkey offers “have become attractive to countries in the region.”
They considered Erdogan’s visit to Saudi Arabia a new stage in relations between the two countries. The joint Saudi-Turkish statement issued at the end of the visit, which was lengthy and detailed, included provisions on economic cooperation, as well as shared approaches to regional and global crises.
The statement addressed regional and global issues comprehensively, announcing agreement to support the legitimate government in Yemen, to condemn Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, and to activate defense cooperation agreements.
Erdogan also signed many agreements and memorandums of understanding during his visit to Egypt. A statement issued by the Egyptian presidency said the meeting of the bilateral Strategic Cooperation Council had 40 items on its agenda, including condemnation of Israel’s activities in Syria and Lebanon.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza was at the top of the priorities of both visits. Saudi Arabia and Turkey officially expressed their deep concern over the deterioration of conditions in the Gaza Strip, the continuing Israeli aggression, and the obstruction of the arrival of humanitarian aid. El-Sisi and Erdogan also stressed, during a joint news conference, the importance of implementing the ceasefire agreement.
The principal researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Dr. Gallia Lindenstrauss, told Yedioth Ahronoth that in recent years Turkey has moved to improve its relations with many countries in the region, a process that began in 2021, but “with Egypt it was the hardest.”
The rupture between Egypt and Turkey lasted a decade. The slow thaw began when Ankara toned down hostile media coverage of Cairo and curbed some Muslim Brotherhood‑linked media programs, then moved through exchanges of positive statements, culminating in the key turning point: a handshake between the Egyptian and Turkish presidents in Qatar on the sidelines of the World Cup opening in November 2022.
Lindenstrauss pointed out that the Gaza issue is of special importance to Egypt, stressing that Cairo views the possibility of forced displacement from Gaza, which US President Donald Trump previously sought, as a threat to national security. She said, “The fact that a joint military exercise between Egypt and Turkey took place last September for the first time in 13 years points to something new, and it cannot be understood without Gaza. This is a significant element.”
She claimed the current rapprochement “could have serious consequences for Israel,” adding that the interests of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt “have not converged this much for a long time,” and that this convergence is “against the policies of the United Arab Emirates and Israel in the region.”
Analysts consider Cairo’s emphasis on the “convergence” of its positions with Riyadh on escalating crises in Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, and the Gaza Strip to have been more than a diplomatic expression.
They see it as a clear declaration that Egypt is siding with Saudi Arabia’s recent moves aimed at reducing Emirati influence in a number of regional arenas, and confronting plans to fragment the countries of the region that Abu Dhabi seeks to implement in a way that serves Israel’s project in the region.
Lindenstrauss also touched on additional points that form the background to Erdogan’s recent visits to Saudi Arabia and Egypt: “The war against Iran was perceived by all of these countries as dangerous Israeli power, and therefore there is a desire here to restrain Israel. There is also the issue of Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, which both Saudi Arabia and Egypt are unhappy with, each in its own way. The most dissatisfied is Turkey, but Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well.”
Defending the Red Sea and preserving the unity of Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Libya is a single, interconnected battle that cannot be separated into isolated files, according to journalist Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez. In an article titled “Red Sea fault lines: Can Cairo-Riyadh counterbalance the Zionist-Emirati alliance?”, published by Al Manassa last month, Abdel Hafeez argues that Cairo and Riyadh should spearhead an Arab-Islamic front to confront these threats before the new Zionism ignites the region with disastrous consequences.
