Ex-Israeli defense minister accuses Netanyahu of stoking tensions with Türkiye

Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on Thursday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ordering a strike on a northern Syrian airport to deliberately inflame tensions with Türkiye, part of a broader strategy to keep military fronts open and evade accountability for the Oct. 7 security failures.

Social media accusations

In a post on the social media platform X, Yaalon stated that the attack had drawn condemnation from Washington and accused the premier of maintaining multiple war fronts to obstruct a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas-led assault. He charged that Netanyahu viewed the Oct. 7 attack through the lens of "messianists" who considered it a "miracle" enabling a "Gog and Magog war" to conquer the "Promised Land" from the Euphrates to the "Brook of Egypt."

US pressure and regional fronts

Yaalon claimed US President Donald Trump had imposed a "Board of Peace" — including Türkiye and Qatar — and a "15-point document" on Netanyahu regarding the Gaza Strip. He described the document as "bad for Israel." On Lebanon, Yaalon noted that Trump was pressing for an arrangement that "could be good for Israel," but that Netanyahu was evading the deal. Regarding Iran, Yaalon described Netanyahu's attempt to change the government in Tehran as a "farce" that had produced a crisis with the White House.

West Bank and Al-Aqsa warnings

The former defense minister further accused Netanyahu of empowering "pogromists" in the occupied West Bank to inflame tensions, disregarding what he termed a "red card" from US Ambassador Mike Huckabee. Yaalon warned that the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem offered Netanyahu the best opportunity to ignite another war, urging opposition leaders to unite to remove the premier from power and "prevent destruction."