Turkey’s rise increases risk of confrontation with Israel, former national security chief warns

Meir Ben Shabbat: Israel should continue striving for peace agreements, but not at the cost of relinquishing security assets or relying on agreements that could ultimately prove reversible.

We must not give up the aspiration for peace but we must not allow it to make us lose our judgment.

I do not know how to read innermost thoughts and intentions, but as someone who came from the heart of the jihadist darkness, sat in prison with the most extreme jihadist leaders, fought in its ranks for years while yearning for the realization of the vision of the Islamic State, and reached where he is on the shoulders of a jihadist base, with [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s encouragement and support, one should not be impressed by the change in his outward appearance and under no circumstances assume that he has abandoned his path.

Published in The Jerusalem Post, 11 August, 2026.

*The opinions expressed in Misgav publications are the authors’ alone.