Relations between Israel and Turkey have worsened not only on the diplomatic track that has become fragile and cold in recent years, but has moved to the intelligence corridors, regional alliances, and the struggle for power and influence in the Middle East.

And while Iran and its nuclear project were the Israeli scarecrow through which for a more than a decade the demonization of Tehran in the Middle East and the world, intelligence estimates and secret meetings in the last two years that brought together the head of the Israeli Mossad, Yossi Cohen, with officials from Arab countries were the card to confront the growing Turkish regional influence.

The Israeli diplomatic paper towards Turkey fell about two years ago with secret talks and communications that brought together the Mossad chief with officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, where Mossad chief Cohen said, “Turkey under the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan poses a greater danger than Iran,” according to what he wrote a few days ago, the diplomatic editor For the "Times" Roger Boys.

Iran and Turkey
The head of the Mossad, who is considered the architect of the alliance between Israel and the Emirates and the prime minister's envoy, Benjamin Netanyahu to Gulf, Arab and Islamic countries, added that "the Iranian power is fragile, but the real threat comes from Turkey," and that he sought at this stage to demonize Turkey after he had persisted for years I have to talk to his counterparts in the Gulf that their common enemy is Iran, according to Bweiz.

Israeli media quoted Saudi sources as saying that "the head of the Mossad met in January 2019 with Saudi, Egyptian and Emirati officials to discuss ways to counter Turkey's regional influence in the Middle East, the Gulf and the Maghreb."

According to the sources, this meeting was launched by a secret meeting held in a Gulf capital - it was not named - in which senior intelligence officials from four countries participated, including the head of the Israeli Mossad.

Gulf officials attending the meeting leaked the details and said, "The Israeli Mossad chief stated in that secret meeting that Iran could be contained militarily, but Turkey has a greater capacity and is more dangerous."

Threats and steps
In the meeting, it was reported that the Mossad chief said that "Iranian power is fragile and the real fear and threat comes from Turkey." To address these issues, the meeting's attendees agreed on four steps, but without revealing the nature of these steps to confront and limit Turkish influence.

Cohen is considered the godfather of reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, as he visited Ankara in June 2016 and established the settlement agreement after relations between the two countries worsened after the Israeli navy intercepted the "Mavi Marmara" freedom flotilla in May 2010, which was on its way to Gaza, where the commandos were killed. The Israeli 10 Turkish activists.

Cohen's statements and his position were consistent with the assessment of the intelligence position of the Israeli Military Intelligence Division (AMAN) for the year 2020, as Turkey was included in the list of organizations and countries that threaten Israeli national security.

Erdogan, the Brotherhood,
and Cohen crystallized his position on Ankara because of what he called "security" the penetration of Turkish influence in the Middle East and the Gulf, the conflict over gas and energy, and the attempt to control economic waters in the eastern Mediterranean, which was represented by the agreement to demarcate the economic maritime borders with Tripoli and the Turkish military presence in Libya.

This position of the head of the Mossad and Israeli military intelligence comes as Tel Aviv seeks to maintain diplomatic relations with Ankara, as regional threats and challenges to Israeli national security are reduced to the policies and person of President Erdogan.

This Israeli position against the person of the Turkish president and the policies of his country is due to what it describes as Erdogan's support for the project of political Islam, and the Justice and Development Party's alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab and Islamic worlds, which is the alliance that leaves Israel and considers it the biggest regional threat.

Risks and challenges and
to justify the Israeli vision regarding the dangers and challenges of the growing Turkish influence on Israeli national security and the Middle East, the vice president of the "Jerusalem" Institute for Strategic and Security Studies, Dr. Eran Lerman, wrote an appreciation of a position in which he confirmed that "the agreement with the UAE strengthened the position of Israel and the opposing alliance." To Erdogan. "

Regarding the reason that prevents Israel from confronting Turkey while it carries out attacks on Iran and its arms, the Vice President of the "Jerusalem" Institute believes that "even if the conflicts in the eastern Mediterranean escalate to the point of deteriorating into a military conflict, Israel will not be able to directly participate in the fighting, no Next to Greece or Cyprus, or next to Egypt in Libya. "

Thus, he says, "The Israeli army must now be prepared with the best of its ability for a conflict that could easily lead to a flare-up on the northern front with Iran and its nuclear ambitions, and for all its possible repercussions."

Lerman explained that many Israelis are concerned and raise questions about the repercussions of the agreement with the Emirates regarding Iran and its nuclear project, and the plan to annex parts of the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty.

But the announcement of the agreement at this time, the Israeli researcher says, "has additional significance, as the Emirates, like Greece, are trying to stop the Turkish president's rampage in the Mediterranean, which has recently reached a new level."

Deterioration and strengthening
In an indication of the deepening of the diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey, the impossibility of its return to its previous state, and the possibility of harmony and cooperation in foreign and regional policies between the two countries, the National Security Research Institute of Tel Aviv University excludes the possibility of making any real and positive change in relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv in the near future.

The director of the institute, the reserve general, Amos Yadlin, wonders by assessing a position about whether relations might deteriorate further and the consequences of this deterioration, and what does it mean for Turkey to be a stubborn opponent of Israel, in terms of Israel's preparations in the fields of foreign affairs and security?

These questions remain without definitive and decisive answers, but Yadlin believes that the agreement between Israel and the UAE, under the auspices of US President Donald Trump, is "an important achievement for Israel's national security and a pioneering step in the Middle East."

He believes that this agreement expresses an important strengthening of the moderate and pragmatic camp in the face of Iran and the radical Shiite and Sunni forces in the region, and removes the issue of unilateral annexation from the agenda, thus "expanding the circle of regional peace, and creating better conditions for openness to negotiations and the future Israeli-Palestinian settlement," according to Lyadlin.