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Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-price-israel-paid-to-save-the-hostages/
Turkey Seeks to Build a Proxy Threat around Israel
(Israel Hayom) Nadav Shragai - Turkish President Erdogan played a decisive role in securing the release of hostages by applying heavy pressure on his protege, Hamas. We found ourselves in a situation in which, to save hostages, there was no choice but to do business with the devil. But now the moment has come to understand that this is indeed the devil. Gen. Adnan Tanriverdi, one of Erdogan's trusted confidants, wrote a manifesto titled "How to Conquer Jerusalem in Ten Days," calling on Muslim countries to cooperate to provide Palestinians with "bases on their territory from which they can show military force against Israel, and, using Islamic geography, create a maritime corridor to Gaza and an air corridor to Ramallah." Turkey seeks to build a proxy threat around us similar to the Iranian proxy ring. It is already militarily present in Libya and Syria. It established a drone base in Cyprus. It is trying to extend influence into Egypt, and now it is present in Gaza in the form of 13 aid organizations. For many years Turkey has been an economic and military home for Hamas. The very thought of giving any role in Gaza to a country that still hosts Hamas headquarters on its soil, where they continue to plan attacks against us, is a severe moral distortion. Erdogan for years has aspired to revive the Ottoman empire's days of glory and sees himself as Islam's appointed guardian of Jerusalem. He has said, "Every day that Jerusalem remains under occupation is an insult....We were the lords of the region for a thousand years, and we will remain so until the end of days.... Jerusalem is our city." Today, Turkey is a center of anti-Jewish hostility and hatred against Israel. Effigies of Netanyahu are "executed" by hanging, and Israeli flags are trampled in the streets. Erdogan frequently compares us to Hitler and repeatedly accuses Israel of genocide.