I’ve long said that Israel fears democracy in the Middle East and has long worked to subvert it–from helping the CIA create Iran’s internal intelligence service, the SAVAK, after the coup that brought down Mossadegh’s government, to supporting Egypt’s Mubarak until he was toppled and then being furious with Obama for not supporting him longer. Israel’s chief of military intelligence, by implication, has spelled out why it is against democracy in the Middle East: Haaretz: “On Thursday, [chief of military intelligence] Kochavi, speaking at the opening session of the Herzliya Conference’s closing day, spoke of the growing threats Israel was facing: ‘a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more attune to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence.'”
You see that fear in Turkish democracy. A majority of its citizens support a democratic government that won’t be bullied by Israel’s belligerence. Predictably, some hawkish Israelis refer to Erdogan’s government as “terrorist.” Turkey is only a taste of what’s to come in the new Middle East and it has Israel worried because more and more governments in the region will be “more attune to public sentiment,” which opposes Israel’s ethnic cleansing and ceaseless colonization of the West Bank and stranglehold on the Gaza Strip.
This is not related to my original point but still warrants attention: “The chief of military intelligence then indicated that about 200,000 missiles were aimed at Israel at any given time, adding, however, that ‘Israel’s military deterrence is intact.'”
