Israel will not tolerate threats to its security
Peloni: Avi Abelow provides an important context to the Israeli strike on Syria to prevent Turkish expansion southwards towards Israel. Israel established a Red Line regarding Turkey directly expanding and incorporating Syria. Unlike the Red Lines established so often by others in the region, Netanyahu acted to demonstrate that there was in fact absolutely NO flexibility on this Red Line. His comment warning Erdogan “Don’t” served to make this point even more clear, and not just to Turkey. I am honestly impressed with the strength and earnestness with which Netanyahu responded in Syria, and as Abelow explains below, it gives me great hope for the future, as this is the model by which Israel must respond when its stated Red Lines are tested. Erdogan knew full well what he was doing when he made plans to take over the base in Syria, but what he failed to appreciate is that October 7 changed everything, including how Israel might respond when being challenged on stated Red Lines. The fact that Erdogan felt at ease in crossing that Red Line was in no small part due to the American effort by Amb. Tom Barrak and others to embolden Turkey and its Muslim Brotherhood chieftain Erdogan. So a deconfliction mechanism will now be established to prevent similar challenges in the future. It is concerning that such a mechanism was not already considered a necessity by Washington given the raising rhetorical threats coming from Turkey and increasing in tone and significance even in recent weeks. I only hope that when the deconfliction mechanism is soon to be tested that someone more impartial to the advancement of Turkey in the region answers the phone in Washington or things could quickly spiral out of control.
Avi Abelow
Ambassador Tom Barrack and President Recep Erdogan. Image via AI
Israel just did something in Syria that represents one of the most positive and important changes in Israeli national-security policy since October 7.
![Map of Strait of Hormuz. Image by Pascal - This image is a derivative work of [1]http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/hormuz_80.jpg from [2] http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east.html, which was created by the w:Central Intelligence Agency in 1980 and hence is PD-US-Gov, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79202](https://www.israpundit.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/500px-Strait_of_Hormuz-300x184.jpg)










