Israel and the Target Bank

Author: Dr. Hazem Qashou’

As soon as Israel completed its check on the Iranian tide by toppling the Syrian regime, eliminating Hezbollah leaders and freezing resistance activity in Iraq, it turned on another geopolitical rival in the region — a bloc that includes Turkey, the Islamist movement and Qatar. This current has institutional links into NATO through Turkey and significant intelligence ties to the United States via Qatar’s Al Udeid base, alongside parallel influence within the Russian eastern bloc. It also enjoys popular support across the Islamic world and has the widely influential Al Jazeera channel.

That makes this bloc a far deeper geopolitical challenge than Iran was, especially after Iran declared its shift toward the eastern camp at the recent Shanghai conference. That shift prompted Israel to begin another declared campaign, manifested in aggression toward Qatar and toward negotiations hosted on Qatari soil, as well as pressure on the Islamist movement and Turkey — the state Netanyahu regards as a necessary target to neutralize in order to control the region’s geographic space.

Netanyahu is thus entering another central battle expected to be fiercer than before, particularly as it will directly confront Qatar, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood, after Netanyahu deepened his engagement with CENTCOM following a decision by President Trump during his first term. Israel is expected to be central to this effort in his second term, drawing the United States into a new war whose targets this time are Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. This will require a campaign to neutralize the Brotherhood — a fierce fight given the Brotherhood’s active presence in 86 countries — as well as moves to control Qatari gas and to rehabilitate Al Jazeera. It would also aim to remove Turkey from Syria and Libya, to distance Turkey from its constituency in Turkic Asia, and to return Turkey to a narrower political geography without regional expansion or projection.

Perhaps the assassination of Yemeni political activist and Donald Trump associate Charlie Kirk — which some analysts attribute to Israel’s Mossad — fits into this dynamic. His fatal shot to the neck in Illinois, and the earlier attempt on Trump’s life when a bullet reached his ear, are being interpreted as signals intended to bring Trump and Netanyahu back together to continue Netanyahu’s campaign against Turkish influence, according to observers.

Accordingly, if Netanyahu secures permission from President Trump to continue his campaign for a greater Israel, Israeli minister Dermer, aided by adviser Kushner and U.S. official Rubio, will have succeeded in bolstering Netanyahu’s expansionist project in the region. That project is expected to spark a major popular, military and security confrontation in which no one will be spared — especially since Turkish minister Hakan, a former intelligence officer, reportedly succeeded with Qatari intelligence in moving Hamas leadership and central Brotherhood figures out of reach of Israeli strikes on Qatar.

An American administration that allows Netanyahu to pursue this campaign would be setting the stage for a large-scale war that would spare no one, including the U.S. homeland, despite the defensive measures the Trump administration has taken — including mobilizing the National Guard in key states such as California, Florida, Texas and Illinois, where Kirk, a prominent figure in Trump’s campaign and founder of the Turning Point USA movement with a million members, was killed.

As the Arab system and its Islamic constituency prepare to convene in Doha to halt Israeli overreach in the region and to mount a diplomatic campaign in New York under the banner of a Palestinian state, it is important they adopt an actionable program that goes beyond condemnations with no enforcers and beyond expressions of outrage that no law can implement. They need deterrent, operational measures to protect the region’s system and its states now that the fire has reached everyone. Will the nation rise to defend its presence at this historic moment? The coming days of September will answer that.