Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday attacked critics of the surprise alleged Israeli strike on a Turkish-affiliated airbase in Syria, accusing them of zigzagging while throwing his full support behind the action aimed at blocking Ankara's entrenchment in the region. "They shifted from claims of a political strike to attempts to scare us with Erdogan, luckily they have no influence."
He argued the critics "changed their version" the instant the political echelon laid out the strike's goals. National Public Diplomacy Directorate spokesman Doron Spielman, set to act as "Israel's face to the world" and only two months into the role, released a video Friday that laid out the background to the strike and sounded the alarm over Turkish expansion across the area.
Israeli intelligence showed, according to the disclosure, that Turkish forces stood ready to deploy at the Abu al-Duhur base in northern Syria, under 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Israeli communities. Spielman noted that Netanyahu had stated clearly that Israel would not permit Turkey to push south toward its border, and that once Syria brushed off repeated warnings, Israel had to "deliver the message in a different way."
"They moved to an alternative version," Katz asserted. Even after claims that the strike served political ends, it emerged that "the IDF recommended the strike based on clear intelligence information, and the political echelon carefully weighed and reached the decision."
"At first several commentators and event hosts who cling to the margins of their definition as journalists, and several opposition leaders, said the strike in Syria was superfluous and carried out for political considerations," he continued. Adding: "After it was made clear that the IDF recommended the strike based on clear intelligence information, and the political echelon had carefully weighed and reached the decision, they moved to an alternative version, according to which the statements by the prime minister and the defense minister toward Erdogan and the warnings that we will not allow Turkey to entrench itself in Syria and endanger Israel's security are superfluous and dangerous. One must not anger Erdogan, as if we went out for some evening stroll with a light breeze in the treetops that has nothing to do with anything – and Erdogan is actually some Zionist enthusiast. Luckily they have no influence today on anything, and we very much hope for the sake of Israel's security that they will not reach positions of influence with such positions in the future either."
