Is Turkey as Dangerous as Iran?

The anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel and the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust is time for introspection. Israel’s intelligence service must explain how it failed to detect the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisions and strategy before and after the attack will also come under the microscope. US policy also deserves examination. The Biden administration’s decision to reverse its predecessor’s “maximum pressure” campaign allowed Iran to re-resource its proxies, including Hamas. Qatar is also in the crosshairs as diplomats and analysts debate the price of using an advocate for some of the world’s most militant Islamist groups as an intermediary.

Washington’s obliviousness to one lesson, however, may be lethal. While the October 7 attack refocused attention on Iranian terror sponsorship and Tehran’s ties to Hamas, the US ignores that Turkey’s support for Hamas and other terror groups makes it as dangerous a state sponsor of terrorism as Iran. A tendency to calibrate policy to wishful thinking endangers US security. While the State Department may want to see Turkey as the partner it was a quarter century ago, its behavior today is that of a pariah. Turkey may be a NATO member, but it is as great a terror sponsor today as Iran.

Turkey’s support for Hamas is multifaceted. It finances the group and gives it diplomatic cover. Israel has intercepted Turkish arms and explosive precursors destined for the group. Nor is Hamas alone. Evidence that Turkey supplied al Qaeda affiliates in Syria and provided logistical support for the Islamic State is overwhelming. In Somalia, Turkey empowers al Shabaab, and in Libya, the extreme Islamists count on Turkish backing. When speaking to a domestic audience, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is as antisemitic and anti-American as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

It is time to recognize reality. Turkey is a terror sponsor and an engine for radicalism. NATO member or not, it should be treated by Washington as such. To trust Turkey is to embrace Hamas, or worse.