Last week, US President Trump, who maintains close relations with Turkish President Erdoğan, attended a NATO summit in Istanbul. Israelis struggle to accept the close relationship between Trump and Erdogan, refusing to understand that it goes beyond the connection between two strongmen and is also tied to US strategic interests.

Israeli discourse treats Turkey and Qatar as bitter enemies, as if they were Iran. Thus, we miss the fact that both are important allies of the US and the reasons for these alliances. On the Israeli right, they are constantly on the lookout for the next threat, and the Qatari-Turkish axis serves this purpose. In the liberal camp, many will deride Netanyahu, not only for the illegal activities of his office staff on behalf of Qatar but also for the fact that Qatar and Turkey influence American policy in the region more than he does. Thus, it happens that both sides in Israeli politics try to present Turkey and Qatar as absolutely evil.

The Israeli tendency to attribute naivety to Americans and Israeli astonishment that Americans supposedly do not understand why Qatar and Turkey are enemies stem from a one-dimensional, overly simplistic approach to........

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