Turkey’s recently reelected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as part of his efforts to establish himself as a global leader for Islamists and for Muslims more generally, has for years sought to exercise more influence among Palestinians. To do so, he has planted Turkish terrorist organizations in Jerusalem, as Pinḥas Inbari writes:

Turkey’s method of influence in eastern Jerusalem can be seen from several Turkish government organizations posing as NGOs (non-governmental organizations), which serve, according to several disturbing testimonies, as fronts for the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). . . . The IHH is an NGO that purports to provide humanitarian aid. However, according to the former head of the counterterrorism department in Turkey, Ahmet Sait Yayla, it is a terror organization that collaborates with Islamic State . . . .

IHH was founded during the war in Kosovo, and its activities are spread among all the places that were once under the rule of the Ottoman empire, or where the Ottomans aspired to rule. These include the Turkish-speaking nations in the former Soviet Union and Russia today. . . .

The IHH’s concealed collaboration with the large Turkish NGO TIKA is particularly worrying, because it may mean that terrorist cells are lurking behind the scenes of the cultural, social, and economic activities.. . .

One of the [other] ways Turkey is advancing its position in Jerusalem is through religious tourism. Organized groups of tourists, which, according to Israeli sources are composed of unemployed Turkish people who participate in this project in return for payment, come to Jerusalem. The purpose of their trip is not to enjoy the city’s sites, but to demonstrate a Turkish presence on the Temple Mount.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.