Netanyahu mulls Saudi, Turkiye, Pakistan pact as Israeli elections loom

Israel is yet to officially respond to a defence agreement signed in Mecca by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye, which some analysts have perceived as a challenge to Israeli regional expansionism.

Turkiye, viewed as Israel’s next nemesis in waiting , nuclear-powered Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, which Israel has been eager to normalise relations with, signed the Mecca Joint Defence Pact on Friday.

Among the most significant points of this new military alliance is a stipulation that “any armed attack against any one of the three States shall be regarded as an attack against them all”.

Analysts and government insiders have suggested that the Israeli leadership will likely take advantage of Saturday’s lull – when Israeli politicians typically take a break to mark the Sabbath – to consider the full implications of this new regional formation.

Turkiye is widely perceived by Israeli politicians of all stripes as a threat. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s comments last month that Israel was a “burden that humanity can no longer bear” were seized on by Israeli politicians, including Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who said this was a “textbook incitement to genocide”. Turkiye has been a strong critic of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians and is widely perceived by scholars and international rights groups as a genocide.

Meanwhile, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in June that Israeli invasions in Syria and Lebanon were a direct threat to Ankara. “Turkiye’s security does not begin in Hatay [the country’s southernmost province], but also in Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut,” he said. Netanyahu responded by calling Erdogan an “anti-Semitic dictator”, unfit to preach morality to Israel.

Pakistan, which does not recognise Israel, has also been the target of Israeli ire. In April, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif described Israel’s deadly assaults in Lebanon as “evil” and called the country a “curse for humanity”.

The Israeli prime minister’s office described the subsequently deleted social media post as a “call for Israel’s annihilation”.