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Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus stated on Saturday that Israel's true objective is not Iran but the establishment of a "Greater Israel" stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates, a territory that he said includes Turkish lands.
He accused Israel of having "taken America in its palm" and deliberately inciting sectarian conflict in the Muslim world to mask its expansionist agenda.
Kurtulmus was direct in his assessment of Israeli objectives, stating, "Israel's real target is not Iran. Israel's target is to establish Greater Israel in the area from the Nile to the Euphrates and Türkiye's territory is included in that."
"So if Israel's problem is with Iran, why did it bomb Gaza and level it? Why did it bomb Lebanon repeatedly and continue attacking? Why did it bomb Syria, Yemen, Qatar and the countries of the region? Israel has one single target: 'Now that we have taken America in our palm, let us take our final step and re-establish Greater Israel, the Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of God, and raise the Star of David.'," he said.
"Some compare Netanyahu to a second David, this is one of the fundamental reasons behind that comparison," he added.
The Turkish parliament speaker also argued that Washington and Tel Aviv are pursuing distinct and separable agendas, and that the Muslim world must recognize the difference.
"America's goal is to limit the capabilities of the Iranian government and, if possible, bring about regime change in Iran. But Israel's real target is not Iran, it is Greater Israel. Therefore we all need to be at least as clever as they are," he said.
He said Israel was using the appearance of a full U.S.-Israeli alliance to pursue its own agenda and was now in the process of gradually separating from America.
As evidence, he noted that "right when America and Iran were about to reach an agreement, Israel attacked Lebanon and started the debate over whether Lebanon is inside or outside the deal, once again showing that it does not want lasting peace, does not want calm in the region, and that its true goal is instability and conflict."
Kurtulmus warned Gulf states and the broader Muslim world not to be drawn into a sectarian framing, noting, "The Gulf states may differ, their politics may differ, their governments may differ, their peoples' sects may differ, but the war currently underway is not a sectarian war. It is sedition that Israel is trying to turn into a sectarian war."
"The real issue is Israel's expansionist policies in the region that recognize no borders and no law, and the fact that it has unfortunately taken America in its palm and is moving it as it wishes," he added.
He said Türkiye had consistently rejected both the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and the war's expansion toward Gulf states.
"We consider these approaches wrong. We take a moderate, problem-solving approach that does not allow this issue to become an internal conflict within Islam," Kurtulmus concluded.
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