Several Israeli security officials have warned that violent political rhetoric by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz against Türkiye could lead to an "unnecessary" escalation, according to Israeli media.
The warning came as the Netanyahu regime intensified its rhetoric against Ankara ahead of Knesset elections scheduled for October 27, Israeli Channel 12 reported on Friday.
According to the broadcaster, several security officials prefer not to push the dispute with Türkiye toward a broader public confrontation.
Netanyahu and his Likud party have increasingly brought Türkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into their election rhetoric and campaigning.
The Channel 12 said that the Israeli military had pushed for an attack early on Tuesday morning on the Abu al-Duhur military airbase in northwestern Syria, located approximately 70 kilometres from the Türkiye border.
Some security officials, however, wanted to keep the attack away from the spotlight and official statements to avoid pushing things toward a direct confrontation with Ankara, according to the broadcaster.
It said the officials also did not welcome the sharp public statements Netanyahu and Katz made after the attack.
Meanwhile, in a joint statement on Friday, the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Algeria, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Somalia said the Israeli attacks constituted "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political unity" of Syria.
Also on Friday, Türkiye said it had requested Interpol red notices for Netanyahu and other defendants as part of an ongoing prosecution over an Israeli attack on activists aboard the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla.
In a statement posted on Turkish social media platform NSosyal, Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said judicial proceedings were continuing before Istanbul's 11th High Criminal Court against 35 defendants, including Netanyahu and Afek Moskovitch, on charges that included genocide, crimes against humanity and torture.
