Revisionist powers and Islamist networks have long viewed Israel not as a neighbor but as the central obstacle to reordering the Middle East. Arab states tried and failed in conventional wars. Broader rejectionist forces now pin their hopes on attrition and narrative victory. Turkey sees Israel’s removal as the final step toward restoring strategic depth across the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean. Iran treats it as the prerequisite for consolidating its land corridor to proxies and eliminating the chief barrier to its nuclear threshold and hegemonic claims.

Turkey’s neo-Ottoman project requires a weakened Jewish state to expand influence without resistance. Ankara has established a military presence in Syria and Libya and seeks leverage over trade and energy routes. Israel’s removal lowers the cost of expansion. Iran’s ambition is more direct: a surviving regime — forcing concessions while retaining capabilities — would claim the narrative victory that Sunni powers never achieved. Tehran would weaponize that triumph across the West, bankrolling mosques, nongovernmental organizations, and radical networks to recruit young Sunnis into its global intifada.