Earlier this month, I posted that new alliances were forming from the Eastern Mediterranean region across Southern Asia into the Indo-Pacific region. Two nations have just acted to fulfill that prediction. Greece and Israel have just signed a major weapons agreement which will link those two nations together for many years into the future. You may call it an alliance, a pact or an agreement, but it sure looks to me that the word, alliance, is not too strong a word for the agreements these nations have signed.
Greece is committing to buy billions of dollars worth of Israeli weaponry, with much of the weaponry being purchased involving an entire, layered Israeli air defense system for Greece. Greece is also buying Israeli drone systems, British mini-submarines and Brazilian transport aircraft. The first link explains these purchases and observes that this action represents a “strategic shift in Mediterranean security,” and that the “deepening partnership” between Greece and Israel is “one of the most consequential military modernization initiatives by [Greece] in recent decades.” The link details that the air defense package being purchased by Greece will be able to track and defeat incoming ballistic and cruise missiles, drones and aircraft.
The second link reports that the entire Greek military build-up is worth $4 billion, and that part of the total includes an amount that Greece will contribute via its own domestic production. The second link also states that the Greco-Israeli “alliance” or “military cooperation” has been in effect for over 25 years already. It also reports that Greco-Israeli military cooperation is being hastened by hostile statements by Turkish President Erdogan, who had threatened to “invade Israel” in 2024 during the intense Israeli-Hamas fighting.
Indeed, I think Turkish President Erdogan can be credited with building this strong Greco-Israeli alliance. Both Greece and Israel regard Turkey as a potential threat. Greece and Turkey have long been rivals, and Greece needs allies as Turkey is much bigger than Greece. Israel has a good reason to be concerned about Turkey. During the Israeli-Hamas war in recent years there were media reports that Erdogan had threatened to “invade Israel” as an ally of Hamas. Turkey’s support of Hamas was hardly a secret. Turkey has the largest European army in NATO, and it has large military forces. Israel needs all the allies it can find given Iran’s desire to “wipe Israel off the map,” and also given Iran’s support of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Hezbollah has been a thorn in Israel’s side for a long time, and Hezbollah’s power comes from Iranian funding and arms-supplies. In a possible future Mideast war, access to Greek airports gives Israel some de facto strategic depth in terms of air force needs. In a major war, Israeli warplanes could land and be resupplied and rearmed at Greek airports if necessary. Israel could also host Greek warplanes in any future war involving NATO nations. I suspect the strengthening Greek-Israeli alliance will call for Israel and Greece to host weaponry and other equipment on their mutual airbases that could be needed by either nation.
Turkey is, in my opinion, the modern descendants of Edom (another name for Esau–Genesis 36:1). It was routine that ancient languages did not write vowels, but consonants only on written media. Genesis 36:11, 15 and 34 all mention “Teman” as a prominent tribe within Edom. The consonants of that name are T-M-N. It is easy to see the name of “Teman” in those consonants. The name of Turkey for centuries was the “Ottoman” Empire. Notice its consonants are TT-M-N, an excellent match of consonants for the Teman tribe of Edom.
Indeed, Teman must have been so prominent in Edomite society that the entire land of Edom was once called the “land of Temani” (Genesis 36:34). Also, God had promised Abraham that the many nations that would descend from him (Genesis 17:4-6) would posses the “gates” of their enemies. A “gate” would be a choke point or geographical feature that would be important in warfare, trade, etc. Edom was one of Abraham’s descendants and Turkey does control one of the world’s strategic “gates”: the Bosporus and Dardanelles. These straits control access between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Other important “gates” in the modern world include Gibraltar (possessed by the British) and the Panama Canal (controlled by America). The British Empire used to also control the Suez Canal and the Straits of Malacca/Singapore, but lost those “gates” when Britain lost its empire after World War II. Modern Edom’s possession of the gate of the Bosporus/Dardanelles shows God did not give all the blessings of Abraham to just the modern Israelite nations.
Why is this important? It matters a great deal because Ezekiel 38:1-6 prophesies which nations will be in the “Gog-Magog” alliance in the latter days. It is noteworthy that “Edom” is not listed as being in that alliance. That is important as modern Edom (Turkey) is in the NATO alliance although its purchase of Russian air defense systems (designed to shoot down NATO warplanes) has caused consternation about Turkey’s future direction. Questions arise such as: “Will Turkey stay in NATO, Will it join the Russian-Chinese-Iranian Gog-Magog alliance? It is my view, based on Ezekiel 38, that Turkey will stay in NATO. If you read Ezekiel 38:1-6 carefully, you will see that no nation descended from Abraham is listed as being in the Gog-Magog alliance in the latter days. The third link was one of many media sources which reported that Erdogan had threatened to “invade Israel” in behalf of Hamas. A couple years passed when finally rumors appeared that Erdogan had never really made that threat (fourth link). You can decide which version of that matter you choose to believe.
Now lets shift our attention back to Greece and Israel. The fifth link summarizes a history of the claims and development of Eastern Mediterranean natural gas fields. Egypt, Israel, and Cyprus have such gas fields which supply those nations with energy. The link reports that Greece is a possible middleman between the gas producers in the Eastern Mediterranean and energy-needy European nations. Greece is the logical location for an underwater gas pipeline to bring that natural gas to Europe. As you can see, economics are important to understand when dealing with how alliances get formed. The link reports that such nations as Lebanon and Syria may yet find a place in these energy deals.
For now, Greece and Israel are creating an alliance which is becoming steadily closer and more expansive. These nations need each other and they see that fact. This fact will become even more important if NATO ever splinters apart in the future.
- https://tjvnews.com/news/israel/greece-turns-to-israel-for-achilles-shield-billion-defense-pact/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4o_h1aWvwc
- https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/07/30/turkey-threatens-to-invade-israel/
- https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/telegraph-deletes-story-falsely-claiming-erdogan-threatened-invade-israel
- https://mei.nus.edu.sg/publication/insight-283-east-mediterranean-gas-discoveries-and-their-strategic-impacts/
