In recent months the struggle for control of Libya has escalated as the forces of Khalifa Haftar—backed by Egypt and Russia—fight against the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned and Turkey-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). By establishing its influence in North Africa, Ankara hopes to counteract the deepening alliance among Greece, Cyprus, and Israel and cut off its access to European markets. This alliance, under the formal rubric of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMFG), began with collaboration in the extraction of undersea fossil fuels and has evolved into broader economic and military cooperation. Eran Lerman explains what all this means for Jerusalem:

The role played by Russian mercenaries, and now by pro-Assad Syrian “volunteers,” may be troubling; but the consequences of the total collapse of [Haftar’s forces] would be more severe.

[It is thus necessary for] the relevant EMFG nations to coordinate their policies effectively. The key players are Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, and Israel. Tripartite summits should be convened as soon as possible. Italy has long been relatively friendly towards the GNA, but suspicious of Erdogan’s designs: [it now] may be indicating a willingness to act to curb Turkish ambitions.

Israel’s role must, by necessity, be diplomatic and discreet. It should focus upon . . . forging a common position of all EMGF countries.

Meanwhile, amidst many other challenges, the IDF—navy, air force, and intelligence—as well as Israel’s defense and intelligence establishment as a whole should start preparing for the darker scenario of having to face an overt Turkish bid to control fully the eastern Mediterranean sea lanes of communication.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.