Naftali Bennett is a former prime minister of Israel whom John Kiriakou cites for the proposition that the 2026 Iran war was not intended to be the last one.
Discussing which states obstruct the Greater Israel project, Kiriakou named two: “Iran and Turkey, which is why Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli prime minister, is also now saying after Iran, it’s Turkey. Turkey’s next.”[1][2] The remark was an answer to the framing that Iran was the last thing standing in the way of the project — Kiriakou’s correction being that there were two things, not one.[2]
Kiriakou’s own forecast is that neither objective is achievable — “I don’t see them succeeding. There are too many Arabs. There are too many Muslims. There are too many people who oppose this naked Israeli aggression.”[1][3]
From citation to assertion
By May 2026 the Bennett threat had stopped being something Kiriakou attributed and become something he asserted. Asked about Israel’s repeated threats against Turkey, made “primarily through its former prime minister Naftali Bennett,” he answered flatly: “They do. They’re actively seeking war with Turkey. Turkey is their last impediment to them realizing their greater Israel dream.”[4]
The corroboration he offers is a conversation rather than an analysis. He says he had recently had dinner in Washington with a Turkish deputy minister — a man he had never met, who reached out to him — and put exactly that question to him. The answer was not defensive: “We welcome an Israeli attack on Turkey.”[4][5] The obstacle Kiriakou then had to account for was the alliance structure — Turkey’s NATO membership and Article 5, which would mean Israel could not realistically fight Turkey alone.[6]