Israel and Turkey are again on a collision course. The official reason, at least this time, is not the blockade on Gaza or the diplomatic peace process with the Palestinians, but the Temple Mount. Israel’s Security Cabinet is supposed to devote one of its upcoming meetings to the activities and growing influence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Temple Mount. Erdogan maintains this influence via a series of nonprofit associations that he funds, headed by the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA).

Turkish activity on the Temple Mount worries not only the Shin Bet, the Israel Police and the entire security system, but even the other contenders for the plaza: the Jordanians, the Palestinians, the Egyptians and even the Moroccans who view their king, Mohammed VI, as the keeper of the holy places. According to intelligence material that Israel has been accumulating, Erdogan is trying to snatch the Temple Mount and the title of “Protector of the Mount” in the name of all of Islam from all the other contenders to the throne. The first antagonist that is supposed to foil these schemes is, like always, Israel.

After the 2016 reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, in which Israel shelled out $21 million as compensation to the families of the people who were slain on the Mavi Marmara and expressed an apology, the tense relations between the two countries improved somewhat. The ambassadors returned to Ankara and Tel Aviv, and it had seemed that the crisis had passed. But ahead of the June 2018 elections in Turkey, Erdogan began to attack Israel in louder and louder tones. “He needs to divert the agenda of his election system from the crash of the Turkish lira to some external scapegoat. And, of course, he found us,” said a senior Israeli Cabinet member to Al-Monitor before the elections, on condition of anonymity. But the elections came and went, and Erdogan continues to grasp the crass anti-Israel ticket with all his strength.

“He continues to throw tantrums,” a high-placed security source told Al-Monitor this week on condition of anonymity. “His self-confidence has reached an all-time high; he now views himself as a Turkish sultan, ready to renew the Ottoman Empire. Nothing can stop him, and he allows himself everything. But if he tries to tighten the rope too much in Jerusalem,” the source added, “he will discover his mistake.”