Former Israeli official Gal calls Northern Cyprus “Turkey’s aircraft carrier,” urges stronger Israel–Cyprus defense ties

Shay Gal, a former senior executive at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) who served in top roles until 2024, has urged closer security cooperation between Israel and the Republic of Cyprus and issued stark warnings about Turkey’s presence on the island, describing the Turkish-controlled north as “Turkey’s aircraft carrier.”

In an interview with the Greek Cypriot daily Simerini, Gal assessed shifting balances in the eastern Mediterranean and said growing Israel–Cyprus ties could form “a new deterrence arrangement” to counter Ankara’s ambitions. He accused the north — the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) — of functioning as a forward military platform for Turkey and set out a list of actions he described as “red lines” for Israel and its partners.

Gal told Simerini, framing recent cooperation as more than diplomacy but a tested solidarity in moments of crisis. He alleged that during what he called the “12-Day War” with Iran in June 2025, the Republic of Cyprus did not stand aside but “acted as a shield,” allowing Israeli civilian aircraft to relocate quietly to Cypriot and Greek airports to avoid potential Iranian reprisals — a move, he said, that exposed Cyprus to risk but kept those flights safer. “If Cyprus is threatened, Israel must stand alongside it as if it were threatened itself,” he said. “When Israel is attacked, Cyprus should be there — just as it was last June.”

Gal, who is known for outspoken, Turkey-critical commentary, reiterated a more aggressive scenario he previously outlined in a July column for the pro-Netanyahu daily Israel Hayom, which he named “The Wrath of Poseidon.” In that piece, he proposed a contingency plan focused on preventing reinforcements from Turkey to the north, degrading air-defense and intelligence assets, and driving back Turkish forces.

Describing the TRNC as a “not frozen dispute but Turkey’s untouchable aircraft carrier,” Gal alleged that armed drones such as Bayraktar and Akıncı are launched from bases in the north, that ATMACA anti-ship missiles threaten maritime routes, and that signals-intelligence (SIGINT) batteries in the Kyrenia (Beşparmak) Mountains make Cyprus and Israel “transparent targets.” He also accused casinos, universities and ports in the north of providing financial support to Hamas and facilitating Iranian networks’ penetration into Europe — assertions he presented without independent corroboration in the interview.

Gal set out three explicit “red lines” he said should trigger direct action:

• Deployment of ballistic missiles or drone systems in the north;
• Permanent armed-drone operations over international sea lanes;
• Cyberattacks against civilian infrastructure.

“If those lines are crossed,” he warned, “supplementary forces from Turkey will be destroyed; air-defence systems will be neutralized; command centers and SIGINT facilities will be eliminated.”

EU security framework

Arguing that Cyprus’s ultimate security umbrella should rest with the European Union, Gal suggested that reliance on NATO’s Article 5 is inadequate because it is a political commitment rather than an automatic guarantee. He noted, he said, that Brussels already regards the north as occupied territory, and therefore interventions against drone bases in the TRNC could be considered legitimate.

Gal framed the wider geopolitical contest in stark civilizational terms, accusing Ankara of attempting to establish an “order of occupation and denial,” and asserting that Nicosia, Athens and Jerusalem must build “a new order” consistent with the will of “free peoples.” He closed the Simerini interview with a forceful declaration: “We want the occupation to end peacefully, but if necessary it will end by force… This sea belongs to us — not to the occupiers, but to those who establish an order of freedom.”

Reporting note: Gal is a former high-level executive at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the state-linked defence-industrial firm, and has been a frequent commentator on regional security. His claims in the interview and in earlier opinion pieces reflect his policy prescriptions and assessments; they have been reported here as his statements. Independent verification of the operational allegations he made about bases, movements and financing was not provided in the interview.