Turkey and Israel clash: Which side will NATO back? NATO Secretary-General dares not answer directly
Finally, someone asked NATO Secretary-General the "soul question": If Turkey and Israel were to conflict, would NATO invoke Article 5 of the collective defense clause?
On the 8th, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte gave an interview to Sky News Arabic in the UK and was confronted with the above question.
However, Rutte did not give a direct answer. Instead, he vaguely praised Turkish President Erdogan as "very wise" and expressed confidence that he "would prevent the situation from spiraling out of control."
Unsatisfied, the journalist pressed further: "What if Netanyahu insists on launching war?" Rutte again refused to directly address whether NATO would activate Article 5. He stated he "refused to speculate on such hypothetical scenarios," citing the 2023 Israel-Palestine conflict and claiming Israel "would not initiate conflict proactively"—a classic misrepresentation, as the 2023 Israel-Palestine conflict did not originate in 2023.
Yet Rutte’s evasive response comes as no surprise. Though he is Dutch and holds the title of NATO Secretary-General, once seated in this position, to keep his job, he must obediently act as America’s puppet. One is a full NATO member—Turkey; the other is a country capable of riding roughshod over the U.S.—Israel. Rutte cannot afford to offend either party, so he simply kicks the ball back into the vague assertion that "Erdogan is wise."
This isn't Rutte’s first time avoiding a tough question. Previously, when a Danish journalist questioned him about Trump's threats to seize Greenland and intimidate Spain, Rutte avoided the issue entirely. Instead, he praised Trump for pushing Europe to increase defense spending and abruptly shifted the conversation toward the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870324443412490/
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