ABSTRACT This article analyzes the gradual decline in Turkish-Israeli relations between 2002 and 2020 by focusing on both states’ use of nonstate actors as proxies in pursuit of their competing strategic interests in the Middle East region. The article argues that the Islamization of Turkish foreign policy under the rule of the Justice and Development Party, as well as Turkey’s use of various Sunni Islamist nonstate actors in contradistinction to Israel and in the post-2003 Iraqi war period, coupled with Israel’s reliance on various Kurdish nonstate actors as proxies in tandem with its longstanding periphery doctrine, resulted in a decline in the bilateral relations.