Today's Mediterranean Sea is just a shadow of its former self, the Tethys.
In an alternate scenario, I have rearranged the African mainland to an angle that turns Gibraltar from a strait into an isthmus, opening the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, not the Atlantic. I also have some big, geological scissors to cut Israel and Turkey off the map.
With these mentioned changes, how would they affect the North African/European climate?
In Europe, it would not change the climate much because the dominant winds are blowing from the Atlantic inland toward the east. The climates of Africa would change a bit. Western Sahara and some parts of western Mauritania might have a Mediterranean climate while Libya will become even more barren. Simply, put, the Sahara is located under the subtropical ridge, where it's dry all year long. It move north during summer and south during winter. The Mediterranean is affected in summer but not in winter, thus the region receive most of the precipitations in winter. If you rotate Africa clockwise, areas in the east will become drier (no more rain in winter) and areas in the west will have more rain in the cold season.
The more you move Africa, the stronger this effect will be.
