Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of “genocide” against the Kurdish people after Erdogan claimed Wednesday that Netanyahu was “no different than Hitler” due to Israel’s war against Hamas.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Erdogan made the accusation in a speech Wednesday:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is no different than” Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed in a Wednesday speech.
Erdogan said that Netanyahu was no different from Hitler and likened Israel’s attacks on Gaza to the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis.
Earlier in December, the Turkish president said that Netanyahu would be tried as a war criminal over Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip, referring to the Likud party leader as the “butcher of Gaza.”
Later on Saturday, in response, Netanyahu issued a statement, saying, “Erdogan — the occupier of northern Cyprus, whose army massacres women and children in Kurdish villages, inside and outside Turkey — should not preach to Israel.”
Erdogan and Turkey have supported Hamas for many years. There is speculation that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was actually in Turkey, and not Qatar, during the October 7 terror attack that launched the war.
Turkey triggered a diplomatic crisis when it tried to help terrorists infiltrate Gaza through a “flotilla” on the Mediterranean in 2010. Israel and Turkey, once strong military allies, repaired relations four years later.
Update: Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz joined in the condemnation of Erdogan: