Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has continued to heap denunciations and insults on Israel in relation to its military operation in Gaza and the immense civilian death toll.
Since the Israeli military's major offensive in the wake of Oct.7, Erdogan's verbal attacks have grown, taking Turkey-Israel relations to a historical low-point. This time Erdogan played the 'Hitler card' after having already called Israel a "terror state". He said Wednesday at an event in Ankara:
Sharpening his rhetoric, Erdogan said Turkey would welcome academics and scientists facing persecution for their views on the conflict in Gaza, adding Western countries supporting Israel were complicit in what he called war crimes.
"They used to speak ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not," Erdogan said.
Turkey's president continued in the blistering speech, adding: "He is richer than Hitler, he gets the support from the West. All sorts of support comes from the United States. And what did they do with all this support? They killed more than 20,000 Gazans."
But even in the midst of what are now weekly denunciations coming from the Turkish presidency, Ankara still maintains commercial times with Israel, though trade has fallen significantly since Oct.7.
Israeli Prime Minister responded with his own counter-attack, telling Erdogan he's the "last one who can preach morality." He took to X to say, "Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last one who can preach morality to us."
The timing of the exchange is interesting given Turkey's military has in the last days been stepping up strikes on Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria, in retaliation for deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers in Iraq over the weekend.
Israel has for years quietly given assistance to northern Iraq's Kurds toward the realization of an autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. Israel has also supported US efforts to assist Syrian Kurds and deny Damascus' ability to access its own oil and gas fields in northeast Syria.
Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz followed by calling the Turkish president’s comments "blatant distortions of reality and a desecration of the Holocaust’s memory." He wrote further on X, "Hamas was the organization that perpetrated a despicable massacre. Removing the threat of Hamas from the citizens of Israel is an existential necessity and an unparalleled moral imperative."
Erdogan has continued meanwhile seeking get Israel branded as a "war criminal" state on the world stage, and is said to be preparing a case to submit to the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).
In October, Erdogan confirmed he canceled a planned trip to Israel where he was expected to meet with his Israeli counterpart. This was part of a normalization and restoration of ties effort, which is clearly now definitely off.
