Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Israel to Nazis in a Sept. 23 meeting during the United Nations General Assembly, the Times of Israel reports.
Erdogan told Muslim leaders during the meeting, “When we look at the genocide Nazis committed against Jews, we should look at the massacre happening in the Gaza Strip from the same point of view.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Erdogan’s reported remarks in a statement.
“He who does not stop lying about Israel, who slaughters the Kurds in his country, and who denies the awful massacre of the Armenian people, should not preach to Israel,” Netanyahu said, telling Erdogan to “stop lying.”
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Israel Katz similarly tweeted that Erdogan’s “vile words” were a clear example of “anti-Semitism.” He added that Erdogan’s comments show “that the responsibility of #HolocaustRemembrance is more relevant now than ever.”
There is no other way to interpret Erdogan’s crude and vile words – it is antisemitism, clear cut. This is proof that the responsibility of #HolocaustRemembrance is more relevant now than ever.
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) September 24, 2019
In his Sept. 24 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Erdogan accused Israel of seizing “Palestinian land with the aim of eliminating the state,” showing a map of Israeli land expanding while Palestinian land is shrinking since 1947.
“Israel is still willing to take over the remainder of the land,” Erdogan said, adding that “the Palestinian territory under Israeli occupation has become one of the most striking places of injustice.” He called for a two-state solution requiring Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders.
Pro-Israel activist Arsen Ostrovsky tweeted, “Dear #Turkey, with all due respect, we here in #Israel don’t really pay much attention to your terrorist despot leader #Erdogan, who slaughters the Kurds, occupies Cyprus, denies basic freedoms to you at home & considers Hamas his friends.”
Dear #Turkey, with all due respect, we here in #Israel don’t really pay much attention to your terrorist despot leader #Erdogan, who slaughters the Kurds, occupies Cyprus, denies basic freedoms to you at home & considers Hamas his friends.@RTErdogan @Turkey_UN @TurkeyMFA #UNGA pic.twitter.com/FONLdN2XdS
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 24, 2019
Erdogan has drawn an analogy between Israel and the Nazis on several prior occasions, such as him saying in December, “The Palestinians are subjected to pressures, violence and intimidation policies no less grave than the oppression done to the Jews during WWII.”
Additionally, Erdogan told officials of his ruling Justice and Development Party on July 28 that they will oppose any ally of Israel.
“Whoever is on the side of Israel, let everyone know that we are against them,” Erdogan said. “We do not approve of silence on the state terror that Israel blatantly carries out in Palestine.”
