Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan says Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no different to Adolf Hitler following a series of attacks on Gaza. Erdogan compared Israeli strikes to Hitler’s treatment of Jewish people during the Second World War during a speech on Wednesday.
Turkey, which is a NATO member, has criticised Israel’s ground and air assaults in Palestine and supports a two-state solution to the conflict between the country and Hamas.
Erdogan described Israel as a “terror state” and said its leaders should be tried in international courts.
The leader said Turkey would welcome academics and scientists facing persecution for their views on the conflict, saying that Western countries supporting Israel were complicit in war crimes.
In his speech Erdogan said: “”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.
“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.”
Unlike Western allies and some Arab nations, Turkey does not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Netanyahu responded to the Turkish president’s comment by saying he felt Erdogan should be the last person to lecture Israel.
He said: “Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last person who can preach morality to us.”
Turkey has maintained commercial ties with Israel despite its criticism, drawing a backlash from opposition parties and Iran.
But Ankara says trade with Israel has fallen sharply since October 7, when Hamas launched its cross-border attack that killed 1,200 people, prompting Israel to launch its war on Hamas.
