Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be tried as a war criminal for Jerusalem’s military actions against Hamas, calling Netanyahu “the butcher of Gaza.”
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, Erdoğan has sided with the terrorist group and railed against Israel’s response to the mass slaughter of its citizens.
“Beyond being a war criminal, Netanyahu, who is the butcher of Gaza right now, will be tried as the butcher of Gaza, just as Milosevic was tried,” Erdoğan said in a speech to an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) committee meeting in Istanbul.
The Turkish leader was referring to Yugoslavia’s former president Slobodan Milosevic, who was tried for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes at a tribunal in The Hague.
“Those who try to skip over the deaths of all those innocent people by using the excuse of Hamas have nothing left to say to humanity,” Erdoğan added.
Erdoğan told his country’s parliament last month that Israel would soon be destroyed.
“Right now, I am openly saying with clear conscience that Israel is a terrorist state,” said Erdoğan.
While this comment was widely reported, his subsequent remarks went largely unnoticed.
“Hey Israel: You have an atomic bomb, a nuclear bomb. And you are making threats with this. We know this. And your end is near,” said Erdoğan.
“You can have as many nuclear bombs as you want, but you’re on your way out,” he added.
Turkish lawmakers responded to the message with a thunderous standing ovation.
Last month, Netanyahu slammed Erdoğan for supporting Hamas and bombing Turkish villages, in a likely reference to Ankara’s violent oppression of its Kurdish minority.
“So, we’re not going to take any lectures from them,” said Netanyahu.
