Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar shot back at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a social-media post on Wednesday for comments the latter made comparing Israel’s premier to Hitler and describing the campaign against Iran as “state terrorism.”
“The sultan, in his own eyes, in yet another inflammatory speech, continues to incite against Israel and against the Israeli prime minister,” Sa’ar said. “Erdoğan, who has set a record in suppressing the freedoms and rights of his citizens, as well as his country’s opposition, dares to preach to others.”
Sa’ar said it was “particularly ironic” that the Turkish president should speak of morality and international law, given his own “imperialist ambitions,” including his illegal occupation of northern Cyprus. (Turkey seized control of the area in 1974.)
“A little self-awareness could be helpful,” Sa’ar said.
According to Reuters, Erdoğan, referring to Israel’s campaign in Gaza, told members of his ruling AK Party in parliament on Wednesday that “Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has long left Hitler behind in terms of genocide.”
The Turkish leader also said Israel’s campaign against Iran was illegal and “crazed.”
“It is a very natural, legitimate and legal right for Iran to defend itself against Israel’s thuggery and state terrorism,” Erdoğan added. “We are closely monitoring Israel’s terrorist attacks on Iran.”
Israel opened a campaign of airstrikes, dubbed “Operation Rising Lion,” to destroy the nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile programs of the Islamic Republic, which has repeatedly threatened to annihilate the Jewish state.
Now in its sixth day, Israel has established aerial superiority over Tehran and struck 1,100 targets, including a uranium enrichment site, overnight on Tuesday.
Erdoğan has set himself in opposition to Israel since the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, when a flotilla of ships from Turkey attempted to break an Israeli sea blockade to reach the Gaza Strip.
After a brief thawing of relations in 2022, ties again became strained following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which more than 1,200 men, women and children in southern Jewish communities were massacred and 251 others taken hostage to Gaza, about 50 still held captive there.
Despite the slaughter, Erdoğan sided with Hamas, calling it a “liberation group” and Israel a “war criminal.”
Since then, Erdoğan has engaged in extremist rhetoric against Israel and its leader, adapting classic antisemitic imagery, calling Netanyahu a “vampire who feeds on blood.”
In November 2024, Erdoğan claimed Turkey had cut all diplomatic ties with Israel. Sa’ar denied it hours later, saying he was unaware of any change in status between the two countries.
Erdoğan even threatened to invade Israel in July 2024. “Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” he said.
In response, Israel warned the Turkish leader that he would face a harsh response. Israel Katz, then-Israeli Foreign Minister and now Defense Minister, wrote: “Erdoğan follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel. Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended.”