Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan became locked in a heated war of words over the weekend, accusing each other of committing massacres against civilians. In a tweet posted on Saturday, Benjamin Netanyahu referred to Erdogan as an “occupier of northern Cyprus,” saying that the Turkish Army “massacres women and children in Kurdish villages.” The Turkish leader responded the next day, and he gave as good as he got. He branded the Israeli PM the “voice of the oppressors” who commits crimes against Palestinians.
“Netanyahu, you are cruel. You are the head of state terror,” he said, as quoted by Gazete Duvar. Israel has no right to accuse anyone without accounting for its own sins, crimes against humanity, massacres and destruction. Erdogan’s attack on the Israeli prime minister was followed up by several top Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. He called Netanyahu “a cold-blooded killer” who is responsible for the “massacres of innocent Palestinians.” Erdogan’s spokesperson and chief adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, also demanded that Israel ends the “lawless occupation of Palestinian lands.”
Meeting with a group of Christian IDF soldiers ahead of Christmas, Netanyahu threw additional verbal jabs at the Turkish leader, calling him an “anti-Semitic dictator” who is “obsessed with Israel.” But there has been an improvement: Erdogan used to attack me every two hours and now it is every six hours.
Turkey is becoming “more dictatorial day by day,” the Israeli PM claimed.Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Benjamin Netanyahu are known for their mutual resentment. The politicians have often traded insults in the past. The Turkish president regularly accuses Tel Aviv of mistreating Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. He stepped up attacks against Israel after its parliament adopted a controversial ‘nation-state’ law this summer.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have criticized Erdogan of supporting Hamas militants and Iran.
