An exchange of attacks between the Turkish President and the Israeli Prime Minister

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no different from Adolf Hitler and likened Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip to the Nazis’ treatment of Jews.

Türkiye, a member of NATO, supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, criticized the Israeli air and ground attack on Gaza, described Israel as a “terrorist state” and said that its leaders should be held accountable before international courts.

Erdogan toughened his tone, saying that Türkiye would welcome academics and scholars who are suffering persecution for their opinions on the conflict in the Gaza Strip, and that Western countries that support Israel are complicit in what he described as war crimes.

“They kept saying bad things about Hitler… What is the difference between you and Hitler? They’ll make us miss Hitler… Is what Netanyahu is doing less than what Hitler did? No, not less, the Turkish president said.

Erdogan added, “He is richer than Hitler, and has support from the West… All kinds of support come from the United States… What did they (the Israelis) do with all this support? They killed more than 20,000 Gazans”.

From his part, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that the Turkish president was the last person who could preach to Israel.

Netanyahu said in a statement, “Erdogan, who is committing genocide against the Kurds and holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last person who can talk to us about morality”.

Despite its criticism of Israel, Türkiye has maintained its trade relations with it, sparking violent reactions from opposition parties and Iran.

Ankara says trade with Israel has declined sharply since the Hamas October 7 attack, followed by the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Unlike its Western allies and some Arab countries, Türkiye doesn’t consider Hamas a terrorist organization.