Turkish judiciary issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials on charges of committing genocide

Türkiye’s judiciary on Friday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Israeli officials, including War Minister Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Israel, through its foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, was quick to denounce what it called a “propaganda hoax”.

“Israel strongly rejects and contemptuously the recent propaganda ploy of the tyrant (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan,” Sa’ar wrote on X.

In his English post on X, Sa’ar said, the judiciary in Turkey under Erdogan has long been a tool for silencing political opponents and detaining journalists, judges and mayors”.

Sa’ar accused the Istanbul prosecutor’s office of recently orchestrating the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul simply because he dared to run against Erdogan, referring to Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been detained since March.

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman wrote on X that the arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials clearly explain why Turkey shouldn’t be present in the Gaza Strip, either directly or indirectly.

The Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the arrest warrants targeted 37 suspects, but didn’t publish a full list of their names.

Among them is Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, according to the Istanbul Public Prosecution, which condemns the genocide and crimes against humanity that have been systematically committed by the Israeli state in Gaza.

Turkish judicial authorities also referred to the case of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which Türkiye built in the Gaza Strip and was bombed by the Israeli army in March after it indicated that it was being used as a base for Hamas fighters.

Türkiye is one of the most critical countries of Israel’s war in Gaza in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on the territory of the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.

Last year, Türkiye joined a South African lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice accusing Pretoria of committing genocide.

Türkiye wants to participate in the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is supposed to play a key role in implementing Trump’s peace plan in Gaza.

However, Israel doesn’t like Ankara’s efforts, including strengthening diplomatic outreach in the region and seeking to influence the US position in favor of Israel, which considers Türkiye too close to Hamas.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly expressed their opposition to any Turkish participation in the International Stabilization Force in Gaza.

Several countries, non-governmental organizations and an independent international commission of inquiry commissioned by the United Nations have accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, which Israel rejects as wrong and anti-Semitic.