Erdogan: ‘Hitler’s spirit’ lives in Israel’s Nation-State Law
PM slams Turkish leader for ‘massacring Syrians & Kurds’
By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: JULY 25, 2018 01:21TURKISH PRESIDENT Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of the parliament from his AK Party in Ankara on April 24th, 2018..(photo credit: MURAT CETINMUHURDAR/PRESIDENTIAL PALACE/REUTERS)
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel’s Nation-State Law legitimizes oppression and shows that Israel is a fascist and racist country where the spirit of Adolf Hitler has re-emerged.Knesset passes controversial Jewish nation-state bill into law, July 19, 2018 (Reuters)Erdogan, speaking on Tuesday to members of his ruling AK Party in parliament, said the law shows Israel is “the most Zionist, fascist and racist country in the world,” and called on the international community to mobilize against Israel.“The Jewish Nation-State Law passed in the Israeli parliament shows this country’s real intentions,” Erdogan said. “It legitimizes all unlawful actions and oppression. There is no difference between Hitler’s Aryan race obsession and Israel’s mentality. Hitler’s spirit has re-emerged among administrators in Israel.”The Jewish Nation-State bill that declares that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people became Israel’s 14th Basic Law last week after it passed into law in the Knesset plenum.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that under Erdogan, Turkey was turning into a “dark dictatorship,” accusing the Turkish president of “massacring Syrians and Kurds.”Other Israeli officials also responded harshly to Erdogan’s claims. “The State of Israel will not accept morality lectures from a dictator who hunts down and murders members of the Kurdish minority in his country and elsewhere,” said Education Minister Naftali Bennett.Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said “a dictator who compares Jews to Hitler is dangerous to all of humanity,” and that “Erdogan’s dictatorship is growing to monstrous proportions, thanks to an apologetic international community.”Opposition leader Tzipi Livni said that “although Erdogan’s wicked political maneuver using Israel must be universally condemned, it is also unfortunate that Netanyahu is using it to make the Jewish Nation-State Law kosher.”In his speech, Erdogan said Israel had shown itself to be a “terror state” by attacking Palestinians with tanks and artillery, adding that the move would “drown the region and world in blood and suffering.”Turkey and Israel, former allies, expelled each other’s top diplomats in May during a row over clashes in which dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on the Gaza border. However, the two sides continue to trade with one another.
The two countries have long been at loggerheads over Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians and Jerusalem’s status. Erdogan has called for a summit of Muslim leaders twice in the past six months after US President Donald Trump decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.
