Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was worse than Nazi leader Adolf Hitler during a speech at a gathering in Ankara, drawing charges that he himself was guilty of genocide.
With a lengthy history of public attacks on each other that has fluctuated along with Israel and Turkey’s on-again, off-again partnership, the two leaders’ caustic exchange was a return to form.
After Jerusalem and Ankara renewed their ties, the attacks had stopped for the past year or so, but the détente appears to have broken down due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
During an opening speech at an award ceremony in the Turkish capital, Erdogan said the systematic slaughter of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust was not as bad as Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, and likened Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the Strip to that of Jews rounded up in concentration and death camps.
He said “We’ve seen the Nazi camps of Israel. How does this happen? They used to talk about Hitler, but how are you any different than Hitler?” he asked of Israel.
“This is even worse than Hitler,” he added to raucous applause. “What Netanyahu is doing is no less than what Hitler did.”
“Hitler was not as rich as [Netanyahu] is,” Erdogan continued after a short pause. “He is richer than Hitler. He takes support from the West, he receives all kinds of support from the US, and with all that support, 20,000 Gazans have been killed.”
Responding to Erdogan’s comments on Wednesday afternoon, Netanyahu told the Turkish leader not to lecture Israel about morality.
“Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last one who can preach morality to us.”
