Israel has condemned Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he branded Zionism a “genocidal ideology” and invoked the Holocaust in incendiary rhetoric targeting the Jewish state
On Friday, Erdogan said the government in Jerusalem was attempting to destabilise the region and claimed: “The genocidal ideology known as Zionism targets everyone who defends humanitarian values.”
Referring to Nazi Germany and the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Erdogan said that civilians had paid the price for international inaction against “Hitler, Pol Pot and other crazed oppressors”.
He said: “Millions of people from various origins and faiths were subjected to genocide in Hitler’s concentration camps and Pol Pot’s killing fields.
“Humanity, unfortunately, just stood idly by and watched what unfolded. The same mistake is being repeated today in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.
“The world is failing to adequately react to the genocidal network’s lawless policies that recognize no principles, values and limits.”
The Turkish leader warned Muslim countries not to rely on outside powers.
“I believe that it must now be understood that we as Muslims cannot achieve anything by pinning our hopes on others,” Erdogan said.
“We have to be strong and deterrent, defending our rights together and building peace and security in our region together.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded on Saturday that Erdogan was seeking “new heights of wild incitement against the Jewish state in an attempt to divert attention from his actions against his own people and across the region.”
The ministry accused the Turkish leader of imprisoning political opponents, supporting the Hamas terrorist organisation and invading neighbouring countries.
“Erdogan seeks to deflect attention from his own disgraceful actions by spreading false blood libels,” the ministry said.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry rejected Jerusalem’s response, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of genocide in Gaza.
It also said that Israeli institutions operated “in a manner similar to Goebbels’s propaganda machine,” referring to Nazi Germany’s Propaganda Minister.
The comments appear to be a breach of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which lists “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” among examples that may constitute antisemitism.
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