Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz tweeted that he instructed ministry officials to summon the Turkish deputy ambassador to Israel “for a serious reprimand” following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent remarks that included a verbal attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
I instructed @IsraelMFA officials to summon the Turkish deputy ambassador to Israel for a serious reprimand, following @RTErdogan’s attack on Prime Minister @netanyahu and his threats to send PM Netanyahu to Allah and to convey a clear message to Erdogan:
You who supports the…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) March 22, 2024
“I instructed @IsraelMFA officials to summon the Turkish deputy ambassador to Israel for a serious reprimand, following @RTErdogan’s attack on Prime Minister @netanyahu and his threats to send PM Netanyahu to Allah,” Katz tweeted.
Erdoğan, who long marketed himself in the Muslim world as the champion of Palestinian rights and a strong critic of Israel, has repeatedly accused Israel of being a “terrorist state” and committing “genocide” in Gaza due to Israel’s ongoing attacks on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
However, the trade between Israel and Turkey shows no signs of winding down despite Erdoğan’s comparisons between Netanyahu and Hitler and praise of Hamas as freedom fighters.
What Katz refers to are Erdoğan’s recent remarks: “We entrust the person known as Netanyahu to our Lord by the glorious name of Qahhar [The Vanquisher, The Subduer, one of the names of God in Islam]. May our Lord destroy and annihilate him.”
Kantz said he instructed his subordinates “to convey a clear message to Erdogan.”
“You who supports the burning of babies, murderers, rapists and the mutilation of corpses by Hamas criminals, is the last one who can speak about God. There is no God who will listen to those who support the atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by your barbaric Hamas friends. Be quiet and shame on you!” Kantz tweeted.
Israel began pounding Gaza in the aftermath of an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on October 7, which left some 1,200 people dead in Israel. The death toll in Gaza, in the meantime, has reached near 32,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.