Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded accusations Wednesday after Erdoğan said Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon had begun to threaten Turkey.
Erdoğan told lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that Israel had become a threat not only to the Middle East but also to humanity.
“The attacks by Netanyahu and his network of murder against Syria and Lebanon have reached a point where they threaten Turkey as well as these two brotherly countries,” Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan said Turkey’s security depended on stability beyond its southern border, including in Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut.
Erdoğan also accused Israel of trying to destabilize African countries and the Mediterranean region and warned against any challenge to the rights of Turkey or Turkish Cypriots in the eastern Mediterranean.
“Let no one pursue adventures,” Erdoğan said. “If the rights and interests of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots are targeted in the eastern Mediterranean, our response will be clear and strong.”
Erdoğan said Israel had been encouraged by the international community’s silence and called for international action to bring the country “within the bounds of the rule of law.”
Netanyahu responded in a statement posted on X, calling Erdoğan an “antisemitic dictator.”
“The antisemitic dictator Erdoğan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, supports the Hamas terrorist organization, oppresses his own people and imprisons political rivals, is the last person who can preach morality to the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
“The State of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces, the most moral army in the world, will continue to act forcefully against Iran and its proxies, which threaten the Middle East and the entire world,” he added.
Turkey considers Hamas a Palestinian resistance organization rather than a terrorist group and has maintained contacts with its political leadership.
The exchange came as Israel continued military operations against Iran and Iran-linked groups in Lebanon and Syria.
Turkey has accused Israel of provoking the conflict between the United States and Iran and of seeking to extend its influence across the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean.