“You’re like Hitler”, “Anti-Semite”: vitriolic clash between Erdogan and Netanyahu

Erdogan’s attack, comparison with Hitler

”Eighty-five years ago, silence and inaction in the face of Hitler led to the deaths of 80 million people around the world. All humanity paid the price for the madness of a deranged tyrant. Today, the same mistake is being repeated,” Erdogan declared in Parliament. ”The genocidal actions of the butcher of Gaza Netanyahu and his government are observed with the same silence and lack of reaction that once greeted Hitler,” Erdogan added, underlining that ”no one should forget that when a fire breaks out, it not only burns the region in which it starts”, but ”its sparks spread throughout the world”.

Therefore, the Turkish president underlined, ”just as today the whole world is paying the price for the unresolved situation in the Strait of Hormuz, if Israel’s lawlessness is not put to an end, all of humanity, together with the region, will suffer the consequences”.

Ira Netanyahu: “Anti-Semitic Dictator”

Netanyahu’s response was not long in coming and was entrusted to ‘X’. ”The anti-Semitic dictator Erdogan, who is committing genocide against the Kurds, supports the terrorist organization Hamas, oppresses his own people and imprisons political opponents, is the last person who can give morality lessons to the State of Israel,” the Israeli prime minister wrote in a post. ”The State of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces, the most moral army in the world, will continue to act firmly against Iran and its allies, who threaten the Middle East and the entire world,” he concluded.

The precedents

Erdogan’s attack on Netanyahu is the latest in a series, fueled over the years by the Israeli government’s policies against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and against Lebanon. In June a year ago, again in Parliament, Erdogan had defined Netanyahu as “far worse than Hitler” and had defended Iran’s “legitimate right to defend itself from Israel’s terrorism”.

Two years ago, once again in June in Parliament, Erdogan had defined Netanyahu as a ”mentally ill person” who with his actions in Lebanon would have ”aggravated the disaster”. More recently, last March, in a speech made during the first day of Eid-al-Fitr Erdogan said that “Netanyahu’s terror continues to threaten regional and global peace”.