Türkiye on Wednesday sharply condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over comments targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, criticizing the Israeli leader for attempting to mislead international public opinion while deflecting attention from Israel's war crimes in Gaza. Senior Turkish officials described Netanyahu's remarks as baseless and provocative, reiterating calls for international legal accountability over the war.
The Foreign Ministry criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for seeking to manipulate international public opinion through "baseless, provocative and untrue allegations" against President Erdoğan.
The ministry's statement came after Netanyahu posted remarks on social media portraying Israel as morally superior while directing criticism at the Turkish president. Earlier in the day, Erdoğan had urged the international community to stop Netanyahu and his "network of murderers" from expanding violence across the region, including in Lebanon and Syria.
Türkiye is a fierce critic of Israel and one of the few countries in its region to openly defy the Netanyahu administration's genocidal campaign of expansionism that spread from the Palestinian territories to Lebanon and beyond. For Ankara, Israel is the biggest obstacle to peace in the wider region. The country has exerted efforts for a diplomatic solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict and cut off all ties with Israel since the genocide in Gaza began three years ago. Erdoğan is at the forefront of the criticism and has repeatedly urged the international community to stop Israel before it embarked on another campaign of terror in Lebanon.
