Turkey’s Erdogan labels Israel a ‘terror state,’ slams its backers in West

Erdogan, the president of Turkey, declared on Wednesday that Israel is a “terror state” that is violating international law in Gaza and committing war crimes, intensifying his criticism of Israeli leaders and those who support them in the West.

Days before he was due to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Germany, Erdogan declared that Israel’s military campaign against the terrorist organization Hamas in Palestine constituted “the most treacherous attacks in human history” with “unlimited” help from the West.

Reiterating Turkey’s and his own opinions, he called for Israeli officials to be tried for war crimes before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, characterizing Hamas as a political party that has won elections rather than a terrorist group.

The governments of the United States, the European Union, Britain, and other Arab nations view Hamas as a terrorist group, in contrast to Turkey. Ankara hosts some Hamas terrorists and advocates for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“With the savagery of bombing the civilians it forced out of their homes while they were relocating, it is employing state terrorism,” Erdogan said in parliament, criticizing Israel. It is with great certainty that I proclaim Israel to be a terrorist state.

“We will never shy away from voicing the truth that Hamas members protecting their lands, honor, and lives in the face of occupation policies are resistance fighters, just because some people are uncomfortable with it,” he said.

Erdogan is traveling to a Western nation for the first time since Israel began bombing Gaza on October 7 in reprisal for attacks by Hamas. He’s going to Germany on this excursion. While expressing strong sympathy with Israel, Germany has called for attention to be paid to reducing the consequences of military operations on Gaza’s civilian population.

“The West, namely the United States, is unfortunately still seeing this issue backwards,” Erdogan said, threatening to call a meeting of leaders of the countries who did not vote in favor of a humanitarian truce in Gaza at last month’s UN General Assembly.

Later on Wednesday, Erdogan told Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni that Ankara anticipates Rome’s support in achieving a ceasefire in Gaza. Meloni’s office stated that she called for an immediate de-escalation in Gaza and emphasized that Turkey was necessary to stop the crisis from getting worse. Erdogan called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “goner” and threatened to remove him from office, demanding to know if Israel possesses nuclear weapons or not.

He went on to say that it was “a matter of cross and crescent.” He likened the conflict between the worlds of Islam and Christianity to that between Israel, a Jewish state, and the Palestinian people. According to him, Ankara would also ensure that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian land would be associated with the designation of “terrorists.”

So far, 666 tons of medical supplies, drugs, and equipment for Gazans have been sent to Egypt by Turkey and a medical team. Ankara has said that it is working with Israeli and Egyptian authorities as part of a coordination framework to bring cancer patients and certain injured civilians to Turkey for treatment. At Egypt’s Al-Arish airport, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that 26 patients and their 13 companions will be flown to Turkey on Wednesday. This came after he spoke with his Egyptian counterpart and saw the facilities housing injured Gazans.

According to Koca, since the violence began, the 39 people were the first to be evacuated to Egypt and subsequently another country. She said that Ankara wanted to get as many of the about one thousand cancer patients in Gaza into Turkey as it could. In later images made public by Turkish state media, Koca and the authorities were shown greeting the patients. Stretcher-borne, the patients had arrived at Al-Arish airport and were due to take a flight to Turkey.