Israeli minister says reconciliation with Turkey a mistake
A top Israeli minister has said a 2016 reconciliation agreement with Turkey was a mistake as a war of words is escalating between the Turkish president and the Israeli prime minister.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a "terrorist and occupier." Netanyahu shot back, calling the Turkish leader a butcher.
Israel’s public security minister Gilad Erdan on Monday called Erdogan “an anti-Semite who continues to support Hamas.”
“Looking back, maybe the accord should not have been approved,” Erdan told Army Radio, referring to the 2016 deal with Ankara that ended years of diplomatic crisis, following an Israeli naval raid on a Turkish aid ship trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
The raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla left 10 Turkish activists dead, leading to the worst crisis in diplomatic ties which were restored after six years.
Erden said Israel must stand up “to the hostility and anti-Semitism of Erdogan. It’s odd for a country such as Turkey, that is massacring the Kurds and occupying northern Cyprus, to be accepted as a legitimate nation by the West.”
Erdan’s comments echoed those of Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, who in December called the accord a “diplomatic mistake” that had “failed”.
At the time Erdogan called Israel a “terrorist state” that “kills children” after US President Donald Trump’s recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the so-called capital of Israel.
Netanyahu stepped up a war of words with Erdogan Sunday, accusing him of committing crimes.
“Someone who occupies northern Cyprus, invades the Kurdish regions, and slaughters civilians in Afrin — should not preach to us about values and ethics,” the hardline Israeli leader said.
Netanyahu was responding to Erdogan’s strong criticism of an ongoing Israeli crackdown on a peaceful Palestinian rally near the Gaza fence which has left 17 people dead so far.
“Hey Netanyahu! You are an occupier. And it is as an occupier that you are on those lands. At the same time, you are a terrorist,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Adana, southern Turkey.
“What you do to the oppressed Palestinians will be part of history and we will never forget it,” he added.
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