Turkey’s Erdogan Firmly Supports Hamas, Compares Netanyahu To Hitler
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent shock waves through his European Union colleagues Saturday when he expressed his country’s full support for Hamas militants. He further compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini.
In a speech in Istanbul, Erdogan declared, “No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”
This despite the group’s massacre of 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping of hundreds more on Oct. 7. The European Union lists Hamas as a terrorist group, as does the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Canada, Australia and others. But not Turkey.
Instead, Erdogan on Saturday blasted Israel and Netanyahu in particular: “Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, like today’s Nazis.”
For his part, Netanyahu merely brushed off the Turkish president.
He answered that Israel adheres to the laws of war and will not be preached to concerning morality by Erdogan. After all, the Turkish leader supports Hamas, “denies the Armenian Holocaust, massacres Kurds in his own country” and targets the media and opponents of his regime.
The fallout from supporting Hamas could be immense. The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency is splitting at the seams after reports that staffers participated in the Oct. 7 massacre.
Several major donors pulled their backing when the news broke, and the U.S. paused funding last month. Canada and Sweden resumed their support in recent days.
A confrontation is brewing at the Gaza border between Israeli officials and citizens. A group of demonstrators pledged to prevent aid trucks from crossing in the region over the continued holding of hostages by Hamas.
One woman, identified as Katya, told CNN that “If they are starving to death, let the hostages go.”
And tensions sparked by the Israeli war on Hamas continue to escalate in the Gulf of Aden. Houthi rebels attacked American destroyers and a bulk carrier early on Saturday, though U.S. and French forces repelled the attempt.
