Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharpened his attacks on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comparing him to Adolf Hitler and other dictators of history.
Erdogan, who once praised Hitler for his iron grip on Germany, likened the Netanyahu-led Israeli government to “Nazis” for the ongoing military operation against the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, launched after the October 7—the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
The Turkish leader pledged his country’s ‘firm’ support for the Gaza-based Islamic terrorist group Hamas. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them,” he declared.
This is not the first such bizarre outburst by Turkey’s president since Hamas carried off the October 7 massacre. In late December, Erdogan compared the Israeli prime minister to Hitler and called Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, a “terror state.”
The Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Erdogan’s rant:
In his speech in Istanbul on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the world history’s worst dictators: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini.“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,” he said.Erdogan also reiterated his support for Hamas, noting that no one could “make” Turkey “qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” citing criticism over Ankara’s refusal to designate the group as a terrorist movement.”Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.” (…)Since October 7, Erdogan has been consistently making anti-Israel statements. The last time he compared Netanyahu to the Nazi Germany leader Hitler was back in December, to which Israeli Prime Minister responded that Erdogan is the last person ‘to preach morality’ to Israel.
The Turkish president’s latest tirade is a glaring example of self-projection. It is Erdogan, who harbors megalomaniac fantasies of conquering the world, particularly the Christian West.
He openly dreams of taking over Europe through higher Muslim and Turkish birth rates. “I am calling out to my citizens, my brothers and sisters in Europe,” Erdogan urged at a 2017 rally. “Have not just three but five children.”
He sees the religion of Islam as a weapon against the demographically declining West. “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers,” Erdogan told his followers in 1998.
Hamas scuttled the hostages-for-ceasefire deal ahead of the Ramadan by raising unrealistic demands, an article published in The Wall Street Journal on Friday indicates. The terrorist group refused to provide information on the well-being of the hostages and called for a permanent end to the Israeli military operation.
“Arab mediators say Hamas refused Israel’s request for a list of living hostages. Israel has said Hamas has ignored its requests to provide a list of living hostages the group would be willing to exchange as part of a deal,” the WSJ noted.
Out of 134 Israeli hostages believed be in Hamas’s captivity, some 60 have ‘died,’ a senior Hamas operative told the newspaper. This number is higher than previously presumed.
The WSJ reported:
Hamas is sticking to demands for a permanent end to the Gaza war, a senior political official in the militant group said, showing that wide gaps with Israel remain as negotiators prepare to resume truce talks.Unyielding positions by Israel and Hamas have caused negotiations to stall. Arab negotiators are meeting Sunday and planning to push for a much shorter cease-fire than discussed before—a two-day pause in fighting at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which is set to begin either Monday or Tuesday.The senior Hamas official, Husam Badran, warned that unrest would escalate in the West Bank and Jerusalem without a deal and said that his group was ready to keep negotiating. (…)Israel has said its priority in the talks is to secure the release of dozens of hostages captured during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli negotiators are facing a “brick wall of delusional, unrealistic Hamas demands.”The race to forge a deal that halts the fighting in the Gaza Strip comes at a critical time as Israel has said that it would begin an offensive in Rafah—where over a million Palestinians are sheltering and where Israel says Hamas leaders are hiding—during Ramadan. Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer and reflection for observant Muslims, can also be a time of heightened tensions in Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Palestinians, facing movement restrictions, seek access to holy sites that are under tight Israeli security control.Arab mediators are trying to salvage a proposal that involved a 40-day cease-fire and the release of around 40 hostages.Badran said discussions on a swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners had taken a back seat to questions of how to relieve the humanitarian situation and end the fighting. He said at least 60 hostages taken from Israel had died in captivity, a figure slightly higher than the estimated 50 dead provided by private Israeli assessments, which the Journal reported on last month.Arab mediators say Hamas refused Israel’s request for a list of living hostages. Israel has said Hamas has ignored its requests to provide a list of living hostages the group would be willing to exchange as part of a deal. Badran denied that, saying there had been no official Israeli request for such a list. He said many of the prisoners are held by other factions, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, making them harder to locate.The talks, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the U.S., ran for four days this week. They are expected to resume in Cairo on Sunday, Egyptian officials said. Badran said Hamas’s political leadership in Doha was meeting Saturday afternoon to discuss the negotiations.
Hamas is seeking to unleash a campaign of terror during Ramadan. The terrorist group is egging Palestinians on to riot at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Hamas in a recent statement threatened Israel with more terrorist attacks if military-aged men were restricted from entering the Temple Mount during Ramadan. On Friday, Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas’s terrorist fighting force the al-Qassam Brigades, declared Ramadan a month of ‘jihad and victories.’
“May the approaching month of Ramadan be a month of obedience, jihad, and victories,” Abu Obaida declared Friday. “As Muslims worldwide prepare to welcome Ramadan, we have offered a sacrifice to Allah – a cascade of pure blood and pure souls. We welcome it with the peak of Islamic zeal, jihad, steadfastness, and combat during a time when men are honored [for jihad terror during the month],” he added.
There are signs that Qatar, Hamas’s longtime patron, is losing patience with the terrorist group. “According to Egyptian and Hamas officials, Qatar has threatened to expel Hamas officially from their base in Doha if they don’t come to an agreement,” the Jerusalem Post reported Friday. Besides Qatar, other Muslim countries like Iran, Turkey, and Syria are possible safe havens for the Palestinian terrorist group.
The Israeli armed forces are conducting joint operations and precision strikes across Gaza, particularly in terrorist-infested southern strongholds. “IDF special forces are continuing to operate in the Hamad area in Khan Yunis, conducting close-quarters combat with terrorists, while receiving aerial cover from the IAF,” the Israel military said in statement Sunday morning. “IAF fighter jets also struck terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Jabalya and Beit Hanoun overnight.”
While the IDF takes on Hamas’ terrorist fighting force in Gaza, the security forces are battling Palestinian terrorists inside Israel. On Sunday, a joint Israeli police and intelligence operation busted a 13-member strong Hamas terrorist cell in northern Israel.
The Israeli news website Ynet reported:
Police and Shin Bet reported on Sunday uncovering a terrorist cell in northern Israel planning to carry out attacks on behalf of Hamas.According to a joint statement, a total of 13 suspects, all Israeli Arabs mostly from Sakhnin, were apprehended and are expected to be hit with terrorism charges.Some suspects were involved in a firebombing attack on Kibbutz Eshbal during the May 2021 Gaza war.Four firearms, ammunition and bulletproof vests were seized as part of the operations. The weapons were reportedly purchased from operatives in the West Bank.One suspect was in contact with Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip, who provided him with instructions for manufacturing explosives and instructed him to recruit additional members.
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