Turkey's Erdogan labels Israel a 'terror state', slams its backers in West
Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu
Wed, November 15, 2023
Head of states attend OIC Summit in Riyadh Saudi Arabia
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Israel was a "terror state" committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza, sharpening his repeated criticism of Israeli leaders and their backers in the West.
Speaking two days before a planned visit to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Erdogan said Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas included "the most treacherous attacks in human history" with "unlimited" support from the West.
He called for Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and repeated his view - and Turkey's position - that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation but a political party that won past elections.
Britain, the United States, European Union and some Arab states deem Hamas a terrorist group, unlike Turkey. Ankara hosts some members of Hamas and supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"With the savagery of bombing the civilians it forced out of their homes while they are relocating, it is literally employing state terrorism," Erdogan said of Israel in parliament. "I am now saying, with my heart at ease, that Israel is a terror state.
"We will never shy away from voicing the truth that Hamas members protecting their lands, honour, and lives in the face of occupation policies are resistance fighters, just because some people are uncomfortable with it," he said.
Erdogan's trip to Germany will be his first to a Western nation since Israel began bombarding Gaza on Oct. 7 in response to Hamas's attacks. Germany has expressed strong solidarity with Israel, while urging a focus on limiting the impact of military operations on Gaza's civilian population.
"The West, namely the United States, is unfortunately still seeing this issue backwards," Erdogan said, adding he would call leaders of the countries who last month abstained from a vote at the United Nations General Assembly on an aid truce in Gaza.
Later on Wednesday, Erdogan spoke to Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and told her that Ankara expected Rome's support in achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, the Turkish presidency said. Meloni's office said she had called for rapid de-escalation in Gaza, adding Turkey had a crucial role in preventing the spread of the conflict.
Erdogan also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether or not Israel had nuclear weapons, adding that Netanyahu would soon be a "goner" from his post.
He also likened the conflict between Israel, a Jewish state, and the Palestinians to a war between the Christian and Muslim worlds, saying the crisis was "a matter of cross and crescent".
Ankara would also take steps to ensure Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territories are recognised as "terrorists", he added.
GAZAN CANCER PATIENTS TO TURKEY
Turkey has sent 666 tonnes of humanitarian aid, medicine and medical equipment and a medical team to Egypt for Gazans so far. Ankara has said it is working with Egyptian and Israeli authorities as part of a coordination mechanism to bring cancer patients and some wounded civilians to Turkey for treatment.
Speaking at Egypt's Al-Arish airport after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart and visiting the hospitals housing wounded Gazans, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 26 patients and their 13 companions would be flown to Turkey on Wednesday.
Koca said the 39 people were the first to be brought out to Egypt, and later to another country, since the fighting broke out, adding Ankara wanted to bring as many of the nearly 1,000 cancer patients from Gaza to Turkey as possible.
Footage shared later by Turkish state media showed Koca and officials greeting the patients as they arrived on stretchers at Al-Arish airport before being put on a plane to Turkey.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti and Angelo Amante in Rome; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie)
Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu
Wed, November 15, 2023
Head of states attend OIC Summit in Riyadh Saudi Arabia
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Israel was a "terror state" committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza, sharpening his repeated criticism of Israeli leaders and their backers in the West.
Speaking two days before a planned visit to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Erdogan said Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas included "the most treacherous attacks in human history" with "unlimited" support from the West.
He called for Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and repeated his view - and Turkey's position - that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation but a political party that won past elections.
Britain, the United States, European Union and some Arab states deem Hamas a terrorist group, unlike Turkey. Ankara hosts some members of Hamas and supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"With the savagery of bombing the civilians it forced out of their homes while they are relocating, it is literally employing state terrorism," Erdogan said of Israel in parliament. "I am now saying, with my heart at ease, that Israel is a terror state.
"We will never shy away from voicing the truth that Hamas members protecting their lands, honour, and lives in the face of occupation policies are resistance fighters, just because some people are uncomfortable with it," he said.
Erdogan's trip to Germany will be his first to a Western nation since Israel began bombarding Gaza on Oct. 7 in response to Hamas's attacks. Germany has expressed strong solidarity with Israel, while urging a focus on limiting the impact of military operations on Gaza's civilian population.
"The West, namely the United States, is unfortunately still seeing this issue backwards," Erdogan said, adding he would call leaders of the countries who last month abstained from a vote at the United Nations General Assembly on an aid truce in Gaza.
Later on Wednesday, Erdogan spoke to Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and told her that Ankara expected Rome's support in achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, the Turkish presidency said. Meloni's office said she had called for rapid de-escalation in Gaza, adding Turkey had a crucial role in preventing the spread of the conflict.
Erdogan also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether or not Israel had nuclear weapons, adding that Netanyahu would soon be a "goner" from his post.
He also likened the conflict between Israel, a Jewish state, and the Palestinians to a war between the Christian and Muslim worlds, saying the crisis was "a matter of cross and crescent".
Ankara would also take steps to ensure Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territories are recognised as "terrorists", he added.
GAZAN CANCER PATIENTS TO TURKEY
Turkey has sent 666 tonnes of humanitarian aid, medicine and medical equipment and a medical team to Egypt for Gazans so far. Ankara has said it is working with Egyptian and Israeli authorities as part of a coordination mechanism to bring cancer patients and some wounded civilians to Turkey for treatment.
Speaking at Egypt's Al-Arish airport after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart and visiting the hospitals housing wounded Gazans, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 26 patients and their 13 companions would be flown to Turkey on Wednesday.
Koca said the 39 people were the first to be brought out to Egypt, and later to another country, since the fighting broke out, adding Ankara wanted to bring as many of the nearly 1,000 cancer patients from Gaza to Turkey as possible.
Footage shared later by Turkish state media showed Koca and officials greeting the patients as they arrived on stretchers at Al-Arish airport before being put on a plane to Turkey.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti and Angelo Amante in Rome; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie)
GRÁINNE NÍ AODHA
Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said that some of Israel’s actions in Gaza were “something more approaching revenge”.
The Taoiseach reiterated his belief that Israel has a right to defend itself, and to “go after Hamas”, but said what he is “seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self-defence”.
He said Israel will not consider Ireland a close friend or ally as it has a different stance on Palestine than most western countries.
“I strongly believe that, like any state, Israel has the right to defend itself, has the right to go after Hamas so that they cannot do this again,” he told Irish media in South Korea.
“But what I’m seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self-defence, it looks, resembles, something more approaching revenge.
“That’s not where we should be and I don’t think that’s how Israel will guarantee its future freedom and its future security.”
Mr Varadkar made the comments at the conclusion of a diplomatic mission that he and three ministers were fronting, as part of an Irish “big bang” strategy to improve relations with less-visited countries.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during a visit to the Korean DMZ (Shin hyn Kyung/PA)
More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, when Hamas militants launched rockets, killed 1,400 Israeli citizens and took around 200 hostages to Gaza.
Israel has carried out a military response in the wake of the atrocities; on Friday its troops were engaged in an encirclement of Gaza City in an effort to attack Hamas’s operations in the enclave it rules.
Aid agencies are now battling a humanitarian crisis in Gaza with limited resources.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Friday to press for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.
Meanwhile, some dual nationals and injured citizens have been able to leave the war-ravaged region through Egypt’s Rafah crossing this week; around 35 Irish passport-holders remain in the territory.
On Thursday, Ireland’s president said that “collective punishment” cannot be accepted and there must be a push for verified facts in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Michael D Higgins said that those who want to uphold international law “must press for an independent verification of the facts”, and that lives lost should “not reduced to competing press releases”.
Mr Higgins said that if international law is to be upheld, the hostages should be released and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire should come into effect.
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