ANKARA: The war of words between Israel and Turkey escalated on Saturday when the Turkish president suggested he might attack the Jewish state.
“Had Pakistan not been mediating in the war between the US and Iran, we would have shown Israel its place”, said Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a political event on Saturday night as he accused Benjamin Netanyahu of being “blinded by blood and hatred. Just as we entered Libya and Karabakh, we can enter Israel.”
Israel Katz, the hawkish Israeli defence minister, upped his rhetoric in response, accusing Erdogan of massacring Kurds. “Turkish president Erdogan, who did not respond to missile fire from Iran into Turkish territory and was revealed as a paper tiger, is fleeing to the realms of antisemitism,” he said.
There is little love lost between Turkey and Israel as both compete to become the dominant regional power.
Turkey has been a vocal critic of the war in Gaza, which it describes as a genocide. It implemented a trade embargo on Israel in May 2024, halting exports and imports and resulting in a severe decline in bilateral trade.
According to reports in Turkey on Saturday, Turkish war crimes prosecutors are also seeking up to 4,596 years behind bars in total for officials including Benjamin Netanyahu, the national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Katz.
Meanwhile, both rival each other in terms of military prowess and relationships with other world powers.
Both Erdogan and Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, are close to Donald Trump. Both possess formidable militaries, with Turkey’s standing military force the second largest in Nato after the USA’s.
Ankara is also working on increasing its status in the Middle East. It has developed closer diplomatic relations with Greece, Cyprus and the Gulf states, while also strengthening its influence in Syria and riling up Israel after it backed Ahmed al-Sharaa and his forces to topple the Assad regime last year.
