Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces condemnation from much of the international community for his indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians amid accusations of genocide Gaza, directed on Tuesday harsh words against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during an event in Jerusalem alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to inaugurate the so-called Pilgrimage Road dug in the City of David.
“Jerusalem is our city. Mr Erdoğan, this is not your city. This is our city. It will always be our city. It will never be divided again“, Netanyahu proclaimed in his speech, which was echoed by numerous media outlets. In his speech, aimed at reopening a first-century path connecting the Pool of Siloam to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Netanyahu also referred to a meeting that allegedly took place in 1998 with then Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz, in which – according to the Israeli leader’s account – Yılmaz refused to return to Israel a tablet with a Hebrew inscription found near the site because “it would prove that Jerusalem was a Jewish city 2,700 years ago“.
These controversial statements come just hours after Israel launched a new ground offensive on Gaza City amid protests from much of the international community over the critical humanitarian situation in the Strip. Precisely on his return from the joint emergency summit held by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League in Qatar, Erdoğan had once again warned that “Netanyahu will share Hitler’s fate. Israel harms Muslims, Christians and also Jews. When you listen to Jews who oppose Israel’s genocide, you see clearly how dangerous the Zionist ideology is. If Zionist Israel is to be associated with anything, it is with terrorism and fascism“.
The spokesman for Erdoğan’s AKP party, Ömer Çelik, also immediately responded to the Israeli prime minister’s statements: “The words of Netanyahu, head of the genocidal network, against our President, have no validity,” Çelik wrote on social media, accusing the Israeli leader of trying to appropriate Jerusalem, which he defined as a place shared by different religions and with universal historical value.
“Netanyahu’s delusions of treating Jerusalem, a common value of humanity, as if it was his private property, represent enmity against all the values of humanity… These statements represent a new crime of genocide against people and values, the fruit of a fanatical hostility towards humanity. The answer will come from an alliance of all humanity”.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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