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Turkish President Erdogan Calls Netanyahu ‘Worse Than Hitler’ in Angry Speech Attacking Israel
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressing a pro-Hamas rally in Istanbul, Oct. 23, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Umit Turhan Coskun
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday delivered one of the most viscerally hostile speeches against Israel during a long career of demonizing the Jewish state and insulting its leaders.
Speaking at a science awards ceremony in Ankara, Erdogan accused Israel of operating “Nazi” concentration camps and compared his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu with Adolf Hitler.
“We’ve seen the Nazi camps of Israel. How does this happen? They used to talk about Hitler, but how are you any different than Hitler?” Erdogan ranted, encountering a round of loud applause as he added, “This is even worse than Hitler. What Netanyahu is doing is worse than what Hitler did.”
Erdogan went on to observe that “Netanyahu is richer than Hitler. He takes support from the West, he receives all kinds of support from the US, and with all that support, 20,000 Gazans have been killed.”
Erdogan also addressed the impact of the war in Gaza internationally, leaping to the defense of US university presidents under fire for allegedly ignoring or downplaying a wave of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, and criticizing Germany for its support of Israel.
“Can you imagine that university presidents are being questioned and held accountable in [the US] Congress just because they advocate for the rights of children, women, and civilians?” he asked, referring to the controversial appearances of the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before a congressional committee earlier this month.
Turning his attention to Germany, Erdogan asserted that guilt over the Nazi Holocaust was effectively censoring German criticism of Israel’s military response.
“That’s why Germany remains silent,” he said, “but we don’t owe anyone. We have no debts, it is the West that owes. Because of its debt, it cannot speak up.”
Reacting to Erdogan’s speech, Netanyahu told the Turkish leader to hold his lectures in no uncertain terms.
“Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last one who can preach morality to us,” Netanyahu posted on X/Twitter.
Erdogan has made the comparison between Israel and the Nazis before. During the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, he drew an exact equivalence between Israel and the Nazi regime. “I don’t approve of what Hitler did, and neither do I approve of what Israel has done,” he said. “When it’s a question of so many people dying, it’s inappropriate to ask who was the more barbarous.”
As well as attacking Israel in the weeks since the Oct. 7 atrocities, effectively destroying a tentative detente between Ankara and Jerusalem over the past two years, Erdogan has lauded the Hamas terror group as “an organization of liberation, of mujahedeen, who fight to protect their land and citizens.”
The post Turkish President Erdogan Calls Netanyahu ‘Worse Than Hitler’ in Angry Speech Attacking Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.