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Israeli-Turkish Relations Nosedive Again Following Erdogan’s Threat to ‘Send Netanyahu to Allah’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressing a pro-Hamas rally in Istanbul. Photo: Reuters/Dilara Senkaya
Turkey’s foreign ministry issued a furious condemnation of Israel on Friday as it responded to a dressing-down of Ankara’s ambassador in Tel Aviv by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Katz had summoned the Turkish envoy, Şakir Özkan Torunlar, to lodge a protest against an election rally speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday in which he threatened to “send [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to Allah to take care of him, make him miserable and curse him.”
Erdogan’s latest salvo against Netanyahu was one more example of his increasingly inflammatory denunciations of Israel since the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7. Erdogan has yet to condemn the slaughter, during which more than 1,200 people were murdered and over 200 taken hostage amid atrocities that included mass rape, while constantly aiming barbs at Israel — among them the statement that Netanyahu is “worse than Hitler.” He has also lauded Hamas terrorists as “freedom fighters,” declaring earlier this month that “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”
In a post on X/Twitter following his meeting with Torunlar, Katz pulled no punches. Referring to “Erdogan’s serious attack on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his threats to send PM Netanyahu to Allah,” Katz declared: “You who support the burning of babies, murderers, rapists and the mutilation of corpses by Hamas criminals, [are] the last one who can speak about God. There is no God who will listen to those who support the atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by your barbaric Hamas friends.”
Katz then exhorted: “Be quiet and shame on you!”
In its reply to Katz, the Turkish foreign ministry rejected the criticism entirely, suggesting in the opening sentence of its statement that Israel has been built upon “occupied” Palestinian land since its creation.
“Since the first day they occupied Palestinian lands, the Israeli authorities have made a great effort to keep the serious crimes they committed against the Palestinians secret, and have tried to create an armor of immunity for themselves,” the statement claimed. “They have targeted our President, who screams the truth.”
The statement went to accuse Israel of committing “genocide” in its current war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, claiming that the “entire world public opinion is eagerly awaiting the day when Israeli officials who committed crimes will be brought to justice.”
Erdogan’s attack on Netanyahu came in the same week that he threatened to intensify Turkish military operations against Kurdish fighters across the border in Iraq, pledging to create a “security corridor” that would “give new nightmares to those who think that they will bring Turkey to its knees with a ‘Terroristan’ along its southern borders.”
One Kurdish opposition politician highlighted Erdogan’s equation of the Kurdish people — who number 25 million and have been consistently denied the right of national self-determination — with “terrorism” with alarm.
“Erdogan’s policy during the election campaign is as follows: he conducts his campaign using the word and concept ‘terroristan’ for Kurds and the region where the Kurdish people live,” Tulay Hatimogullari, co-chair of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, observed in a speech earlier this week to mark the Kurdish New Year.
“The geography where the Kurdish people live, the geography where peoples live, is not ‘terroristan,’ it is Kurdistan,” she added.
The post Israeli-Turkish Relations Nosedive Again Following Erdogan’s Threat to ‘Send Netanyahu to Allah’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Egypt’s Sisi, Trump Discuss Gaza Ceasefire; No Mention of Palestinian Transfer in Statement
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, June 10, 2024. Photo: Amr Nabil/Pool via REUTERS
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and US President Donald Trump agreed on the need to consolidate the Gaza ceasefire deal in a phone call on Saturday, the Egyptian presidency said, but it was unclear if they discussed Trump’s call for the transfer of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.
The presidency said in a statement they had a positive dialogue which stressed the importance of fully implementing the first and second phases of the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and the need to step up humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza.
However, the statement did not mention if they discussed Trump’s statement last week that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza following 15 months of Israeli bombardments that have left most of its 2.3 million people homeless.
Critics have called his suggestion tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
Sisi rejected the idea on Wednesday, describing it as an “act of injustice.” However, on Thursday Trump reiterated his call, saying that “we do a lot for them, and they are going to do it,” in an apparent reference to US aid to both Egypt and Jordan.
Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Saturday also rejected a transfer of Palestinians from their land, saying such a move would threaten regional stability, spread conflict and undermine prospects for peace.
In their call, Sisi and Trump also expressed their keenness to achieve peace and stability in the region, the Egyptian presidency statement said.
Sisi invited Trump to visit Egypt as soon as possible to discuss problems in the Middle East, the statement added. The two presidents also discussed the need to strengthen their economic and investment ties, it said.
The post Egypt’s Sisi, Trump Discuss Gaza Ceasefire; No Mention of Palestinian Transfer in Statement first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu to Depart Sunday for US to Meet with Trump
US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk in the midst of a joint news conference in the White House in Washington, US, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart on Sunday for the United States to meet with President Donald Trump, Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday.
Netanyahu has been invited to visit Trump at the White House on Tuesday and they will discuss the situation in Gaza, hostages held by Hamas, and the confrontation with Iran and its regional allies, a statement from his office said.
The post Netanyahu to Depart Sunday for US to Meet with Trump first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Hostages, Palestinian Prisoners Released in Latest Gaza Exchange
Ofer Kalderon embraces his partner, Ramat Gan, Israel, February 1, 2025. Photo: Maayan Toaf/GPO/Handout via REUTERS
Palestinian terrorist group Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages on Saturday, and dozens of Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released in exchange, in the latest stage of a truce aimed at ending the 15-month war in Gaza.
Ofer Kalderon, a French-Israeli dual national, and Yarden Bibas were handed over to Red Cross officials in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis before being transferred to Israel. Israeli-American Keith Siegel was separately handed over at the Gaza City seaport.
Hours later, 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released in the exchange. Among them, 150 arrived in Gaza while 32 got off a bus in Ramallah in the West Bank, where they were greeted by large crowds. One freed prisoner will be exiled to Egypt, according to the Hamas prisoners’ media office.
“I feel joy despite the journey of pain and hardship that we lived,” said Ali Al-Barghouti, who was serving two life sentences in an Israeli jail.
“The life sentence was broken and the occupation will one day be broken,” added Barghouti, as the crowd around him in Ramallah chanted “Allah Akbar (God is the most great).”
At the newly reopened Rafah crossing on the southern border, children suffering from cancer and heart conditions were among the first Palestinian patients to be allowed to leave Gaza for medical treatment in Egypt.
Mohammad Zaqout, a senior official in Gaza’s health ministry, however, criticized the limited number of patients allowed to travel for treatment, saying that around 18,000 people needed better healthcare.
In Israel, crowds gathered at the location in Tel Aviv known as Hostage Square to watch the release in the morning of the Israeli hostages on giant outdoor screens, mixing cheers and applause with tears as the three men appeared.
Kalderon, whose two children Erez and Sahar were released in the first hostage exchange in November 2023, and Bibas both briefly mounted a stage in Khan Younis, in front of a poster of Hamas figures including Mohammad Deif, the former military commander whose death was confirmed by Hamas this week, before being handed over to the Red Cross officials.
“Ofer Kalderon is free! We share the immense relief and joy of his loved ones after 483 days of unimaginable hell,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement.
Saturday’s handover saw none of the chaotic scenes that overshadowed an earlier transfer on Thursday, when Hamas guards struggled to shield hostages from a surging crowd in Gaza.
But it was once again an occasion for a show of force by uniformed Hamas fighters who paraded in the area where the handovers took place in a sign of their re-established dominance in Gaza despite the heavy losses suffered in the war.
NEGOTIATIONS ON RELEASE OF REMAINING HOSTAGES
The total number of hostages freed so far is 18, including five Thais who were part of an unscheduled release on Thursday.
After Saturday’s exchange, Israel will have released 583 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including terrorists serving life sentences for deadly attacks as well as some detained during the war but not charged.
As the fighting has abated, diplomatic efforts to build a wider settlement have stepped up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on Tuesday with the ceasefire in Gaza, and a possible normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia as part of a postwar deal likely to be a focus.
During the first phase of the ceasefire, 33 children, women and older male hostages as well as sick and injured, were due to be released, with more than 60 men of military age left for a second phase which must still be worked out.
Negotiations are due to start by Tuesday on agreements for the release of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in a second phase of the deal, which is intended to lead to a final end of the war in Gaza.
The initial six-week truce, agreed with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the United States, has mostly remained intact despite incidents that have led both sides to accuse the other of violating the deal.
Netanyahu’s government, which has hardliners who opposed the ceasefire deal, and Hamas say they are committed to reaching an agreement in the second phase.
But prospects for a durable settlement remain unclear. The war started with a Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, and saw more than 250 taken as hostages. Gaza is in ruins and a deep legacy of bitterness and mistrust remains.
Israeli leaders continue to insist that Hamas cannot remain in Gaza, but the terror group has taken every opportunity to demonstrate the control it continues to exert despite the loss of much of its former leadership and thousands of fighters during the war.
The post Israeli Hostages, Palestinian Prisoners Released in Latest Gaza Exchange first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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