France strongly condemned Israel for its continuing operations in Gaza, the first European country to do so, and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also lashed at the Jewish state for what he called its “deliberate” murder of Palestinians, labeling it “genocide.”
In a pre-election rally in Istanbul, Erdogan accused Israel of deliberately murdering Palestinian mothers and children in order to eradicate the Palestinian race and he compared the Jewish state’s actions to those of Hitler, The Independent reported.
“Just like Hitler, who sought to establish a race free of all faults, Israel is chasing after the same target,” Erdogan told a crowd of thousands of supporters.
“They kill women so that they will not give birth to Palestinians; they kill babies so that they won’t grow up; they kill men so they can’t defend their country … They will drown in the blood they shed,” he added.
His comments came after another U.N. shelter was bombed in Rafah, killing 10 people and wounding at least 30, most of them children.
Apparently, it is not the first time Erdogan compared the Jewish state to Nazi Germany–which killed 6 million Jews in World War II. In July, the Turkish PM said Israel “surpassed Hitler in Barbarism,” Reuters earlier reported.
His comments drew a quick response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who accused Erdogan of anti-Semitism, Reuters reported.
Erdogan is placing foreign policy at the core of his campaign as 50 million Turks are expected to cast their votes in their nation’s first direct presidential election on August 10.
The Turkish population, mainly comprised of Sunni Muslims, overwhelmingly supports the Palestinians, and protesters have repeatedly expressed their condemnation of the Israeli attacks in Gaza.
