US Slams Turkish President Erdogan’s ‘Anti-Semitic Remarks’ on Israel

By: Aryeh Savir

The US “strongly condemns” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “anti-Semitic comments regarding the Jewish people and finds them reprehensible,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated Tuesday.

Erdogan, who shares close ties with Hamas, accused Israel of “terrorism” and recently said that “it is in their [Jews] nature,” AFP reported.

“They are murderers, to the point that they kill children who are five or six years old. They only are satisfied by sucking their blood,” he reportedly said.

On Monday, he quoted “a former Israeli prime minister, I am not going to give his name, told me years ago that he had the ‘biggest pleasure’ when he killed Palestinians during his military service as a general.”

Price urged Erdogan and other Turkish leaders to “refrain from incendiary remarks, which could incite further violence. We call on Turkey to join the United States in working to end the conflict.”

Erdogan accused President Joe Biden of having “bloody hands” because of Washington’s support for Israel’s counterterrorism campaign in Gaza Strip.

“You are writing history with your bloody hands,” Erdogan said in televised remarks directed at Biden. “You forced us to say this. We cannot step back.”

Responding to Erdogan’s remarks in the Jews, Price said that “anti-Semitic language has no place anywhere. The United States is deeply committed to combatting anti-Semitism in all of its forms. We take seriously the violence that often accompanies anti-Semitism and the dangerous lies that undergird it. We must always counter lies with facts and answer crimes of hate with justice.”

The relations between Israel and Turkey have been sour for years as Erdogan and his Islamist ruling party have drawn the country toward the Muslim Brotherhood and have espoused anti-Israel Islamic ideas.

In another development, TPS reported that an Arab was shot and seriously wounded Tuesday night after attempting to run through a police roadblock set near the community of Adam, north of Jerusalem.

The police stated that the car was stopped at the checkpoint as it was suspected of being stolen. Immediately after stopping, the driver sped toward the police while endangering them.

The police responded to the threat by shooting the driver.

There were no Israeli casualties.

In related news, police arrested three Arabs who threw firebombs securing the Shimon HaTzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood in Jerusalem.

Also on Tuesday, TPS reported that Israeli police arrested an Arab resident of Yaffo on suspicion that he participated in the lynching of an IDF soldier about a week ago in the city.

Investigators launched an investigation after the soldier was injured in the head with a rock by Arabs who attacked him.

             (TPS)