By: Fern Sidman

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli delivered a scathing rebuke of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday, calling him “a sworn enemy of Israel and the West, a jihadist in a suit,” and warning that the Jewish state “will not tolerate a Turkish presence” near its borders.

Chikli’s remarks, which drew significant attention across diplomatic circles, came in response to Ankara’s potential involvement in President Donald Trump’s recently launched peace plan for the Middle East, which envisions a post-war stabilization framework for the Gaza Strip. According to a report that appeared on Monday on The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), Chikli’s intervention reflects Israel’s deep unease over the inclusion of Turkey — a nation it views as increasingly aligned with Hamas and hostile to Western interests — in any future arrangements concerning Gaza or Syria.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Chikli cited Erdoğan’s recent invocation against Israel during a public prayer on March 30, 2025, in which the Turkish president declared, “May Allah, for the sake of His name … destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.” The minister noted pointedly that such rhetoric was not coming from the likes of Hamas or Hezbollah, but from a NATO member and head of state.

“These are not slips of the tongue,” Chikli wrote. “They are the words of a dangerous enemy.”

As reported by The Jewish News Syndicate, Chikli accused Erdoğan of attempting to “undermine the Jewish people’s eternal bond with their capital,” describing him as “an ignorant dictator who likely never opened the Quran nor heard of King David and Solomon, both praised in Surah Al-Anbiya and other chapters.”

In a historical rebuttal, the minister reminded Erdoğan that Jerusalem’s status as the Jewish capital long predates Islam, writing, “Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since the days of King David — 1,500 years before the birth of Muhammad, and 2,500 years before the imperial-colonial Ottoman occupation.”

At the heart of the controversy is Turkey’s proposed role in Trump’s 20-point Middle East peace plan, unveiled earlier this month. The plan seeks to stabilize Gaza through an international coalition of partners, including select Arab states and Muslim-majority countries, that would oversee disarmament, reconstruction, and governance following Hamas’s defeat.

According to the information provided in the JNS report, Erdoğan pledged last week to “fully support” the Trump plan and to participate in post-conflict management in Gaza — a move that alarmed Israeli officials. Turkey’s commitments reportedly include deploying search and rescue teams to help recover the bodies of hostages and contributing personnel to a multinational stabilization task force charged with maintaining order and training local security units.

While the Trump administration has welcomed Turkey’s involvement, Israeli leaders view Ankara’s participation as a grave strategic risk.

As The Jewish News Syndicate report detailed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has privately and publicly rejected the notion of Turkish participation in any multinational stabilization force deployed to Gaza. Speaking before the Knesset on Monday, Netanyahu reportedly described Turkey’s potential involvement as Israel’s “red line,” emphasizing that Ankara’s ideological affinity with Hamas disqualifies it from any role in regional peacekeeping.

Sources quoted in the JNS report said Netanyahu’s reference to “new threats” during his Knesset address was a direct allusion to the growing influence of Turkey and Qatar in the region — both of which the Israeli government considers destabilizing forces.

The Prime Minister’s Office has also expressed reservations about allowing Turkish construction companies to participate in Gaza’s post-war reconstruction, fearing that such entities could be exploited to funnel funds or materials to Hamas or other extremist factions.

In an interview with Kan Reshet Bet Radio, Israeli minister Ze’ev Elkin, who serves in the Finance Ministry, echoed Chikli’s and Netanyahu’s concerns. “We all hear Erdoğan’s statements,” Elkin said. “The man openly prays for Israel’s destruction. We cannot ignore this and then invite him to operate a peacekeeping mission on our border.”

Elkin added that while the United Arab Emirates could be “trusted a bit more” as a regional partner, he doubted their ability — or willingness — to enforce Hamas’s disarmament, one of the key conditions outlined in Trump’s peace initiative.

According to the information contained in the JNS report, discussions about Turkey’s potential role featured prominently in Netanyahu’s meetings this week with Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, the President’s Middle East envoy. Both men are in Israel as part of a broader diplomatic effort to implement the early phases of the peace framework and consolidate support among regional allies.

As the JNS report recounted, Israeli-Turkish relations have deteriorated steadily since Erdoğan’s rise to power in 2003. Once close military and intelligence partners, the two nations have been at odds over Hamas, with Ankara emerging as one of the group’s most vocal political and financial backers.

Turkey has repeatedly hosted Hamas officials and provided diplomatic cover for the organization’s leadership-in-exile. Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre, Erdoğan initially condemned civilian deaths but quickly pivoted to accusing Israel of “genocide,” prompting Jerusalem to recall its ambassador.

Despite several attempts at reconciliation over the years — including limited cooperation on trade and tourism — the relationship has remained deeply strained. The Jewish News Syndicate reported that Israel now sees Turkey’s growing regional activism, especially in Syria, Libya, and Gaza, as part of a broader strategy to project Islamist influence at the expense of Western interests.

Chikli’s rhetoric on Monday was unusually blunt for a cabinet minister, underscoring the Israeli government’s alarm over what it perceives as Ankara’s double game: participating in U.S.-sponsored peace efforts while maintaining ideological and logistical ties to militant Islamists.

Describing Erdoğan as a “jihadist in a suit,” Chikli accused the Turkish leader of attempting to “repackage his Islamist ambitions under the banner of diplomacy.” His ministry, which also oversees efforts to combat antisemitism worldwide, warned that Erdoğan’s public prayers for Israel’s destruction reflect a dangerous fusion of religion and politics that “legitimizes hatred against Jews everywhere.”

According to the JNS report, the minister’s statement was widely shared on Israeli social media and drew support from lawmakers across party lines. “We cannot allow those who glorify terror and deny Israel’s right to exist to participate in shaping our security environment,” wrote one Knesset member in response.

The episode also highlights an emerging divergence between Washington and Jerusalem on how to manage post-war Gaza. While Trump’s administration appears eager to leverage Turkish cooperation — seeing Ankara as a potentially stabilizing NATO ally with regional reach — Israel views the move as dangerously naïve.

As reported by The Jewish News Syndicate, Netanyahu has conveyed to U.S. officials that any Turkish footprint in Gaza would be unacceptable. “For Israel, allowing Turkey into Gaza would be like inviting the fox to guard the henhouse,” one senior Israeli official told JNS.

Chikli’s reference to King David and Solomon was more than rhetorical flourish. As the JNS report observed, it was a direct rebuttal to Erdoğan’s repeated efforts to challenge Jewish claims to Jerusalem’s holy sites. The Turkish president has often framed Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem as an affront to Islam and has funded organizations seeking to expand Turkish religious and cultural influence in the city.

“Erdoğan’s ambitions are not only political — they are messianic,” one Israeli scholar told JNS. “By invoking religion, he seeks to position Turkey as the defender of Muslims everywhere, even if it means inflaming antisemitism and destabilizing peace efforts.”

As the Trump administration continues to promote its Gaza peace plan, the dispute over Turkey’s role could become a major diplomatic fault line between the United States and Israel. For now, Jerusalem’s position is unambiguous: no Turkish forces, no Turkish reconstruction companies, and no Turkish political influence in Gaza or Syria.

Chikli’s warning, amplified in the JNS report, left little room for misinterpretation: “Israel will not tolerate a Turkish presence on its southern border or northern frontier. We’ve seen the chaos that Erdoğan’s policies have brought elsewhere. We will not allow him to export it here.”

Whether Ankara moderates its tone or doubles down remains to be seen. But in Jerusalem’s view, Turkey under Erdoğan is no longer a partner in peace — it is, as Chikli put it, “a sworn enemy masquerading as a mediator.”