Edited by: Fern Sidman

In a recent address to the Turkish parliament, President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s response to the recent escalation of violence in Gaza as a “massacre” and urged the world not to take sides blindly, as was reported by Reuters.  He expressed deep concern over the alleged “disproportionate” use of force by Israel, arguing that such actions lacked an ethical foundation, Reuters reported. Erdogan also reiterated Turkey’s offer to mediate between the conflicting parties.

“Preventing people meeting their most fundamental needs and bombing housing where civilians live – in short, conducting a conflict using every sort of shameful method – is not a war, it’s a massacre,” he said, referring to Israel cutting off electricity and water to Gaza and destroying infrastructure, as was reported by Reuters.

Israel has said that water, power and fuel to Gaza will only be restored when the 150 hostages that Hamas terrorists abducted from southern Israeli communities are released.

Erdogan’s criticism comes in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel in which the terror group based in Gaza and funded by Iran claimed the lives of over 1200 Israelis and left close to 3000 people severely wounded. The invasion into southern Israel on Saturday morning by Hamas terrorists prompted a military response from the Israeli government, leading to a surge in violence in the Gaza Strip. While acknowledging the complexities of the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Erdogan’s strong words underscore his long held animus towards Israel.

The Turkish government, in a bid to de-escalate tensions, has been actively reaching out to regional powers and Western counterparts to offer its services as a mediator, however, Middle East analysts have claimed that Erdogan would not be an honest broker for peace as he has a history of condemning Israel. Israel’s envoy to Ankara has stated that it is too early to discuss mediation, emphasizing the challenges in finding a peaceful resolution, Reuters reported.

Erdogan’s called Israeli air strikes into Gaza a violation of the “morality” of warfare, emphasizing that it amounted to a massacre.

“We call on countries in the Americas, Europe and other regions to take up a position between the parties that is fair, just, and based on humanitarian balances,” Erdogan said, as indicated in the Reuters report. “Everyone should refrain from acts that will wholly punish the Palestinian people, like blocking humanitarian aid.”

Turkey has a history of supporting the Palestinian cause, hosting members of Hamas and advocating for a two-state solution. Reuters reported that unlike the European Union and the United States, Ankara does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. The Turkish government believes that the root of the ongoing conflict lies in years of injustice against Palestinians and insists that the path to peace lies in the creation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, according to the Reuters report.

Erdogan’s warned that failing to address the underlying issues could lead to even more violent conflicts in the future, as was reported by Reuters.

The Turkish President also called upon countries across the Americas, Europe, and other regions to refrain from taking actions that would allegedly ‘punish’ the Palestinian people, particularly by blocking humanitarian aid.

In addition to his address, Erdogan held a conversation with Jordan’s King Abdullah to discuss regional developments, highlighting the need for vigilance against the potential spread of conflicts in the broader region, as was indicated in the Reuters report.

Simultaneously, members of HUDAPAR, an Islamist political party aligned with Erdogan’s AK Party, met with senior Hamas official Bassem Naim and held a news conference alongside him in the Turkish parliament. Reuters reported that they emphasized the need to condemn what they perceived as “Zionist savagery” and called for active support for a rally in Istanbul, referred to as the “Friday Flood,” in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Erdogan has a long history of displaying contempt and disdain towards Israel.

As was reported by the Anti-Defamation League in 2018, as world attention focused on the demonstrations taking place along the Gaza border, Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan fanned the flames of incitement against Israel and Jews with remarks comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. It was just another in a long line of his vocal criticism of Israel, using incendiary language and anti-Semitic statements to attack Israel and mobilize Turkish and Muslim action against the Jewish State.

Just days after the May 14, 2018 Gaza clashes following the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, where as many as 60 Palestinian protestors were killed (the majority of which were identified as members of Hamas), Erdogan addressed a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation where he compared Israel to Nazi Germany, saying that “there is no difference between the atrocity faced by the Jewish people in Europe 75 years ago and the brutality that our Gaza brothers are subjected to.”

He repeated this Nazi comparison later in his speech, saying that the leadership of a people “who were subjected to all kinds of torture in the concentration camps during World War II is attacking the Palestinians with methods similar to the Nazis”, adding that “I will say openly and clearly that what Israel is doing is banditry, brutality and state terror.”

That same day he addressed a crowd of tens of thousands of people who he had mobilized to demonstrate against Israel in Istanbul.  He once again referenced the Holocaust, saying that “We believe a people who were victims of the Holocaust will not give consent to the crime against humanity committed by their own state”.