The war of words between Turkey and Israel continued Friday when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rebuked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son for suggesting Istanbul — formerly Constantinople — was under Turkish occupation.
The Turkish and Israeli leaders have been trading barbs this week, with Netanyahu calling Erdoğan a "dictator" and criticizing the imprisonment of scores of journalists in Turkey. Erdoğan brandished the Israeli leader a "thief" and a "tyrant" in reference to corruption allegations and Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
Netanyahu fired back on Twitter, describing the Turkish president as a "dictator who sends tens of thousands of political opponents to prison, commits genocide against the Kurds, and occupies Northern Cyprus."
Erdoğan, Netanyahu said, was preaching to him, "to Israel, and to the Israel Defense Forces about democracy and the ethics of war. A joke."
"It's best that he doesn't get involved with Jerusalem, our capital for 3,000 years," Netanyahu quipped. "Erdoğan can only learn from us how to respect every religion and protect human rights."
Netanyahu's son, Yair Netanyahu, jumped into the fray, tweeting this week that: "I would also remind him [Erdoğan] of the genocides Turkey committed against the Greeks, the Assyrians, and the Armenians. They carried out ethnic cleansing against all the Christians in Asia Minor."
Istanbul, he tweeted, "is actually a city called Constantinople! The capital of the Byzantine empire and center of orthodox Christianity for more than a thousand years before Turkish occupation!"
Erdoğan hit back at Yair Netanyahu, calling him "immoral" at an election rally.
"You occupied the whole of Palestine!" he said. "If the world is looking for a country that oppresses, it's Israel. If they are searching for a terror state, that too is Israel."
At a campaign rally in Turkey, Saturday, Erdoğan said, "Netanyahu, you need to take your son by the ear for calling Istanbul Constantinople."
He said that if Yair continued to use such "shameful epithets," Turkey would know how to teach Israel a lesson.
"We will not withdraw our support for the Palestinians. We will continue to be a model for justice, peace and security in the Muslim world."
Israel and Turkey were once close allies, but diplomatic relations between the two have soured in the last decade. Under Erdoğan, Turkey has become a vocal critic of Israel, sparking frequent verbal feuds with Netanyahu.
Interviewed on Turkey's Habertürk television on Thursday, Erdoğan said Netanyahu was "walking around with this stain" of corruption. Erdoğan also accused Israel of jailing 10,000 Palestinian women and children and of disrespecting holy sites in Jerusalem.
The latest exchange of words started Tuesday when Erdoğan's spokesman called Netanyahu a racist for saying Israel was the nation-state of the Jewish people only.
