Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensified his criticism of Israel on Wednesday, comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. In a speech at an award ceremony, Erdogan also suggested that the United States was complicit in the deaths of 20,000 people in Gaza, for "supporting" Israel.
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"We watched Israel's Nazi camps in the stadiums, right?" Erdogan said in reference to a video aired on Turkish televisions that appeared to show Israeli soldiers rounding up half-naked men in a stadium in Gaza. "What is this? Remember they used to talk about Hitler in a weird way? How are you different than Hitler?"
Erdogan continued: "They will make us long for Hitler. Is there anything different in Netanyahu's actions compared to Hitler's?" The Turkish leader went on to say that Netanyahu was receiving "all kinds of support" from the United States.
Video: Turkey's Erdogan says Israel's Netanyahu is no different from Hitler / Credit: Reuters
"And with all this support, what did they do to more than 20,000 Gazans? They killed them," he said.
One of Israel's most vocal critics, Erdogan has previously referred to Netanyahu as "the butcher of Gaza," accused him of actions amounting to "genocide" and called for him to be prosecuted by an international war crimes tribunal.
"Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last person who can preach morality to us," Netanyahu responded on X. "The IDF is the most moral army in the world that fights and destroys the most abhorrent and cruel terrorist organization in the world, Hamas-ISIS, which has committed crimes against humanity and which Erdogan praises and hosts its senior officials."
