Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Benjamin Netanyahu are unlikely to ever be friends again in this lifetime: the Turkish judiciary has issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister and other members of the Israeli government for “genocide.”
A total of 37 arrest warrants have been issued against 37 Israeli suspects, the Istanbul Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Friday night. In addition to Netanyahu, these include Defense Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. “Crimes Against Humanity”
Those sought are accused of “genocide and crimes against humanity” that were “systematically committed by the State of Israel in the Gaza Strip,” according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Turkey is one of the most prominent supporters of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, whose large-scale attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, triggered the Gaza war. Since the beginning of the conflict, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly accused Israel of “genocide” and of starving the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.
Most recently, Ankara defended Hamas after both sides repeatedly violated the agreed ceasefire. Erdogan recently declared that the Islamists were “quite determined” to implement the peace plan for Gaza, thereby indirectly blaming Israel for the renewed attacks.
