Netanyahu responds to Erdogan: "We will not accept moral preaching"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded this evening to Turkish President speech against Israel, in which he claimed that Netanyahu and the Israeli government are "writing their names as today's Nazis." In return, Netanyahu harshly attacked Erdogan for his support for Hamas.

According to Netanyahu, "Israel, who adheres to the laws of war, will not receive moral preaching from Erdogan, who supports murderers and rapists of the terrorist organization Hamas, denies the Armenian Holocaust, massacres Kurds in his own country, and makes regime opponents and journalists disappear."

Minister Benny Gantz, for his part, said that: "Erdoğan's standing behind Hamas makes him a supporter of crimes against humanity, and the comparison of Israel's Prime Minister to dictators is the height of hypocrisy. The fact that Erdogan believes that Hamas is not a terrorist organization explains his conduct towards his own citizens. Israel continues to adhere to international law even in the war against those who have proven that they have nothing human about them."

At a speech in Istanbul, Erdogan claimed that, "Netanyahu and his government, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, write their names alongside Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, as today's Nazis."

The Turkish leader also defended Hamas and said that “No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”