Israeli defense minister: The real genocide is Turkey’s massacre of Kurds

Israel’s defense chief roasts Turkey for issuing arrest warrants accusing Israeli leaders of genocide while attempting to secure security role in postwar Gaza Strip.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s defense chief roasted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, mocking Ankara’s efforts to secure a role in policing the postwar Gaza Strip, while also issuing arrest warrants accusing Israeli leaders of genocide in the war against Hamas.

On Friday, the Istanbul Criminal Court of Peace issued arrest warrants for 37 Israeli government and military officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The warrants were issued in response to a petition by the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office and following a probe involving an Istanbul court as well as the Turkish Justice and Foreign ministries.

The charges were based in part on the false claims put forward by Hamas that an Israeli airstrike killed over 500 people at a Christian-run hospital in Gaza City on October 17, 2023.

Western intelligence agencies later concluded the explosion was the result of a faulty rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. The death toll was estimated by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem to be around 200.

“Erdogan, take your ridiculous arrest warrants and get lost,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) wrote on X Sunday.

Katz, one of the 37 Israeli leaders targeted in the arrest warrants, argued that Turkish killings of Kurds constituted an actual case of genocide.

The arrest warrants for genocide “are more suited for the massacre you committed against the Kurds,” Katz continued. “Israel is strong and is not afraid.”

The Israeli minister added that Jerusalem would never permit Turkish forces to be included in the international security force being assembled to police the post-war Gaza Strip.

“You will only see Gaza through binoculars.”

The message was posted in both Hebrew and Turkish, and featured an AI-generated caricature of Erdogan looking at the Gaza Strip through binoculars covered by the Israeli flag.

Since taking office as president in 2014, Erdogan, who served as Turkey’s premier from 2003 to 2014, has faced criticism over multiple armed campaigns into Kurdish-majority regions in Turkey, as well as invasions of Kurdish areas in northern Syria.

Critics have accused Turkey of ethnic cleansing, indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, and conducting summary executions, while Ankara has defended the operations, claiming they were targeted at Kurdish insurgent groups.