US slams Turkish President Erdogan’s ‘antisemitic remarks’ on Israel
The US “strongly condemns” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “antisemitic comments regarding the Jewish people and finds them reprehensible,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated Tuesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Source: Turkish Presidency via Twitter
Erdogan, who shares close ties with Hamas, accused Israel of “terrorism” and recently said that “it is in their [Jews] nature,” AFP reported.
“They are murderers, to the point that they kill children who are five or six years old. They only are satisfied by sucking their blood,” he reportedly said.
On Monday, he quoted “a former Israeli prime minister, I am not going to give his name, told me years ago that he had the ‘biggest pleasure’ when he killed Palestinians during his military service as a general.”
Price urged Erdogan and other Turkish leaders to “refrain from incendiary remarks, which could incite further violence. We call on Turkey to join the United States in working to end the conflict.”
Erdogan accused President Joe Biden of having “bloody hands” because of Washington’s support for Israel’s counterterrorism campaign in Gaza Strip.
“You are writing history with your bloody hands,” Erdogan said in televised remarks directed at Biden. “You forced us to say this. We cannot step back.”
Responding to Erdogan’s remarks in the Jews, Price said that “antisemitic language has no place anywhere. The United States is deeply committed to combatting antisemitism in all of its forms. We take seriously the violence that often accompanies antisemitism and the dangerous lies that undergird it. We must always counter lies with facts and answer crimes of hate with justice.”
The relations between Israel and Turkey have been sour for years as Erdogan and his Islamist ruling party have drawn the country toward the Muslim Brotherhood and have espoused anti-Israel Islamic ideas.
