Israel’s chief diplomat wants NATO to expel Turkey from the defense organization after the country’s president, Recep Erdogan, threatened to invade the Jewish state over the war in Gaza.
"In light of Turkish President Erdogan's threats to invade Israel and his dangerous rhetoric, Foreign Minister Israel Katz instructed diplomats to urgently engage with all NATO members, calling for the condemnation of Turkey and demanding its expulsion from the regional alliance," Israel’s foreign ministry said in a Monday statement.
The communication was made in response to comments made by Erdogan at a gathering of his ruling Justice and Development Party in Rize on Sunday, which drew immediate rebuke from Katz.
Erdogan, a frequent critic of the IDF’s operations in Gaza and of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the audience that he might order an incursion into Israel for the purpose of protecting Palestinians while referring to his country’s past military interventions in Azerbaijan and Libya.
The Turkish president’s speech was quickly endorsed by his Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, who called the 70-year-old leader a “voice of humanity’s conscience” before accusing the government in Jerusalem of being complicit in genocide and comparing Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
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