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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Israel’s claims built on the concept of “promised lands” are “legally invalid and lack legitimacy,” denouncing the country’s leadership as a “murder network” driven by fascist ideology.
Speaking to reporters on his plane after attending the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)–Arab League Extraordinary Summit in Doha, Erdogan accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of exploiting Zionism as a cover for aggression.
“Israel serves not a religion but a perverse ideology. Netanyahu and his gang tell the world nothing but fabricated tales of Zionism,” Erdogan said.
“The U.N. Charter commands respect for states’ territorial integrity, sovereign equality, and the prohibition of altering borders by force. We must recognize this. Therefore, the scenarios created with the concept of ‘promised lands’ are legally invalid and lack legitimacy. Those who govern Israel are nothing more than a murder network that has turned their radical mindset into a fascist ideology.”
Erdogan went further, likening Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. “Just as Hitler, blinded by the progress he thought he had made, could not see the defeat awaiting him, Netanyahu will face the same ultimate fate. I believe in this,” he said.
Erdogan said Israel’s actions harmed not only Muslims and Christians but also Jews. “When you listen to Jews who oppose Israel’s genocides, you clearly see how dangerous an ideology Zionism is. If Zionist Israel must be associated with something, it is terrorism and fascism,” he said.
The president pointed to the New York Declaration, adopted by 142 countries at the UN General Assembly, as proof of Israel’s growing isolation. “The two-state solution thesis that Türkiye has defended on every platform for years has now become the common will of the global majority,” Erdogan said.
He added that Western recognition of a Palestinian state at a U.N. summit later this month would “further corner Israel.” “Once again, we will proclaim this at the U.N. God willing, we will make the cries of the oppressed heard by the world,” he said.
Erdogan’s remarks followed an Arab-Islamic summit in Qatar convened after Israeli airstrikes last week on a compound in Doha housing Hamas leaders.
The attack killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer as the group discussed a U.S. ceasefire proposal.
The summit’s final statement, published by Qatar’s official news agency, condemned the strikes, voiced solidarity with Qatar, and warned that Israel’s aggression “undermines any chances of achieving peace in the region” while threatening regional and international security.
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