Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar issued a blistering response on Thursday to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan after the senior Turkish official launched a harsh verbal attack against Israel during an interview with CNN Turk, accusing him of using rhetoric that amounted to incitement against the Jewish state.

During the interview, Fidan declared, “Israel is not just Turkey’s problem, nor is it solely President Erdogan’s issue. The only difference is that President Erdogan is the one openly saying that what is wrong is wrong. That is a separate matter, and it is something humanity itself should reflect on.”

He continued by asserting, “But everyone knows it and feels it. People whisper it behind closed doors, and from time to time they say it openly. This is a problem for all of humanity. That’s what we should call it.”

Escalating his criticism even further, Fidan said, “These people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear. With these policies and this mindset, humanity cannot carry this burden. The human conscience cannot bear it. Political systems cannot sustain it, and economic systems cannot sustain it. No matter which framework you use, there is no parameter under which these people can be sustained.”

Calling for international action against Israel, the Turkish foreign minister added, “If you expect me to solve your problem on your behalf all by myself, then everyone must step up, take a diplomatic stance, and impose the necessary sanctions on those people.”

Fidan also alleged that “Israel is currently searching for a new enemy” and warned, “As long as Israel – or any other actor – acts in ways that conflict with our national and regional interests, we have no reason to fear anyone, hesitate, or back down.”

He further suggested that Turkey would not shy away from a military confrontation, stating, “We have no problem with confrontation. If it comes to that, it is not an issue for us.”

Sa’ar swiftly fired back, sharply condemning the comments. “Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s sickening words are textbook incitement to genocide.”

He added, “Dehumanizing the Jewish people as an ‘unbearable burden’ is the classic, horrific language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes.”

Sa’ar concluded by urging the international community to respond, saying, “The civilized world and Turkey’s NATO allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for the erasure of Israel.”

Fidan’s latest remarks add to a growing pattern of increasingly hostile statements by senior Turkish officials. Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Israeli military operations in Syria and Lebanon had reached a stage where they posed a threat to Turkey as well.

Just days before that, Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi asserted that Turkey would eventually regain control of Jerusalem.

Relations between Israel and Turkey had been moving toward normalization before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. Since then, however, Turkish leaders—led by Erdogan—have repeatedly intensified their criticism of Israel and its military operations.

In March of last year, Erdogan denounced Israel as a “terror state” after it carried out surprise strikes against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.

Several months later, the Turkish president claimed that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posed the greatest danger to stability in the Middle East.

More recently, in April, prosecutors in Istanbul filed a sweeping indictment against 35 senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, over the Israeli navy’s interception of the “Sumud” flotilla that attempted to reach Gaza in October of last year.

{Matzav.com}