Avi Shoshan, a former spokesperson for the Ichilov Medical Center, officially known as the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv-Yafo, made an explosive claim in a Channel 14 interview.
He said that the Mossad had secretly dispatched a surgeon to Turkey to successfully treat Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was suffering from cancer, some six or seven years ago. Shoshan did not provide evidence for his claim, saying that journalists had asked him to verify the details at the time, but that he would not publicly speak about it.
While Shoshan would not identify the doctor, he said the doctor was well-known and carried out the mission that was requested by the Mossad and approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Israel saved Erdoğan,” Shoshan declared. “The Mossad sent a doctor from Israel.”
“Erdoğan, the man who is now threatening the Jewish people, was saved by Israel,” he added.
In addition to Shoshan’s lack of evidence, the Mossad, the Turkish government, the Israeli government and the physician allegedly involved in the mission have not confirmed the story.
According to separate confirmed reports, Prof. Itzhak Shapira, then deputy director-general of Ichilov Medical Center, had offered medical advice to Erdoğan but made no mention of an Israeli doctor traveling to Turkey to treat its prime minister or that Israel had actually saved his life.
Yosef Haddad, a well-known Arab-Israeli journalist who advocates on behalf of Israel, noted that Israel has not learned its lesson regarding saving its enemies’ lives, saying that at the time Erdoğan was treated by Israel, he “was already a terrorism supporter back then, hosting Hamas and Israel-haters in Turkey.”
“Does the story sound familiar?” he added in a post on X. “Remember how we saved Yahya Sinwar’s life too, when he was sick and dying? And in return, we got the October 7 massacre … Now Erdoğan is the next threat against us and doesn’t hide it. We haven’t learned a thing!”
“You don’t save the lives of enemies in the Middle East!” he warned.