Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu excoriated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, the latest escalation in a war of words between the two leaders.
During a visit to the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv with Christian soldiers, Netanyahu blasted Erdogan’s claim Israel is engaging in a ‘lawless occupation of Palestinian lands’, calling the Turkish leader an “anti-Semitic dictator” who was obsessed with ‘trolling’ Israel.
"We are proud of you; the entire nation is proud of you,” Netanyahu told the Christian IDF soldiers. “You belong to the most moral army on earth.”
“Not everyone shares this view. I was just exposed to the daily trolling of the anti-Semitic dictator Erdogan.”
Netanyahu went on to lambast Turkey’s policies towards its Turkish minority, adding that under Erdogan, Turkey appeared to be becoming “more dictatorial day by day”.
“He is obsessed with Israel. He knows what a moral army is and he knows what a genuine democracy is, as opposed to an army that massacres women and children in Kurdish villages and a state which, to my regret, is becoming more dictatorial day by day.”
“He is obsessed with Israel. But there has been an improvement. Erdogan used to attack me every two hours and now it is every six hours."
Earlier on Sunday, Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, demanded Israel “end the lawless occupation of Palestinian lands,” accusing the Jewish state of “brutal oppression of Palestinian people”.
A day earlier, Netanyahu blasted Erdogan for claiming that Israel "beats men, women and children when they are prostrate on the floor,” countering that it was Turkey, not Israel, which is guilty of flagrant human rights violations.
"Erdogan, the occupier of northern Cyprus, whose army massacres women and children in Kurdish villages, inside Turkey and outside it – will not lecture Israel on morality," said Netanyahu.