The leader of Turkey’s centre right Good Party (İYİP) on Tuesday said Benjamin Netanyahu was the “Israeli version” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, drawing ire from Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Speaking on Israel’s March elections, which prevented Netanyahu from forming a government, İYİP leader Meral Akşener said, the Israeli President, was “in a sense, the Israeli version of Mr. Erdoğan.”
The latest flare up in the conflict between Israel and Palestine has dealt a strong blow to Netanyahu’s opponents to unseat the Israeli leader following a string of inconclusive elections.
Netanyahu-led Likud Party emerged as the single largest party in Israel’s March polls but has failed to form a government.
Akşener said Netanayhu had not stopped massacring civilians in a bid to retain his seat and do away with his political opponents, T24 news site reported.
The İYİP leader’s remarks arrive as Erdoğan, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, is rallying international support against Israel in the second week of the latest bout of tensions in the region, that has left 215 Palestinians killed, including 61 children and 36 women, and more than 1,400 wounded, according to Gaza medical officials.
Israeli authorities say 12 people have been killed in Israel, including two children.
Erdoğan has previously gone on record to call Netanyahu a “thief,” “tyrant and “terrorist,” among others.
A number of AKP officials reacted to Akşener’s remarks on Twitter.
Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül urged Akşener to apologise for the analogy while Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said likening the Turkish president to “bloody handed murderer” was not a method of conducting politics.
Mentioning Erdoğan and Netanyahu in the same sentence would serve to make Zionists happy, Presidential Spokesman İbrahim Kalın said.
Former Erdoğan ally and predecessor Abdullah Gül called the analogy “unmeasured and unseemly.”
Source: Ahval
