Erdogan again likens Israel to Nazi Germany, says it commits ‘cultural genocide’

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses Muslim parliamentarians during a meeting on Jerusalem in Istanbul, Dec. 14, 2018

Raphael Ahren writes in Times of Israel, “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday compared Israel to Nazi Germany and accused the Jewish state of committing a “cultural genocide” against the Palestinian people. “Today, the Palestinians are subjected to pressures, violence and intimidation policies no less grave than the oppression done to the Jews during WWII,” he said at a conference on Jerusalem in Istanbul, according to a transcript of his speech posted to his website. “To us, it does not matter who the perpetrator is. Both of these are massacres, atrocities and oppressions. Shelling with bombs the children playing on the beach of Gaza is as serious a crime against humanity as the inhumane crime called the Holocaust.”…

““Comparing the 1967 map of Palestine with the 2018 map of Palestine is enough to see the cultural genocide taking place in Palestine,” Erdogan said. Arguing that Israel’s actions were supported by “certain members of the UN Security Council,” he called for a reform of the world body. He also blamed the Western world for intentionally stoking conflict in the Muslim world for financial gain.”…

“Israel-Turkey relations have long been tense but reached a new nadir in May in the aftermath of Israel’s response to violent protests on the Gaza border that were inspired by Hamas, and during which dozens of Palestinians were killed. At the time, Erdogan placed the blame for the Gaza deaths squarely on Israel, accusing it of being a “terrorist state” that commits “genocide.” Then too, Erdogan compared Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis.” (more…)