Israel’s Lieberman: Turkey’s Erdogan is ‘anti-Semitic neighborhood bully’

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS.org) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an “anti-Semitic bully.”

Earlier this week, Erdogan–who is a strong supporter of the Palestinian terror group Hamas–slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attending Sunday’s mass anti-terrorism rally in Paris, accusing Netanyahu of carrying out “state terrorism” during this summer’s Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

In addition, a member of ErdoÄŸan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, Ibrahim Melih Gökçek, told a gathering of youths on Sunday that because Israel is angry with France for supporting a recent Palestinian statehood resolution at the United Nations, it is “certain” that Israel’s Mossad spy agency is behind the recent Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris.

“[The] Mossad inflames Islamophobia by causing such incidents,” Gökçek said, the Turkish newspaper Zaman reported.

Responding to Turkey’s rhetoric in an address to Israeli ambassadors on Wednesday, Lieberman said that “civilized, politically correct Europe’s silence over an anti-Semitic neighborhood bully like Erdogan and his gang takes us back to the 1930s.”

Netanyahu said that “[Erdogan’s] shameful remarks must be repudiated by the international community, because the war against terror will only succeed if it’s guided by moral clarity,” Reuters reported.

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