Netanyahu, Erdogan Feud as Confrontations With Iran Threaten
Both countries stand to lose from the anticipated widening of Iranian influence in Syria after U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week he was pulling American forces out of that country. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reignited a war of words against Israel and its armys treatment of the Palestinians over the weekend, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasnt left wanting.
Calling each other baby killer and antisemitic dictator might not be the best way to join forces against a shared threat, but thats the level of discourse between Turkey and Israel these days.
You are the voice of the oppressor, you are waging state terrorism, Erdogan said of Netanyahu in a speech in Istanbul on Sunday. You are kicking women and children as your police drag them. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu ratcheted things up on Monday, calling Netanyahu a baby killer.
The Israeli leader defended his countrys army on Sunday, and called Erdogan an antisemitic dictator whos obsessed with Israel. Turkeys army, he said, massacres women and children in Kurdish villages, and its government is becoming more dictatorial day by day.
The prospective U.S. withdrawal from Syria has Israel more worried about possible assaults from military forces of arch-enemy Iran and its proxies propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-24/netanyahu-erdogan-feud-as-confrontations-with-iran-threaten?srnd=politics-vp
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)leaving wide open Isis and the potential Isis attacks on Israel.
pwb
(11,261 posts)The middle east isn't getting along.
Nitram
(22,791 posts)adVance democracy
(36 posts)And Donny makes three.