Erdoğan: 'Israel is a terror state'

President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke today at his party's parliamentary group meeting today (November 15).

Addressing Israel's attacks on Gaza, Erdoğan mentioned that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not even walk in the same direction as his two ministers during a joint press conference.

Stating that the Israeli government, receiving unlimited support from the US and Western countries, has been continuing its massacres relentlessly for 40 days, Erdoğan drew attention to Israel's deliberate strategy of targeting schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, marketplaces, buildings, and streets, aiming to systematically annihilate the people within a city."

"Hamas is a political party that won the elections"

"Erdoğan emphasized that Israel, by intentionally bombing civilians forced to leave their homes, has exhibited literal state terrorism. He stated, 'I openly say that Israel is a terrorist state. You label Hamas as a terrorist organization. Hamas is a political party that participated in and won elections in Palestine. However after winning the election, you took away its rights. Israel and America did it together. Let's see the facts. Yet, there are still people in my country who are unaware and don't understand that Hamas is a political party.'"

Do you have an atomic bomb or not? 

"Those who killed babies in incubators, those who rained bombs on innocent people they expelled from their homes, those who sentenced people to death by cutting off their water, food, and fuel, those who talk about annihilating over 2 million civilians with an atomic bomb...

I address Netanyahu from here: Do you have an atomic bomb or not? If you dare, disclose it, but you can't. Hey Israel, you have an atomic bomb, a nuclear bomb, and you threaten with it. We know this. Your end is coming. Have as many nuclear bombs as you want, have whatever you have, but you will be leaving.'"

"We are facing a genocide"

Showing a video about Israel's attacks on Gaza and the experiences of Palestinians, Erdogan stated, 'We are facing a genocide. Right now, hundreds, thousands of lawyers are making efforts to take all necessary steps, including bringing these to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, for committing such a genocide.'

"While condemning the Israeli administration, we do not forget those who openly support and justify these massacres. Those who remain silent about the war crimes committed by Israel are complicit in these crimes as much as the perpetrators. The blood of the children killed in Gaza is a stain of shame on the foreheads of those who provide weapons, ammunition, and intelligence support to the Israeli government."

Erdoğan further said, "Can you imagine, every day hundreds of children are losing their lives under bombs; none of those who constantly preach about human rights and freedoms, from the European Union to America, come out and say a single word. Journalists who broadcast the savagery in Gaza to the world are being killed by Israel along with their families; international press organizations do not make a single statement.

The United Nations Security Council, let alone protecting the lives of civilians in Gaza, cannot even stand up for its own employees. The will demonstrated by 121 member countries of the United Nations General Assembly is officially usurped by one or two countries in the Security Council."(AS/PE)