Erdogan calls ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant ‘courageous’
Turkey’s Islamist president, who has been outspoken in support of Hamas, says warrants ‘renew the trust of humanity in the international system’
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday praised the “courageous decision” of the International Criminal Court to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
“We support the arrest warrant. We consider it important that this courageous decision be carried out by all country members of the accord to renew the trust of humanity in the international system,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.
The ICC issued the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant — whom the prime minister fired earlier this month — on charges of targeting civilians and using starvation as a weapon of war.
The court on Thursday also issued a warrant for Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif, who Israel says was killed by an IDF strike in Gaza in July.
“It is imperative that Western countries — who for years have given the world lessons on law, justice and human rights — keep their promises at this stage,” added Erdogan, whose country is not a state party in the ICC accord.
Erdogan, an outspoken backer of Hamas, has been a harsh critic of Israel throughout the war, which was sparked by the October 7, 2023 terror onslaught, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages. In May, he ended the two countries’ robust economic ties.
Israel’s counteroffensive has killed more than 44,000 people, according to the Hamas health ministry. The figure cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, of whom Israel says it has killed at least 17,000 in Gaza, in addition to about 1,000 inside Israel during the onslaught.
Erdogan has called Israel a “terrorist state” and accused it of conducting a “genocide” in Gaza. In December, Erdogan called Netanyahu “worse than Hitler,” said the systematic slaughter of six million Jews in the Holocaust was not as bad as Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, and likened Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the Strip to that of Jews rounded up in concentration and death camps.
The Turkish leader has been outspoken about his support for Hamas, and has said that the Palestinian group is not a terrorist organization but a resistance group.
“No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” he said in a speech in Istanbul earlier this year. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”
The latest show of support for Hamas from Ankara came on Sunday, when it was reported that the terror group’s senior leadership had departed Qatar for Turkey.
Both Turkey and Hamas dismissed the reports as “rumors,” although the US said it would make it clear to Turkey’s governments that American allies cannot conduct business as usual with the Palestinian terror group.
