Erdogan seeks Islamic alliance against Israel, says its ‘expansionism’ won’t stop in Gaza
Turkish leader claims Jewish state will next seek to occupy Lebanon, Syria, ‘our homeland between Tigris and Euphrates,’ says ‘Hamas is not only defending Gaza but Islamic lands’
ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.
He made the comment after describing what Palestinian and Turkish officials said was the killing by Israeli troops of a Turkish-American woman taking part in a protest on Friday against settlement expansion in the West Bank.
“The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries,” Erdogan said at an Islamic schools’ association event near Istanbul.
“Israel will not stop in Gaza,” he claimed. “If Israel continues in this manner, it will set its sights elsewhere after occupying Ramallah. The turn will come for other countries in the region. It will come for Lebanon, Syria. They will set their eyes on our homeland between the Tigris and Euphrates.
“They openly state this with every map they pose in front of,” he claimed. “They are already declaring that they will not be content with occupying Gaza alone.”
It is unclear what Erdogan was referring to, as Israel has made no such declarations. Israeli leaders have warned all-out war could erupt in Lebanon if Hezbollah does not cease its near-daily attacks on the country’s north, which have been ongoing since last October.
“That is why we say, ‘Hamas resists on behalf of Muslims.’ That is why we say, ‘Hamas is not only defending Gaza, it is defending Islamic lands, Turkey,” Erdogan said.
He said recent steps that Turkey has taken to improve ties with Egypt and Syria are aimed at “forming a line of solidarity against the growing threat of expansionism,” which he said also threatened Lebanon and Syria.
In response, Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the Turkish leader the real threat to the Middle East and to his own people.
“Erdogan continues to throw the Turkish people into the fire of hatred and violence for the sake of his Hamas friends,” Katz wrote on X.
He called Erdogan’s accusations that Israel wants to conquer Middle Eastern countries “a dangerous lie and incitement.”
“Israel is defending its borders and citizens from the murderers and rapists of Hamas, and from the Shiite axis of evil led by Iran,” said Katz. “Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood alliance have been working for years alongside Iran to undermine moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East.
“Erdogan should be silent and ashamed.”
Erdogan’s Turkey has long had a shaky, tumultuous relationship with Israel, and since the outbreak of war in Gaza with Hamas’s October 7 massacres, he has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, lauded Hamas as freedom fighters and compared the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.
Erdogan hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Ankara this week and they discussed the Gaza war and ways to further repair their long-frozen ties during what was the first such presidential visit in 12 years.
Ties between them started thawing in 2020 when Turkey began diplomatic efforts to ease tensions with estranged regional rivals, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan said in July that Turkey would extend an invitation to Syrian President Bashar Assad “any time” for possible talks to restore relations between the two neighbors, who severed ties in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
Israel did not immediately comment on Erdogan’s remarks on Saturday.
Israel’s military said after Friday’s incident that it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.
There was no immediate comment on Friday’s incident from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
