Herzog responds to Erdogan: Israel has never had any plans against Turkey

Israel has no intention of taking military action against Turkey, President Isaac Herzog stresses, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that his country might be next to face attack after Lebanon and Gaza.

“I saw that there were some comments made by the leader of Turkey regarding Israel’s supposed plans against Turkey,” Herzog says during a meeting with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem. “I want to make clear Israel has never had any plans against Turkey.”

“On the contrary,” he continues, “we have great respect to the people of Turkey, and they have great respect for the people of Israel. We have longstanding relations between the peoples, and the peoples will prevail over all voices that are adverse to friendship and coexistence.”

Last week, Erdogan said that “the Israeli government, which has gone mad in the Holy Land, will possibly target our homeland with its religious fanaticism after Palestine and Lebanon.”

He also claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harbors fantasies of occupying Turkey.

Herzog says that Israel’s military operations will lead to “a historic change that will enable the sons of Abraham to dwell together in the region, and to move together towards peace, to contribute to each other, from the well-being of the region and their own respective peoples and humanity at large. This is our vision. That is why we are fighting evil, and that is why we are offering the people of Gaza, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran… a different path and a different future.”