‘You’re the real genocide perpetrators,’ Katz tells Erdogan, referencing Armenian genocide, which Israel never recognized

Foreign Minister Israel Katz hits back at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who boasted earlier today of having submitted materials to help boost South Africa’s International Court of Justice case accusing Israel of genocide.

“The president of Turkey, the country that carried out the Armenian genocide and thought the world would shut up about it, is ‘proud’ today that he handed over to The Hague tribunal materials that accuse Israel of genocide,” Katz tweets.

“We heard you. We have not forgotten the Armenian holocaust and [Turkey’s] massacres of the Kurds. You are the real genocide perpetrators. We are defending ourselves from your barbarian friends,” he adds.

Israel for decades has bucked Armenian pleas for Jerusalem to formally recognize the genocide perpetrated during the Ottoman Empire, not wanting to sour its ties with Turkey and Azerbaijan, which deny one took place.