Turkey issues fresh ‘genocide’ arrest warrant for Netanyahu amid growing Syria tensions

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government on Friday issued another arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid spiking tensions between the two countries over an Israeli strike in Syria.

Turkey has already issued warrants against Netanyahu and other top officials for “genocide” over Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel firmly denies accusations of genocide.

The new warrant accuses Netanyahu of “genocide” over the interception in May of a flotilla carrying some 430 activists to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which sparked international outcry. France, Italy and Australia have also launched judicial proceedings.

Turkey’s Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on X that his ministry had asked the interior ministry to issue Interpol red notice alerts for Netanyahu and another Israeli, named as Afek Moskovitch, as part of a larger case against 35 people.

A red notice is a request to police forces worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition. Interpol reviews requests submitted by member states before deciding whether to issue red notices.

“As part of the judicial proceedings concerning the attack in international waters on the Flotilla activists (…) and in accordance with the arrest warrants issued on July 14, 2026, against Benjamin Netanyahu and Afek Moskovitch for ‘genocide,’ the ministry of justice has requested that the ministry of the interior issue red notices for their international arrest,” Gurlek stated.

Netanyahu and Moskovitch are being prosecuted for “crimes against humanity, genocide, aggravated deprivation of liberty, ‘intentional assault and battery,’ torture, destruction of property, aggravated looting, and hijacking of transport vehicles,” the ministry said.

The Turkish statement didn’t provide any additional details about Moskovitch and no additional information about him could be found.

In response, Netanyahu’s office said that Erdogan “now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it.” The Israeli statement reiterated past accusations by Jerusalem against Erdogan, calling him “an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppose him.”

“Erdogan’s pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere,” the statement added.

In a separate Hebrew-language statement, the Prime Minister’s Office asserted that “Israel will continue to act forcefully against Turkey’s attempts to destabilize the region and against any threat to its security.”

Erdogan’s office in turn denounced Netanyahu’s “petty political tactics.”

In a statement posted on X, the Turkish presidency condemned what it called the Netanyahu government’s attempt “to present Turkey as a new threat.”

The Turkish announcement was the latest sign of the collapse of Israeli-Turkish relations since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack and subsequent Gaza war. Turkey has hosted Hamas leaders, and Erdogan has praised the terror group and castigated Israel, ending trade and direct flights between the countries.

Turkey and Israel have also traded barbs over Syria, where this week Israel carried out airstrikes on an airbase it said Turkish troops could be deployed to, drawing condemnation from Ankara and criticism from the United States. Syria and Turkey have insisted there were no plans to deploy Turkish troops to the base.

Turkey’s influence in Syria as an ally of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadist commander, has stirred Israeli alarm since Sharaa’s forces toppled longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2024.