The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “Israel rejects with disgust the Turkish President’s dangerous statements regarding the terrorist organization Hamas.”

Tel Aviv sharply attacked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, accusing him of incitement, following statements he issued earlier today, stressing that the Hamas movement is not a “terrorist organization” but rather constitutes “a liberation group that protects its land.” .

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “Israel rejects with disgust the Turkish President’s dangerous statements regarding the terrorist organization Hamas.”

It stated that “Hamas is a hateful terrorist organization worse than ISIS. It brutally and deliberately kills children, women, and the elderly, takes civilians hostage, and uses its own people as human shields,” the statement said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry added, "Even the Turkish president's attempt to defend the terrorist organization, and his inflammatory words, will not change the atrocities that the whole world has witnessed, and the unambiguous truth: Hamas = ISIS."

During a speech he delivered to members of the Justice and Development Party in Parliament, Erdogan announced the cancellation of all his plans to visit Israel, due to its “inhumane” war on the Gaza Strip, saying, “We had a plan to visit Israel, but it was cancelled. We will not go.”

Erdogan said, "Relations could have been different, but unfortunately this will not happen anymore. You will not find any other country whose army behaves with such inhumanity."

Erdogan pointed out that the Hamas movement is not a "terrorist organization" but rather a "liberation group that protects its land."

He stressed that the Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip "indicate criminality and mental disorder among those who carry out and support them."

He added, "Turkey has no problem with the State of Israel." But he added that Turkey never agrees "with the atrocities committed by Israel, and the way it behaves as an organization instead of a state."

He added, "Since October 7, Israel has been carrying out one of the bloodiest, most brutal and disgusting attacks in history against innocent people in Gaza."

The Turkish President pointed out that he "shook hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, once in his life, at the Turkish House in New York."

He said: "Our intentions were good, but he took advantage of our good intentions. We had a plan to visit Israel. It was canceled and we will not go. If he had continued in good faith, our relationship would have been different, but unfortunately that will not happen now either, because they took advantage of our good intentions."

Erdogan explained, "Parents write their children's names on their bodies."

He added: "Oh Israel, you cannot go anywhere with this mentality. Whether you receive the support of the United States, others, or the West, Washington will also lose because it does not want the world to be governed justly."

In this context, Bloomberg reports confirmed that Turkey has suspended plans for cooperation with Israel in the field of energy, while the Turkish Energy Minister canceled his visit to Tel Aviv.

Erdogan met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time last September in New York, and said, "I shook hands with this man. We had good intentions, but he took advantage of them."

Source: Arab 48