NATO member Turkey’s President Erdogan backs Hamas, calls Netanyahu’s Israel government ‘today’s Nazis’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke out in support of Hamas Saturday, decrying claims that the group is a terror organization and insisting that his government stands behind it.
“No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” Erdogan, 70, insisted during a speech in Istanbul. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”
Erdogan also slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, which started when Hamas launched a deadly terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, like today’s Nazis,” he scoffed.
Erdogan’s comments were all the more concerning due to Turkey’s status as a NATO member.
NATO allies have largely condemned the Hamas attack and supported Israel, though that support has waned as the death toll in Gaza has mounted.
- The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency risks falling apart completely after several donors pulled funding due to allegations that some staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attack, chief Philippe Lazzarini said Saturday. Both Canada and Sweden resumed funding the agency this week. The US paused funding in February following the allegations.
- A group of Israeli protesters are determined to prevent aid trucks from crossing into the Gaza Strip. “If they are starving to death, let the hostages go,” one woman, Katya, told CNN this week.
- A Spanish ship laden with humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip – where over 30,000 people are believed to have died in just five months and more are facing starvation – will set sail from Cyprus this week, the BBC reported.
- Yemen’s Houthis targeted a bulk carrier and US destroyers in the Gulf of Aden early Saturday, but the attack was thwarted by US and allied forces. American and French forces successfully downed 15 drones sent by the Iran-backed rebels, who have been targeting international shipping in the region in support of Hamas since November, US Central Command said in a post on X.
- The US air-dropped another delivery of humanitarian assistance to Northern Gaza early Saturday, dropping over 41,400 meals and 23,000 bottles of water intended for civilians. Central Command said the deliveries will continue. Separately, Central Command said the Friday airdrop that killed five people after a parachute failed to open was not dropped by the US. Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands and Belgium also delivered food and water via airdrops Friday.
With Post wires
