Israeli prime minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu has condemned Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for calling Zionism a crime against humanity.
Mr Netanyahu referred to the Turkish PM’s comment as a “dark and slanderous remark, the likes of which we thought had passed from the world”.
The foreign ministry condemned Mr Erdogan’s “hollow” remarks, claiming that they “stem from ignorance”.
Mr Erdogan, addressing the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations forum in Vienna, decried growing racism in Europe.
“Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become impossible not to see Islamophobia as a crime against humanity.”
The head of the Conference of European Rabbis, Europe’s main rabbinical group, called the comment a “hateful attack” on Jews. The US Jewish Anti-Defamation League said they were “appalled and horrified by Mr Erdogan’s inflammatory language linking Zionism and anti-Semitism.”
Offensive and misguided
There was also international condemnation.
A spokesperson for the national security council in Washington said Mr Erdogan’s statements were offensive and misguided. He called on members of all religions and cultures to condemn statements that stem from hatred.
A spokesman for UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon voiced his regret at the statements.
“The secretary general believes is it is unfortunate that such hurtful and divisive comments were uttered at a meeting being held under the theme of responsible leadership.”
Turkey was Israel’s closest ally in the region and in the entire Muslim world until 2010, when nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed in a clash with Israeli commandos aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, a ship that was part of a flotilla that tried to breach Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Since then relations have been tense.
In recent weeks there have been attempts to put relations back on track, encouraged by Washington, which would like to see two of its closest strategic allies mend their fences ahead of the trip to the Middle East by US president Barack Obama later this month.
Israeli apology
Israeli and Turkish diplomats met last month in Rome to discuss the wording of an Israeli apology that could pave the way for improved ties, and Israel allowed the transfer of military equipment to Ankara.
However, there was no breakthrough. Israel’s willingness to apologise for “operational mishaps” concerning the Mavi Marmara raid fell short of the full apology demanded by Ankara.
The timing of the latest dispute was particularly unfortunate from Washington’s point of view as it came just ahead of the arrival in Turkey of US secretary of state John Kerry.
A US official in Mr Kerry’s entourage said he expected the secretary would chide Mr Erdogan over his comments.
“The Turkey-Israel relationship is frozen. We want to see a normalisation . . . not just for the sake of the two countries but for the sake of the region and, frankly, for the symbolism,” he said. “Not that long ago these two countries demonstrated that a majority Muslim country could have very positive and strong relations with the Jewish state.”
