Turkish prime minister equates Israel's Netanyahu with Paris terrorists

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

last updated 15 January 2015

Less than a week after marching near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the massive Paris "unity march," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday compared the Israeli leader to the Islamist terrorists whose massacre prompted the march:

Just as the massacre in Paris committed by terrorists is a crime against humanity Netanyahu, as the head of the government that kills children playing on the beach with the bombardment of Gaza, destroys thousands of homes... and that massacred our (Turkish) citizens on an aid ship in international waters, has committed crimes against humanity. [Davutoglu, via Reuters]

Davutoglu's comments, at a news conference, aren't the first verbal clashes between Israel and Turkish leaders in the past week. On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Netanyahu for attending the Paris march, saying he could "hardly understand how he dared to go" after "the children, women you massacred" in Israel's "state terrorism" against Palestinians. On Wednesday, Netanyahu shot back that Erdogan's "shameful remarks must be repudiated by the international community, because the war against terror will only succeed if it's guided by moral clarity."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.