The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an “antisemitic dictator” and vowed Israel would “continue to act forcefully against Turkey’s attempts to destabilize the region”. It comes days after Syria accused Israel of bombing an air base in the country’s north, a short drive from the Turkish border, with Netanyahu later tacitly acknowledging the strike. Netanyahu had said Turkiye was looking to establish a military presence there, but Turkey has denied any visit to the site. It also follows an announcement by Turkey on Friday that it had sought an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu, accusing him of “genocide” linked to Israel’s interception of an aid flotilla for Gaza. “Israel has long been unimpressed by Turkiye’s hypocrisy. Erdogan is an antisemitic dictator who massacred Kurds, supports the massacre of the Hamas terrorist organization, and oppresses his own people,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. It added that Israel would “continue to act forcefully against Turkiye’s attempts to destabilize the region and against any threat to its security”. On Tuesday, Syria accused Israel of striking a disused military air base near the northwestern city of Aleppo that was damaged during the civil war and has been out of service since 2012. Israel said a Turkish military delegation had recently visited the site, with a Syrian war monitor saying it was part of efforts to reactivate the base. On Thursday, Turkiye denied having any military presence at the base and vowed to continue “resolutely” supporting Syrian sovereignty. In an English-language statement on Friday, Netanyahu’s office accused Erdogan of seeking “to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria.” “Israel will not tolerate it,” the statement said.
