Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday put the United Nations on blast for its ineffectualness to stop Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip.
“The spirit of U.N. is dead in Gaza,” Erdoğan told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the capital Ankara.
“They failed to protect even their own personnel or aid workers, let alone stop genocide,” he said. “What good if the U.N. if it cannot stop genocide broadcast live in the 21st century?”
The U.N.’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on Friday ordered Israel to cease its military offensive in Rafah – the southern city of Gaza that Israel previously designated as a safe zone – citing concerns over the safety of Palestinian civilians, but Israel continued airstrikes on the area, killing at least 45.
Erdoğan warned that “no country is safe unless Israel is made to abide by international law” and said: “This genocide, atrocity and barbarism must be stopped by a united alliance of humanity before (Benjamin) Netanyahu and his murderer network spiral out of control.”
Referring to Israel’s Sunday strikes on Rafah, Erdoğan blamed the United States, Israel’s biggest arms supplier, for being complicit in the ongoing “genocide.”
“Your hands are also stained with the blood of Palestinians from this massacre,” Erdoğan said.
He hit out at other Western nations, too, saying, “European heads of state and government, you have become complicit in Israel’s vampirism due to your silence.”
“Footage out of Rafah is unbearable,” Erdoğan went on. “Don’t you have even a sliver of conscience? No religion on the globe can justify this massacre.”
Turning to the Muslim world, he said: “When will the Organization of Islamic Cooperation implement effective, preventative policy to stop Israel’s genocide?”
Ankara has been a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause and a virulent critic of Israel since the start of its war on Gaza, which has killed over 36,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in retaliation to Hamas’ cross-border attack on Israel on Oct. 7. It has accused Israel of carrying out war crimes and genocide in Gaza and its Western allies of “being complicit” in them.
Erdoğan often urges Muslim nations to take urgent action to stop Israel and hold it to account. He describes Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, as freedom fighters.
