Netanyahu says Erdogan cannot lecture Israel over civilian killings

"Apparently this is how April Fool's Day is celebrated in Ankara," Bibi said about Erdogan's defense of Palestinians.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lashed out at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the two exchanged accusations over Palestinian and Kurdish civilians killed by the two countries respective armies.

“The most moral army in the world will not be lectured by those who have indiscriminately bombed civilian populations for years,” Netanyahu said, seemingly referring to Ankara’s decades-long military campaign against Kurds in Turkey and now those in Syria.

“Apparently, this is how April Fool’s Day is celebrated in Ankara,” a statement by the Israeli PM’s office on Facebook read.

Turkish soldiers gather for a picture with their vehicles in front of demolished houses draped in Turkish flags, after months-long clashes with Kurdish rebels in the city of Nusaybin, 2016. (Photo: Archive)
Turkish soldiers gather for a picture with their vehicles in front of demolished houses draped in Turkish flags, after months-long clashes with Kurdish rebels in the city of Nusaybin, 2016. (Photo: Archive)

In response, Erdogan called Netanyahu “a terrorist.”

Turkey, backing the Islamist-dominated Free Syrian Army (FSA), recently staged an invasion of the Afrin region in Syrian Kurdistan, killing up to 280 civilians, wounding hundreds of others, and leading to the displacement of some 200,000 people.

Ankara has vowed to “give Afrin back to its rightful owners,” remarks Kurdish officials interpret as a threat of ethnic cleansing that has already begun.

Erdogan had a day earlier strongly condemned what he called “Israel’s inhumane attacks” and said it would crumble down under the “oppression” inflicted on Palestinians.

Turkey’s top officials have denied that any civilian has been killed, let alone hurt, during the offensive on the US-armed Kurds, with international human rights organizations and other countries disputing that account.

Palestinian demonstrators evacuate a woman wounded during tensions with Israeli troops at the Gaza-Israel border at a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 31, 2018. (Photo: Reuters)
Palestinian demonstrators evacuate a woman wounded during tensions with Israeli troops at the Gaza-Israel border at a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 31, 2018. (Photo: Reuters)

The Israeli army on Saturday killed at least 15 Palestinians during Gaza border tensions as Arabs faced off Israeli troops during demonstrations demanding a return to villages and towns their ancestors fled over half a century ago.

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), designated a terrorist group by Israel and the West, said five of those killed were members of its armed wing while the rest were civilians.

Israel said eight were Hamas militants, with two others belonging to other groups, according to Reuters.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) shakes hands with Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas leader Khaled Mashal before a meeting at the Turkish presidential palace in Ankara, Aug. 12, 2015 (Photo: Associated Press)
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) shakes hands with Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas leader Khaled Mashal before a meeting at the Turkish presidential palace in Ankara, Aug. 12, 2015 (Photo: Associated Press)

Despite repeated diplomatic and rhetorical confrontations, Ankara maintains decades-old robust commercial and military ties with Israel but it also actively backs Palestinian statehood, with Hamas leaders at times enjoying a warm welcome at the Turkish capital.

Erdogan has accused Israel of being “a terrorist state” and also alleged that the Jewish country was behind the Kurdistan Region’s referendum on independence from Iraq last year.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany