Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for partaking in an anti-terrorism rally in Paris.
At a Monday press conference with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in the Turkish capital Ankara, Erdogan hit out at Netanyahu for leading “state terrorism” against the Palestinian people, saying that he could “hardly understand how he (Netanyahu) dared to go” to the anti-terrorism march in Paris.
The Turkish president further called on Netanyahu to “give an account for the children, [and] women” he “massacred” during the latest Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Erdogan noted that the Israeli premier had no right to attend the march, during which he was seen elbowing his way to the front of the parade of world leaders and waving to the crowd, a gesture some commentators deemed to be at odds with the somber mood.
“How can you see this individual, who carries out state terrorism by massacring 2,500 people in Gaza, waving his hand?” Erdogan said, adding, “He is waving his hand as if people are very enthusiastically waiting for him.”
According to Israel’s Channel 2, French President Francois Hollande had sent a message to Netanyahu, asking him not to participate in the unity march as he believed the Israeli premier’s presence there would be “divisive.”
On Sunday, thousands of anti-terrorism protesters gathered for the rally, with world leaders and officials in attendance. The event came after days of deadly attacks, which claimed the lives of 17 people and three gunmen in France.
Israel unleashed aerial attacks on Gaza in early July and later expanded its military campaign with a ground invasion of the Palestinian coastal enclave.
IA/NT/SS
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