Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar lashed out at Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan late Thursday night, following his comments that Israel was a “burden that humanity can no longer bear” on a TV broadcast.
In an interview with CNN Türk, Fidan sharply attacked Israel and called for sanctions to be imposed on it.
“No matter which way you look at it, there is no parameter to continue to bear these people,” Fidan exclaimed.
“Israel is not only Turkey’s problem, and it is not only President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s problem,” the Turkish foreign minister said. “These people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear. The human conscience cannot bear it, political systems cannot sustain it, and economic systems cannot sustain it either.
“Everyone must step forward, take a diplomatic position, and impose the necessary sanctions on these people,” he added.
“Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s sickening words are textbook incitement to genocide,” Sa’ar responded in a post on X/Twitter.
"Dehumanizing the Jewish people as an "unbearable burden" is the classic, horrific language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes. The civilized world and Turkey's NATO allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for the erasure of Israel,” he added.
US views Turkey as stabilizing force, Fidan says
Earlier in the same interview, Fidan addressed his country’s relations with the US. The Turkish minister claimed that Washington was willing to lift the CAATSA sanctions previously imposed on Ankara, and that the US viewed Turkey as a key partner and a stabilizing force.
According to Fidan, the Trump administration is reassessing its foreign and security policies, as well as its relations with allies, particularly against the backdrop of competition with China.
Regarding mediation efforts in the Middle East, Fidan said that the risk of a broader escalation remained high and that efforts to stop the war amounted to a race against time.
He revealed that Turkey had maintained intensive communication channels and conveyed messages at the request of the parties, including during exchanges of fire.