Netanyahu threat for global peace: Türkiye’s top diplomat

ANKARA

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a threat to global peace because of unending bloodshed committed by the Israeli army on the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said, calling on the international community to increase pressure on Tel Aviv to end the offensive in the enclave.

Fidan held a meeting with visiting Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg on May 14 in the Turkish capital during which bilateral issues as well as regional conflicts have been raised. The two ministers held a joint press conference following their meeting and voiced their opinions on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas which has already claimed the lives of more than 35,000 civilians, mostly children and women in Gaza.

Fidan underlined that Israel, as an expansionist and racist, will bring no stability to the region and there is a growing need for the international community to take more tangible and effective measures against it.

“Israel is becoming much more alone and isolated,” Fidan said, adding that Türkiye will continue its efforts for a free Palestine.

Describing Israel as an occupation force and is occupying the lands of Palestine, Fidan stressed that the current war between Israel and Hamas has erupted because of Israel's occupational operations over the past decades.

“There is an occupation and the international community did nothing [to stop it]. We, as Türkiye, condemned the killing of civilians on Oct. 7. The systematic killing of thousands of Palestinians by Israel and turning a huge residential area into an unlivable place are a crime against humanity,” Fidan stated. “It is an act of genocide,” he added.

On a question on Israel’s plans to launch a new offensive against Rafah city in southern Gaza, Fidan urged the international community to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to change his decision.

“Netanyahu has become a threat against global peace,” Fidan said, citing the impacts of the continued Israeli massacres on the civilians in the rest of the world.

 Austrian minister thanks Türkiye

The top diplomat has reiterated that Hamas is not a terror organization, as the Western countries are claiming, but an organization trying to save its territories from Israeli occupation.

For his part, Schallenberg has underlined the role Türkiye is playing in the region and expressed his thanks for Ankara’s efforts for the release of Austrians who were captured by Hamas on Oct. 7.

“We have differences about the reasons of the war but we have a common point over its solution. We believe a two-state solution is the only way to resolve the question,” he suggested.