From the Liveblog of
Saturday, July 4, 2026
Erdogan accuses ‘war-addicted’ Israel of tying its political survival to regional conflicts
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slams Israel’s government, accusing Jerusalem of tying “its political survival to the continuation of conflicts in the region,” and “not leaving Lebanon and Syria alone in particular.”
“Israeli occupation forces continue their unlawful and inhumane attacks against the oppressed in Gaza,” Erdogan adds, speaking at a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“The war-addicted current Israeli government must not be given the opportunity to once again drown our geography in the smell of gunpowder and blood,” Erdogan says.
Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials have ramped up threats against Jerusalem recently, with Turkey’s interior minister calling last month for the country to “liberate” Jerusalem. Some Western and Israeli outlets reported that Erdogan called for God to destroy Israel during a prayer service marking the end of Ramadan in March 2025, saying: “May Allah, for the sake of his name… destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.”
In response to Erdogan’s increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Turkish leader should “calm down” during a Channel 14 interview earlier this week.
The Times of Israel Community.