Türkiye urges pro-Israel nations to cease support as Gaza attacks peak
TÜRKİYE has urged pro-Israel nations to cease their support of Tel Aviv as Israel continued its brutal nearly six-month bombardment of Palestine’s Gaza Strip.
“Ankara calls on countries that have supported Israel so far to stop doing so because it is not only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his regime that will collapse but also the countries that support it,” Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters yesterday on his way home from Azerbaijan, where he participated in the 14th Plenary Session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA). “In many of the international meetings we held after Oct. 7, unfortunately, some of the countries were in favor of Israel,” Kurtulmuş pointed out, criticizing some of the Western countries for “acting more Israeli than Israel.”
“Over time, it became clear how right we (Türkiye) were about what we said from day one.”
“Israel’s massacres, which have reached such a grave, brutal and genocidal dimension without even the slightest humanitarian characteristic, by trampling on all international law, are now seen by all countries of the world,” Kurtulmuş said. Even the countries that want to support Israel can no longer express their words as strongly as before, he stressed, noting: “I personally believe that with South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the favorable announcement of the interim decision there, a new era has begun for the Palestinian cause.”
NETANYAHU AND HIS THREATS
The parliament speaker further said, “A brutal massacre in which Netanyahu and his gang shoot and kill even sheep walking on the road has reached a point that no one can defend.”
“It is obvious that the threat of ‘We will kill them too, we will not leave them alive,’ especially against those who have taken refuge at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza, has put Netanyahu on an endless path,” he warned. “And now there is no turning back for him either.”
He expressed hope that the trials at the ICJ will lead to a path in which “Netanyahu and war criminal top executives such as (former political leader of Bosnia’s Serbs Radovan) Karadzic and (former Serb commander) Ratko Mladic are destined to be held accountable and punished at the international war crimes court as well.”
SOLIDARITY OF MILLIONS
Kurtulmuş also noted: “We see that almost everyone, billions of people, regardless of their religion, race or political views, who have a modicum of humanity in their hearts, have entered into a solidarity as a natural member of the human front.”
“This is not only a hope for the liberation of the Palestinian people, but also for humanity,” he said.
Kurtulmuş stressed three main points, the first of which was the isolation of Netanyahu and his team in the international arena, which would be served by the case at the ICJ. The second is to ensure that civil society are in a larger and long-term solidarity, he noted.
“The third is that the Islamic countries, which unfortunately have been in a state of great weakness and lack of initiative since Oct. 7, must now wake up and keep their ranks tight in unity and solidarity,” Kurtulmuş said, underlining that Ankara will continue to make efforts in the upcoming period by intensifying work in these three areas.
“In the end, the winner will be the Palestinian people, and the oppressed nations.”
MUTUAL VISITS WITH EGYPT
The official also touched on Türkiye-Egypt relations, noting that there may be mutual visits soon.
One of the first things to be done to ensure that Islamic countries act in unity and solidarity to increase mutual relations by setting political differences aside, Kurtulmuş said.
At a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (IOC) in the Ivory Coast next week, “the heads of parliament must increase close contact not only with Egypt but also with all countries in the region,” Kurtulmuş noted.“Otherwise, the countries of the region will become a part of the political calculations of others,” he warned, underscoring that “it has been experienced before” and stressed the need for trust and stability in the region.