Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be prosecuted as a war criminal due to the ongoing Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. In a speech before a committee meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Erdogan emphasized that Gaza is Palestinian land and will always belong to the Palestinians. He added, "Apart from being a war criminal, Netanyahu, who is now the butcher of Gaza, will be prosecuted as the butcher of Gaza, just as Milosevic was prosecuted," referring to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who was charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes at a court in The Hague.
Erdogan remarked, "Those who try to overlook the deaths of all these innocents by using the pretext of Hamas have nothing left to say to humanity," in reference to Western powers he described as "blind and deaf." Unlike most of its Western allies and some Gulf countries, Turkey, a NATO member, does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and hosts several members of the movement.
Erdogan, who leads a ruling party with Islamic roots, stated that the so-called contact group of Islamic countries, formed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League last month to discuss Gaza with Western countries and others, will continue discussions until the fighting in Gaza stops. However, he indicated that more efforts need to be made. He added, "We must absolutely evaluate the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court in this context," stressing that the Israeli nuclear arsenal should not be forgotten.
