Turkish PM compares Netanyahu with Paris terrorists
'Netanyahu has committed crimes against humanity the same like those terrorists who carried out the Paris massacre,' says Davutoglu.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had committed crimes against humanity comparable to those behind the Paris attacks that left 17 dead.
"Netanyahu has committed crimes against humanity the same like those terrorists who carried out the Paris massacre," he told reporters in televised comments, pointing to the 2010 Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel, that resulted in the death of 10 Turks, and last year's summer war against Hamas in Gaza.
"Just as the massacre in Paris committed by terrorists is a crime against humanity, Netanyahu, as the head of the government that kills children playing on the beach with the bombardment of Gaza, destroys thousands of homes ... and that massacred our citizens on an aid ship in international waters, has committed crimes against humanity," the Turkish premier said.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said on Thursday it was Islamophobic and unacceptable for Netanyahu to link last week's deadly militant attacks in Paris to Islam.
"The Israeli government must halt its aggressive and racist policies instead of attacking others and sheltering behind anti-Semitism," pokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in a written statement on the presidential website.
Erdogan himself criticized Netanyahu on Monday for "daring" to attend an anti-terror solidarity march in Paris, accusing him of leading "state terrorism" against the Palestinians.
The comments, at a press conference in Ankara with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, were the latest verbal assault against Netanyahu by Erdogan under whose rule Turkey's relations with Israel have steadily deteriorated.
He said he could "hardly understand how he (Netanyahu) dared to go" to Sunday's massive march in the French capital and urged him to "give an account for the children, women you massacred."
Abbas and Netanyahu, as well as Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, joined the solidarity march in Paris in the memory of 17 people killed in Islamist terror attacks last week.
But Erdogan said Netanyahu had no right to be there after nearly 2,200 Palestinians were killed in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
"How can you see this individual, who carries out state terrorism by massacring 2,500 people in Gaza, waving his hand?" said Erdogan.
"He is waving his hand as if people are very enthusiastically waiting for him," added Erdogan, referring to the images of Netanyahu acknowledging supporters in Paris.
The Paris rally, which drew 1.5 million people, put Netanyahu and Abbas in the closest proximity for some time, with the Middle East peace talks deadlocked.
Reuters contributed to this report.
