Prof. Efrat Aviv
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,294, Aug. 4, 2024
“The Turkish threat to Israel and the Turkish-Israeli conflicts over the past decade and a half have repeatedly provided the Justice and Development Party and its leader with opportunities to position themselves as champions of Islam, an image they strive to project to fortify their electoral base.”
In 2017, I published a book on anti-Zionism and antisemitism in Turkey. In that book, besides describing the development of antisemitic and anti-Israel phenomena in Turkey over the years, I explored the question of whether Erdoğan himself is an antisemite. I argued that whether or not he is personally antisemitic—a judgment I leave to the reader—the crucial issue is his influence on the rise and spread of antisemitic sentiment in Turkish society. Unlike other countries, antisemitism and anti-Zionism in Turkey are often dictated from above.
I was reminded of this after Erdoğan’s recent threat to Israel, in which he asserted that Turkey would enter Israel as it had entered Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh and that nothing could be done to prevent it. “We must be strong so that Israel does not continue its ridiculous actions against Palestine,” he said. This threat, partially intended to create fear that Israel might do to the Turks what it allegedly did to the Palestinians, came after Netanyahu’s speech to Congress but is not necessarily related to it, except as an attempt to gain popularity in an arena other than Washington.
Erdoğan has become obsessed with Netanyahu, portraying him in Turkish media as a new Hitler. This rhetoric is exemplified by a street ad with a graphic of Netanyahu’s face gradually transforming into Hitler’s. The image is captioned, “Hitler is not dead, he is only changing shape.” Netanyahu’s speech in Congress might have been a catalyst for the threat, but it was not the starting point of Erdoğan’s hostility.
Erdoğan’s statement came a day after the Hezbollah massacre of 12 Druze children in Majdal Shams, an event he did not address. Even after October 7, Erdoğan said simply, “We invite all parties to act reasonably and avoid impulsive measures.”
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