Netanyahu accuses Erdogan of illegally occupying northern Cyprus in UN address

New York, United States. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of illegally occupying northern Cyprus in an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. He also criticised Erdogan over Greece, Syria and Israel.

Criticism of Erdogan

Netanyahu called Turkey a “super-spreader of antisemitic lies” and Erdogan a “tyrant”. He accused Erdogan of hosting Hamas leaders, killing thousands of Kurdish civilians, denying the Armenian genocide and jailing journalists and opposition leaders.

Netanyahu said Erdogan “regularly transgresses against Greece, a Nato member”, wants to take over Syria and calls for Israel’s destruction almost every day. Responding to what he said was Erdogan’s claim that he would rule Jerusalem, Netanyahu said: “This is our country, our city, our capital.”

Israel’s conflicts

Netanyahu described Hamas’ October 7, 2023 incursion into Israel as “the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust”. He accused Hamas of killing Holocaust survivors and babies, beheading men and raping women, but said Israel “didn’t collapse” and instead “rose and fought like lions”.

He said Israeli soldiers had fought for three years against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, militias in Iraq and Syria, and Palestinian militants in Judea and Samaria. He said those groups had sought to destroy Israel but had failed, and that Israel had dealt “crippling blows” to all of them.

Netanyahu said Israel and its American allies had struck Iran’s military and nuclear facilities, while Israel had hit Hamas and Hezbollah. He alluded to the September 2024 explosions of thousands of handheld pagers intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. The explosions killed 42 people and injured as many as 4,000.