“Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s sickening words are textbook incitement to genocide,” Sa’ar wrote on X.
By United with Israel Staff
A war of words between Israel and Turkey escalated Thursday after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan declared that Israel “has become a problem for the entire international community,” prompting Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to accuse him of using “textbook incitement to genocide.”
Speaking to CNN Türk, Fidan said Turkey would not change its position toward Israel.
“We have no intention of backing down from our position,” Fidan said. “Israel is not only a problem for Turkey, it has become a problem for the entire world. Israeli authorities have become a burden humanity can no longer bear.”
— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) July 2, 2026
Sa’ar sharply condemned the remarks, saying they echoed dangerous historical rhetoric used to justify the persecution of Jews.
“Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s sickening words are textbook incitement to genocide,” Sa’ar wrote on X.
“Dehumanizing the Jewish people as an ‘unbearable burden’ is the classic, horrific language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes,” he said. “The civilized world and Turkey’s NATO allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for the erasure of Israel.”
The latest exchange comes just days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensified his own rhetoric against Israel, describing Zionism as “a genocidal, occupying, and expansionist ideology” that threatens not only Turkey but the broader region.
“When we fight Zionism, we are not conducting a personal struggle for ourselves,” Erdogan said earlier this week. “We are conducting this struggle for our own survival and for the collective survival of our nation.”
Relations between Jerusalem and Ankara have continued to deteriorate amid the war in Gaza, with Turkish leaders repeatedly accusing Israel of committing genocide and expanding regional instability, while Israeli officials have condemned Turkey’s support for Hamas and increasingly inflammatory rhetoric directed at the Jewish state.
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