Turkey blamed the West for last week’s terror attacks in Paris and even compared Netanyahu to Islamic terrorists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan implied on Tuesday that the West was behind the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher terror attacks in Paris last week, which in fact were perpetrated by Muslim terrorists back by Al-Qaeda.

“The West’s hypocrisy is obvious. As Muslims, we’ve never taken part in terrorist massacres. Behind these lie racism, hate speech and Islamophobia,” Erdogan said. “Please, the administrations in those countries where our mosques are attacked need to take measures,“ he added, relating to isolated acts of vandalism recorded in Europe in the wake of the massacres in France.

Erdogan insinuated that French security services may have known in advance about the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris but did nothing to prevent it. “French citizens carry out such a massacre, and Muslims pay the price. That’s very meaningful…. Doesn’t their intelligence organization track those who leave prison?” he asked rhetorically.

“Games are being played with the Islamic world, we need to be aware of this,” he stated.

Turkey Bans New Charlie Hebdo Edition

Erdogan was also quick to ban the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine, known as the “survivor’s edition,” which sports a cartoon of Mohammed on its front cover.

Turkish police raided the printing plant of a Turkish newspaper that was producing excerpts, NBC reports, ensuring that the cartoon would not be disseminated in Turkey.

“Nowhere in the world is the press freer than it is in Turkey. I’m very sure of myself when I say this,” Erdogan boasted in a televised speech to a conference in Ankara in December. “The press is so free in Turkey that one can make insults, slander, defamation, racism and commit hate crimes that are not tolerated even in democratic countries.”

Turkish PM Davutoglu. (Photo: Photoreporter/Shutterstock)

The latest Turkish insult was voiced on Thursday by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Muslim terrorists who carried out the attacks in Paris, saying both had committed crimes against humanity.

“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,” Davutoglu said, referring to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas terrorists in the summer and its preventing of the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship from reaching Gaza in 2010.

‘Anti-Semitic Bully’

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called Erdogan an “anti-Semitic bully” on Wednesday for criticizing Netanyahu’s attendance with other world leaders at a solidarity march against terror in Paris on Sunday.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf rebuffed Erdogan criticism by stating: “We certainly believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s presence in Paris, along with other world leaders, sends a meaningful message of solidarity with the people of France and against acts of terror. We disagree with President Erdogan’s characterization of the State of Israel.”

By: United with Israel Staff