Turkey has announced its intention to pursue an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This action is linked to allegations of genocide related to the interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The announcement, made on Friday, has escalated tensions between Ankara and Jerusalem, with both countries exchanging sharp rhetoric in the wake of the statement.
Turkey has become a virulent critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, sparked by Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has frequently accused Netanyahu of “genocide”. Turkey’s Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on X that his ministry had asked the interior ministry to issue an Interpol red notice for Netanyahu and another Israeli, named as Afek Moskovitch, “as part of the judicial proceedings concerning the attack in international waters on the Flotilla activists”. Netanyahu and Moskovitch are being prosecuted for “crimes against humanity, genocide, aggravated deprivation of liberty, ‘intentional assault and battery,’ torture, destruction of property, aggravated looting, and hijacking of transport vehicles,” the ministry said. In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said Israel was “unimpressed by Turkey’s hypocrisy”. It added that Israel would “continue to act forcefully against Turkey’s attempts to destabilise the region” an apparent reference to a previous accusation that Ankara was seeking to establish a military presence in Syria, where authorities said Israel bombed an air base near the Turkish border this week. Turkey quickly fired back, with Erdogan’s office calling the remarks “outrageous ravings” and accusing Netanyahu’s government of “seeking to evade accountability”.
Netanyahu’s co-accused, Afek Moskovitch, is an Israeli soldier, who is also accused over actions in Gaza, according to Turkey’s IHA news agency.
