No difference between actions of Hitler, Israeli Premier Netanyahu: Turkish President Erdogan

By Muhammed Enes Calli

ISTANBUL (AA) - There is "no difference" between what Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is doing in the months-long attacks on Gaza and what Nazi leader Adolf Hitler did decades ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

At a science awards ceremony in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said: "How do you (Netanyahu) differ from Hitler? These (actions) will make us look for Hitler as well. Is there anything Netanyahu does that is less than Hitler? No."

Just like 80 years ago in Nazi Germany, Erdogan said that today, scholars worldwide who have the courage to decry the oppression and persecution in Gaza are facing pressure and threats, referring to academics in the US and elsewhere being fired or censured for standing up for Palestinians.

For scholars who face pressure for defending human dignity in Gaza, the doors of Turkish universities are open to them, he stressed.

"We realized that the institutions that talk big and spend big budgets are completely hollow when it comes to Israel and its atrocities," the president said.

"From the UN Security Council to press organizations, from the EU to journalist groups, all institutions that serve as apostles of democracy have failed (over the Israeli attacks on Gaza)," he said.

Not only international organizations but also the prestigious Western universities have failed on the Gaza issue, Erdogan added.

Israel launched a massive military campaign on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 21,110 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 55,243 others, according to local health authorities.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.