West’s unconditional support for Israel will continue ‘influenced by shame of Holocaust’: Turkish president

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) – Western powers’ unconditional support for Israel’s deadly offensive on Gaza will continue at the expense of violating their own principles, “influenced in part by the shame” of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, the Turkish president said Saturday.

“Except for a few brave souls” there has been little visible Western media reaction to the horrors of a nine-month Israeli offensive on Gaza, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding: “They ignored genocide, disregarded the cries of the oppressed.”

Also criticizing the Islamic world for falling short on acting against the carnage in Gaza, Erdogan added that says not only international organizations but also institutions of the Islamic world have “failed to pass test on Gaza.”

“While rightfully criticizing the Western world for the massacres in Gaza, I believe Muslims also need to hold ourselves accountable,” Erdogan said.

“With a population of over 2 billion, and economic power surpassing trillions of dollars, it is incumbent upon all of us to wonder why the Islamic world cannot influence Israel,” he added.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 88,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

​​​​​​​Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.