President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday that no one could threaten or bully Turkey or its president, in remarks that appeared to answer a burst of personal attacks from Israeli leaders after Turkish prosecutors sought to put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 34 other Israeli officials on trial over the 2025 Global Sumud flotilla raid.
Speaking at a meeting of lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan said that people he called “baby killers” had insulted him and Turkey on social media and added, using a Turkish idiom, that “no power” could “wag a finger” at Turkey and Turkey’s president, meaning no foreign leader or government could threaten or talk down to Ankara.
The dispute was set off on April 11, when prosecutors in İstanbul filed an indictment of Netanyahu and 34 other Israeli political and military officials over the October 2025 interception of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud aid flotilla. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said prosecutors were seeking aggravated life sentences and other prison terms on charges including genocide and crimes against humanity.
Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies, unlike Erdogan who accommodates them and massacred his own Kurdish citizens.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 11, 2026
Netanyahu responded with a personal attack on Erdoğan, saying on X that Israel under his leadership would continue to fight “Iran’s terror regime and its proxies,” unlike Erdoğan, whom he accused of accommodating them and of “massacr[ing] his own Kurdish citizens.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry said Netanyahu “has been described as the Hitler of our time due to the crimes he has committed,” adding that his post showed “the discomfort caused by the truths we have expressed on every platform” and noting that he faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court and genocide proceedings at the International Court of Justice. The ministry also accused Netanyahu of trying to sabotage regional peace efforts.
Türkiye Cumhurbaşkanı @RTErdogan, İran’dan Türkiye topraklarına atılan füzelere tepki vermeyerek bir kâğıttan kaplan olduğunu ortaya koyduktan sonra, antisemitizme başvuruyor ve Türkiye’de İsrail’in siyasi ve askeri liderliğine karşı göstermelik yargılamalar ilan ediyor.
Ne büyük…— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) April 11, 2026
The same day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called Erdoğan a “paper tiger” and said he should “sit quietly and remain silent.” Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was also among the officials named in the Turkish case, separately used profanity against Erdoğan.
Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidency’s communications office, also fired back, calling Netanyahu “a criminal with arrest warrants to his name with no friends left” and saying he would be held accountable sooner or later for crimes against humanity.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had already expanded the argument earlier this week, saying Israel was trying to cast Turkey as its “new enemy.” Ankara sees the Netanyahu and Katz posts as part of a broader push by Israel to redefine Turkey as a regional rival.
The war of words unfolded as Ankara was also trying to present itself as a diplomatic player in the wider regional crisis. Erdoğan said Wednesday that Turkey was working to extend the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, reduce tensions and keep talks alive. In the same speech he criticized Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, saying they were harming hopes for peace.