Turkey-Israel: After the Strikes, the War of Words

Relations between Turkey and Israel have hit rock bottom: three days after an Israeli airstrike on a disused base in northwestern Syria — which Israel suspects Ankara intends to use — two new offensives, this time verbal, have accelerated the deterioration of ties between the two Eastern Mediterranean powers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Friday called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an "antisemitic dictator," stating that Israel would act against "Turkey's attempts to destabilize the region."

"We will not tolerate Turkish military entrenchment advancing southward, as it poses a threat to us," Netanyahu had said on Wednesday, while Turkey denies any presence at the bombed Syrian site.

"Israel has long since stopped being impressed by Turkey's hypocrisy. Erdogan is an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, supported the massacre carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas, and oppressed his own people," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

In a separate statement released Friday, Netanyahu's office accused the Turkish president of seeking to "extend his aggression against Israel into Syria."

Ankara warned on Thursday that it would "resolutely" continue to protect Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

However, the Turkish presidency was quick to clarify that it had no plans to retaliate and that Ankara would not fall "into the trap" set by the Israeli Prime Minister.

But Turkey drove the point home on Friday by issuing an international "arrest warrant" for the Israeli Prime Minister, as part of an investigation into the brutal and humiliating interception of the "Gaza Flotilla" and the detention of the activists on board.

Red notices

Turkey's Justice Minister said he intended to "issue red notices for the international arrest" of Netanyahu on charges of "crimes against humanity, genocide, aggravated deprivation of liberty, assault and battery, torture, destruction of property, aggravated looting, and hijacking of transport vehicles," the ministry specified.

The roughly 430 crew members aboard the approximately fifty vessels boarded by the Israeli military in the Mediterranean, west of Cyprus, had been forcibly brought to Israel, then detained before being deported in May.

Israeli (far-right) National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared footage showing dozens of flotilla participants kneeling with their hands bound. They were forced to crawl on all fours and ordered to say "Long live Israel" on camera, while speakers blared the Israeli national anthem.

The release of the video sparked an international diplomatic uproar and drew condemnations from several foreign governments, as well as criticism from within Israel's own government.

Once a reliable ally of the Jewish state, Turkey has become one of Israel's main adversaries since Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-conservative party came to power. Beyond the personal animosity between the two leaders, Erdogan positions himself both as protector of Syria's new Sunni administration and as a standard-bearer of Islam against the Zionist enemy.

Recently, the Turkish president announced his country's participation in the "Mecca Alliance," a mutual defense pact between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

Pezeshkian seeks "a dignified way out"

On the Iranian front, President Massoud Pezeshkian said Friday that it was time to end the standoff with the United States, with Tehran in his view "in a position of strength and dignity" vis-à-vis Washington, which seeks to impose a new "economic war."

"The whole world recognizes our victory and points out that the United States attacked our schools, our hospitals, and our infrastructure in violation of all the rules," he added. "They are despised around the world."

The Iranian president also defended the conclusion, in June, of a memorandum of understanding with the United States aimed at finding a way out of the conflict, lashing out at critics who would see it as a sign of Iranian weakness. "They will not find a single clause in this agreement that indicates a surrender; all the commitments concern the other party," he assured.

Pezeshkian's statements — he holds what is theoretically the highest position within the official state structure — come on the heels of several other signs pointing to the power struggle between him and the regime's "hardline" camp, embodied by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who commands the ideological army of the Revolutionary Guards. Khamenei had hinted at reservations about the agreement. "I had a different opinion, but I gave my authorization," he had said.