Ömer Çelik, spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), likened Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to Nazi Germany’s foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, over Katz’s remarks about the occupied West Bank.
Katz called earlier on Wednesday for a "temporary evacuation" of the West Bank, a new target of the Israeli aggression in the Palestine-Israel conflict. In a social media post, Katz said Israel should take "whatever steps required" in the West Bank, "as we did in Gaza."
Çelik said in a social media post that Katz apparently chose Ribbentrop as his role model and "this network of murderers targeted all of humanity."
"Unless this network is stopped, humanity will remain under threat," he said. "Those carrying the burden of shame of remaining silent in the face of Nazis in the past should not relive this shame by bowing down to Nazis of today," Çelik said.
The Israeli army launched a major military operation in the northern West Bank early Wednesday, the largest in two decades. At least nine Palestinians have been killed since the start of the operation, according to the latest figures released by the Health Ministry.
Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,500, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
At least 660 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.
Türkiye is among the most vocal critics of Israel’s aggression and cut off all ties with Tel Aviv after the resumption of the conflict which came shortly after a potential rapprochement between Türkiye and Israel. Katz often faces criticism from Turkish officials, due to his notorious social media posts where he hurls insults and accusations at Türkiye, particularly President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Recently, he threatened him by claiming that he followed in the footsteps of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and should remember what happened in Iraq. Erdoğan and other Turkish officials have slammed the Israeli top diplomat for targeting Türkiye to divert attention from Israel's ongoing war crimes in Gaza.