Turkish FM calls for sanctions on Israel; Israel's FM condemns remarks as 'genocide incitement'

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan sharply criticized Israel in a TV interview, calling for international sanctions against the country. Fidan stated that "these people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear," arguing that human conscience, political systems, and economic systems cannot sustain the current situation.

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These people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.

"Everyone must step forward, take a diplomatic position, and impose the necessary sanctions on these people," Fidan urged. He asserted that Israel is not just a problem for Turkey or President Erdoğan, but a burden on humanity.

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Everyone must step forward, take a diplomatic position, and impose the necessary sanctions on these people.

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar vehemently condemned Fidan's remarks. Sa'ar described the comments as "textbook incitement to genocide" and accused Fidan of using "dehumanizing language." He posted on X/Twitter that referring to the Jewish people as an "unbearable burden" echoes the rhetoric of "history’s worst eliminationist regimes."

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Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s sickening words are textbook incitement to genocide.

Sa'ar called on "the civilized world and Turkey's NATO allies" to unequivocally condemn Fidan's statement, which he characterized as an explicit call for the "erasure of Israel."

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Dehumanizing the Jewish people as an "unbearable burden" is the classic, horrific language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes. The civilized world and Turkey's NATO allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for the erasure of Israel.