Erdogan’s desire to capture Jerusalem cannot be ignored

Turkey’s President Erdogan has long been anti-Israel and espoused antisemitic viewpoints, but this week he took it one step further by cutting ties with Israel. Erdogan is demonstrating why Israel’s allies must wake up to the threat of Turkey.

In recent weeks Turkey has made a number of anti-Israel moves from cutting trade with Israel to calling on the Islamic world to isolate Israel, and blocking Israel’s president from flying over the country’s airspace. These are not surprising. Erdogan has long spoken out against Israel and below we will explain his antisemitic views.

Sadly, Erdogan supports the actions of Hamas. He has publicly praised them for fighting against Israel. This is likely because Erdogan shares the same ambitions of Hamas to see Israel destroyed.

This was clearly evidenced when Hamas moved its headquarters from Qatar to Turkey, with the blessing of Erdogan.

Even though there was US pressure on Qatar to cut ties with Hamas, the Qatari government claims they did not force Hamas out. If this is the case, it may be a strategic move by Hamas to protect its leaders from assassination.

Turkey is a NATO country. It would be inconceivable that Israel would carry out assassinations of Hamas leaders inside a NATO country. The NATO Treaty, of which the UK, USA, and EU are a part of, means that if one country in NATO is attacked, all of them must defend the other. Whilst Israel would not attack Turkey directly, any action against Hamas in the country would be seen as an attack on NATO soil and would cause massive diplomatic rifts, and potentially, military disputes between Israel and NATO.

The most troubling part of this is that Turkey is welcoming an outlawed terror group with open arms. Most NATO countries view Hamas as a terrorist organisation and have enacted laws to either sanction the group or outlaw it entirely. Now, however, NATO is being used as a shield for Hamas against Israel.

Why would Erdogan do this?

The simple answer is that he is antisemitic and shares the same anti-Israel aims as Hamas.

Erdogan has used antisemitic statements in the past against Israel’s actions in Gaza. “There is no difference between the atrocity faced by the Jewish people in Europe 75 years ago and the brutality that our Gaza brothers are subjected to,” he said, accusing Israel of using methods “similar to the Nazis.”

Just last month Erdogan called upon Islamic nations to stand together against Israel, to surround and isolate the Jewish state. At the same time he lauded Hamas for defending Gaza and “Islamic lands,” including Turkey, from what he said was “the growing threat of expansionism” from the Jewish state.

Erdogan made false claims that Israel wants to expand and occupy the entire region. He’s lying to incite hatred of Israel and stir up the hearts of his citizens to hate Israel and the Jews.

Sadly, this is nothing new for the Turkish leader. In 2017, Erdogan made clear his intention for Jerusalem, a city that the Ottoman Turks controlled for 400 years.

Erdogan said: “Those who think Jerusalem belongs to them today will not be able to find a tree to hide behind tomorrow.”

Erdogan was referencing the famous antisemitic Hadith, that states: “Allah’s Messenger said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.’” (Sahih Bukhari 4:52:177; see also Sahih Bukhari 4:52:176; Sahih Muslim 41:6985)[1]

Just think about what the Turkish leader is saying there. He’s not directing this towards Israel, but Jews as a whole. And he’s saying that at some time in the future Muslims will slaughter the Jews and remove them from Jerusalem as per Allah’s command.

Think about that for a moment. A NATO leader, who is harbouring Hamas terrorist leaders, and who has cut all trade with Israel, desires to slaughter the Jews and believes it is his religious duty.

Turkey is a Muslim country that has an Islamist government. A survey in Turkey from Spring 2024 gives some insights into the Turkish perspective on Israel.

Turkish public survey highlights:

• 84% side with Palestinians/Hamas
• 95% do not trust Israel’s public statements
• 73% participate in boycotting Israeli products
• 81% support the Turkish government’s stance on Israel-Hamas

Whilst it is true that the Turkish population is not united when it comes to their view of Erdagon, it appears they are much more united in their animosity towards Israel.

This is a concern. Turkey is a NATO country that has a strong military and it currently has a mad man at the top with an extremist religious ideology who wants to recapture Jerusalem for the Islamic world.

Israel’s allies can no longer ignore Turkey or Erdogan. If they truly want to defend Israel they need to pressure Turkey to turn away from this path before it is too late. We need Godly men and women to stand up to this evil agenda.

As for Christians, we need to continue to pray as watchmen on the walls for Israel and the Jewish people. We cannot only focus on Iran or Hamas, there are other big players in this world who seek to destroy God’s chosen. We must stand in prayer and continue to warn others about the tyrants of this age.