Israeli Foreign Minister: Erdogan has turned Turkey into a 'terrorism-supporting' country

Israel Katz, the Israeli Foreign Minister, announced on Sunday, July 22, the arrest of 'members of a terrorist cell' financially and militarily supported by Turkey. In a post in Turkish on X media, which included a caricature of Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, he stated that Erdogan provides money and weapons to 'Hamas terrorist cells' to kill Israeli citizens. According to Katz, Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, arrested members of a Hamas terrorist cell who are students at Birzeit University in Ramallah. Katz added that Hamas leadership in Turkey was directing the arrested individuals. The Israeli Foreign Minister stated that the arrested terrorists, who had military training, weapons, and thousands of dollars, were preparing for a 'terrorist attack' within Israeli territory. Katz concluded his post by stating that Erdogan, due to his extremist and anti-Semitic ideology, is turning Turkey into a terrorism-supporting country and bringing it closer to the 'axis of evil' led by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Turkey has not yet reacted to this news. On July 13, the Israeli Foreign Minister also harshly criticized Erdogan and referred to the Turkish President's comment about the impossibility of continued NATO cooperation with Israel, calling him 'a disgrace to Atatürk's legacy.' Turkey, as a NATO member, had friendly relations with Israel before the rise of the Islamist Justice and Development Party led by Erdogan. As Erdogan's power solidified in Turkey, political relations between Turkey and Israel have cooled, and military conflicts between Israel and Hamas in recent years, especially the current military invasion of Gaza aimed at destroying this Islamist group and recovering kidnapped hostages, have worsened the strained relations between these two U.S. allies. Erdogan, who has always had close relations with Hamas leaders and has hosted them in Turkey several times, recently announced Ankara's support for Lebanon in response to the intensifying possibility of war between Israel and Hezbollah and called on other regional countries to adopt a similar stance. Erdogan has stated that Turkey will not approve NATO's efforts to cooperate with Israel. Israel claims to have thwarted a 'bombing plot' by Hamas from within Turkey. Turkey rejected the Israeli Foreign Minister's statements regarding 'reducing trade restrictions.' Bloomberg sources reported that Turkey has halted trade relations with Israel; Israel Katz described this as 'the behavior of a dictator.' A Turkish attacker 'armed with a knife' was killed by Israeli agents in Jerusalem.