*JERUSALEM: *Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday slammedTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a “dictator” and “a joke” in thelatest exchange of insults between the two leaders.
Turkey on Tuesday denounced Netanyahu’s “blatant racism” after he calledIsrael the nation-state of “the Jewish people” only, not all its citizens.
Netanyahu’s initial comment had come amid an online spat sparked byIsrael’s right-wing firebrand culture minister Miri Regev, ahead of Aprilelections and subsequently joined by Israeli Hollywood star Gal Gadot.
Regev, a member of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, had in a TVinterview warned voters not to support its main rival because it would allywith Israeli Arab parties — a highly unlikely scenario.
Israeli model and actress Rotem Sela responded on Instagram, asking: “Whenthe hell will someone in this government convey to the public that Israelis a state of all its citizens and that all people were created equal?”
Netanyahu reacted with his own Instagram message, telling Sela: “Israel isnot a state of all its citizens.”
“According to the basic nationality law we passed, Israel is thenation-state of the Jewish people — and only it,” he said, referring to adeeply controversial piece of legislation passed last year.
Gadot, star of “Wonder Woman”, jumped to Sela’s defence.
“Love your neighbour as yourself,” Gadot wrote on Instagram late Sunday.
“This isn’t a matter of right or left. Jew or Arab. Secular or religious,”she wrote.
“It’s a matter of dialogue, of dialogue for peace and security and of ourtolerance of one towards the other.”
On Tuesday, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin weighed in onNetanyahu’s comments.
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Writing on Twitter in both Turkish and English, he said: “I stronglycondemn this blatant racism and discrimination.”
Netanyahu struck back in a statement from his office early Wednesday.
“Turkey’s dictator Erdogan attacks Israel’s democracy while Turkishjournalists and judges fill his prisons,” it read.
“What a joke!”
Turkey and Israel have tense relations and Erdogan, who regards himself asa champion of the Palestinian cause, is a vocal critic of Israeli policies.
The two countries in 2016 ended a six-year rift triggered by the Israelistorming of a Gaza-bound ship that left 10 Turkish activists dead and ledto a downgrading of diplomatic ties.
Netanyahu has been accused by critics of demonising Israeli Arabs, who makeup some 17.5 per cent of the population, in a bid to boost right-wingturnout for April polls.
He is facing a tough challenge from a centrist political alliance led byformer military chief of staff Benny Gantz and ex-finance minister YairLapid.
After the polls, he will also face a hearing to defend himself againstcorruption allegations which have dogged his campaign. – APP/AFP
