White House national security spokesperson John Kirby refused to condemn Turkey during Monday’s press briefing for openly praising Hamas after its brutal attack on Israel.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Hamas is a “liberation group” rather than a terrorist organization, and accused Israel of being a “war criminal.” Over 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Oct. 7 attack launched by Hamas, the highest death toll of Jews since the Holocaust.
RealClearPolitics White House correspondent Philip Wegmann asked how the White House views Erdogan’s anti-Israel stance given that the U.S. is allied with Turkey through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“Well we certainly let President Erdogan speak to his comments. We don’t have to agree with everything he says on every issue to still maintain the fact that he is an important NATO ally and has had a very positive influence, particularly on like the Black Sea grain, and trying to help get that out there. But, we do not associate ourselves with those comments.”
Erdogan canceled his trip to Israel and accused the country of having “abused Turkey’s good intentions.” The Israeli government told its citizens in Turkey to leave the country over the possibility of being targeted. Israel recently raised the threat level for Israelis in Turkey to a level 4. (RELATED: Kirby, KJP Shoot Down Idea Of Deporting Foreigner Attending Pro-Hamas Protests)
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lior Haiat spoke out against Erdogan for siding with Hamas.
“Israel wholeheartedly rejects the Turkish President’s harsh words about the terrorist organization Hamas. Hamas is a despicable terrorist organization worse than ISIS that brutally and intentionally murders babies, children, women and the elderly, takes civilians hostage and uses its own people as human shields,” Haiat said in an Oct. 25 statement. “Even the Turkish president’s attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his inciting words will not change the horrors that the whole world has seen and the unequivocal fact: Hamas = ISIS,” he wrote.
Endrogen claimed the U.S.’s deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Eastern Mediterranean would result in “massacres” in Gaza. The Pentagon announced the deployment in a show of force to support Israel.