https://arab.news/6kbad
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s foreign ministry lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday over remarks acknowledging the Armenian “genocide,” denouncing them as a bid to cover up the bloodshed in Gaza.
“Netanyahu’s statement regarding the events of 1915 is an attempt to exploit past tragedies for political reasons,” it said in response to remarks by the Israeli leader that effectively acknowledged that World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were a “genocide” — a term Turkiye firmly rejects.
“Netanyahu, who is on trial for his role in the genocide committed against the Palestinian people, is attempting to cover up the crimes he and his government have committed,” the ministry statement said.
Israel has dismissed accusations of genocide in Gaza as “blatant lies.”
Netanyahu is not currently on trial on such a charge, although the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrants for him and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza — including using starvation as a method of warfare.
In an interview with PBD Podcast, Netanyahu was asked why he hadn’t yet recognized the Armenian killings as genocide, and he replied saying: “I just did.”
In December 2023, South Africa brought a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging that Israel’s Gaza offensive breached the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Judges are examining the charge.