Erdoğan Supported Israel for Bombing Gaza

Verda Özer of Hürriyet Newspaper interviewed an anonymous Israeli senior official who claimed that the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan had not objected Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2008. He also pointed out the fact that the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and Erdoğan had several meetings in secret regarding Israel’s plans over Gaza.  

According to Hürriyet, the last time the two prime ministers had come together was on 23 December, 2008. The main subjects were on the agenda of both parties: the peace process with Syria and Gaza. Olmert allegedly told Erdoğan that there were many rockets fired from Gaza to Israeli lands, upon which Erdoğan responded: “Rockets cannot be tolerated in any of the leading cities.” 

However, once Israel struck Gaza back with rockets, Erdoğan hypocritically kept condemning Israel at every opportunity. The anonymous Israeli official claimed that it was a part of Erdoğan’s strategy of molding public opinion. “Olmert knows that every leader has to take notice of public opinion. Erdoğan is not against Israel whatsoever.”