‘Murderer Israel’: Erdogan Leads 1.5 Million People in Pro-Hamas Airport Takeover

Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flooded Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport this weekend with hundreds of thousands of people – he claimed 1.5 million attendees – chanting “murderer Israel” and other pro-Hamas slogans in support of the terrorist group’s October 7 massacre.

Erdogan branded the rally the “Great Palestine Meeting” and delivered an extensive address in which he once again insisted “Hamas is not a terrorist organization,” claimed that Israel secretly created Kurdish miliitias in Iraq and Syria, and blamed “the West” generally for the conflict between Israel and Palestinian terror groups.

Erdogan has been one of the world’s most vocal supporters of Hamas following the “al-Aqsa flood,” a pervasive terrorist attack on October 7 targeting Israeli civilians and foreign visitors.

Israeli authorities estimate that Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people on that day, many of them disabled people, the elderly, and children as young as newborns.

Israeli authorities have struggled to identify many victims as Hamas terrorists burned them alive, decapitated some, extensively tortured others, and desecrated many of their corpses after their deaths.

The terrorists reportedly entered residential communities and went door-to-door killing entire families, leaving bodies of children with knives stuck in them and headless and charred remains of babies. At a music festival, the terrorists opened fire on crowds, leaving an estimated 260 bodies.

Hamas also took an estimated 250 hostages, who are believed to be in Gaza, the terror group’s stronghold.

At the “Great Palestine Rally” in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan dismissed this event as “regrettable” but minimal compared to “invader” Israel’s existence.

“Certainly, in such a climate of fire and blood, there have been regrettable events,” Turkey’s state Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan as saying. “However, none of these can serve as an excuse for campaigns aimed at discrediting the resistance carried out by the Palestinian people under various names.”

“What was Gaza and Palestine in 1947, what is it today? Israel, how did you get here? How did you get in? You are an invader, you are an organization,” Erdogan said elsewhere in his remarks, as translated by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

“Israel, we will declare you to the world as a war criminal. We are preparing for introducing Israel to the world as a war criminal.”

The Turkish president reportedly blamed “the West” for the carnage in Israel and alleged “massacre in Gaza,” referring to ongoing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations aimed at eliminating Hamas weapons depots and other critical terrorist sites.

“I am asking West, do you want to create another Crusader War atmosphere?” he continued. “The main culprit behind the massacre unfolding in Gaza is the West.”

Erdogan went on to repeat that “Hamas is not a terrorist organization” and condemn Israel for being “very disturbed by this.” He went on to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “terrorist.”

Erdogan has been insisting since at least 2018 that Hamas was not a terrorist group. Most recently, he made the claim in remarks to the members of his Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) last week.

“Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a group of mujahideen defending their lands,” Erdogan proclaimed last week. Mujahideen is a term used for Muslims engaged in jihad, or holy war. In those remarks, Erdogan instead accused Israel of being the terrorist organization.

Bizarrely, Erdogan also accused Israel of being “behind” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Muslim-majority Marxist terrorist organization, and the People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), Kurdish militias in Syria that helped the United States fight the Islamic State “caliphate.” Erdogan did not elaborate on his claim or offer any evidence for a relationship between the Israeli government and those groups.

The Turkish government claimed the event attracted 1.5 million people – a massive spectacle featuring throngs of Islamists chanting “murderer Israel” and pro-Palestinian slogans, Hurriyet reported. Erdogan also invited a series of celebrity guests, including Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens.

Islam thanked Erdogan and the Turkish government “for taking the right stand” on Gaza and claimed that the October 7 Hamas massacre was not a major event compared to the Israeli military’s measures to protect the population from terrorism.

“This is not a battle between equals. If we look at the attack on Oct. 7 comparing it to the scale of the vast military response, it is just beyond comparison,” Islam claimed, according to Anadolu. “In Islam the protection of women and children and non-combatants is fundamental.”

“Remember the original message God sent to you: ‘You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not seek your neighbor’s property.’ These are the laws of Moses taught the world. Why don’t you follow them?” Islam added.

Erdogan is one of the world’s most vocal supporters of Hamas. Hamas maintains a “political office” in Turkey and regular communication with the Turkish government. Turkey has also faced accuations of arming and offering other material support to Hamas.

Editor’s Note:  This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.  The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters. 

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