An Israeli official expressed Tel Aviv’s concern over the growing rapprochement between US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The official said that the recent spat between Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a reflection of these concerns.
The official told Israeli radio that Erdogan was holding greater sway over Trump and this was clear in the American president’s decision to withdraw his forces from Syria last week.
He noted that the decision was made shortly after Trump had held telephone talks with Erdogan.
It was claimed that Trump told Erdogan that he will leave “all of Syria for you and quit.” Such a remark indicates a real change in American policy in the region and Erdogan now appears as Trump’s “new best friend,” said the Israeli official.
The already tense relations between Netanyahu and Erdogan were further strained over the weekend when the Israeli premier called the Turkish leader an "anti-Semitic dictator."
His remarks were prompted by Erdogan’s accusations that the Israeli premier was “an oppressor, cruel and at the head of state terror." He made his remarks in a televised speech in Istanbul.
Erdogan lambasted Netanyahu for "occupying Palestine" and committing "sins, crimes against humanity, massacres".
Netanyahu responded, by tweeting: "Erdogan – the occupier of northern Cyprus, whose army massacres women and children in Kurdish villages, inside and outside Turkey – should not preach to Israel.”
