Turkey’s Erdogan is a Routine Antisemitic Inciter and Middle East Destabilizer  

Jew-hatred in Turkey has escalated to deeply alarming levels during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration.

Turkish singer Yasar Ipek posted on August 3, 2025 on social media:

Let’s go on a Jew-hunt; personally, I swear to Allah, I will beat the first Jew I will see on the street until they’re hospitalized.

This past May, he was sentenced to three years in prison following a case initiated by the Chief Rabbinate of Turkey.

Ipek posted on Instagram that following the court ruling, he has received thousands of messages in support of his statement. He added that he has not been detained, and the legal process remains ongoing. His lawyer will file the necessary appeals for the case to appear before the appellate court. He noted many media outlets have also expressed solidarity with him.

In Turkey, hate speech (including violent language) against religious and ethnic minorities is often rewarded with impunity. Given how even the country’s state officials often engage in antisemitic incitement, it is very unlikely that Ipek will be brought to account for openly calling for a Jew-hunt.

The political and media infrastructure in the country systematically encourages or endorses antisemitic discourse. Erdogan, for instance, regularly incites hatred against Jews and Israel. On August 28, Erdogan declared a war on “Zionism” and the Israeli government:

Israel’s current war-addicted government is trying every kind of provocation to destabilize our entire region. The radical, occupying, genocidal ideology called Zionism is not only targeting the peace of its neighbors; it is also targeting everyone who defends regional peace and humanitarian values.

At its core, Zionism is the affirmation of the Jewish right to self-determination and security in the land of Israel. By continuously escalating his hostile rhetoric, Erdogan appears to target the sovereign right of the State of Israel to exist.

Meanwhile, he suppresses and imprisons opposition leaders, mayors, judges, and journalists at home. Since the July 2016 coup attempt, the Turkish government that Erdogan leads has dismissed more than 150 elected mayors and replaced them with state-appointed trustees. Most of those mayors are Kurdish.

Since the March 2024 local elections, government-appointed trustees have jailed, suspended, or replaced over 45 elected mayors and co-mayors — primarily from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM).

In Gaza, however, Erdogan’s regime supports Hamas and Palestinian Jihad, and in Lebanon it supports Hezbollah. In July 2026, the Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute (ATIRI) reported:

Since 2003, the ties between Hamas and Erdoğan’s Turkey have grown stronger and have been manifested by Turkey’s hosting senior movement figures, political and diplomatic support and economic and humanitarian assistance. Hamas turned Turkey into an important foothold from which it directs attacks on Israeli targets and raises funds to finance terrorist activities.

In July 2026, it was reported that the Hamas leadership had begun transferring its organizational activity from Qatar to Turkey. That followed the attempted Israeli attack on senior Hamas figures in Doha in September 2025 and pressure on Qatar to expel the movement’s leadership, in addition to the growing tension between the Qatari authorities and Hamas representatives because of the war in Iran.

The Hamas branch in Turkey, headed by the so-called “West Bank headquarters,” continued establishing networks for attacks and transferring funds to finance terrorist activities against Israel, in addition to operating training camps for Hamas terrorists in Turkish territory.

In January 2026, analyst Shay Gal referred to Turkey as “Hezbollah’s new side hustle.” He wrote:

Still aligned with Iran but no longer dependent on it, the terrorist organization [Hezbollah] rebuilds funding, transit and political cover through Turkey…

The first observable indicator appeared in financial channels. On February 28, 2025, Lebanese authorities seized 2.5 million dollars from an individual arriving from Turkey, with sources confirming the funds were destined for Hezbollah. Israel later reported to the UN Security Council on additional cash flights along the same route in February 2025, indicating the seizure was part of a developing pipeline. In parallel, U.S. Treasury officials publicly identified Turkey as a transit point for funds moving from Iran to Lebanon. The route was treated as an active financial corridor.

In parallel, a sustained pattern was documented and verified. Senior Hezbollah operatives transited through Ankara and Istanbul under civilian cover, while Turkish intelligence personnel entered Beirut discreetly and proceeded directly to the Dahieh district. By late 2025, this movement had matured from quiet transit to overt interface, with Hezbollah-linked delegations visiting Turkey under political or quasi-diplomatic cover as Ankara increasingly framed itself as a mediator between Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. The sequence is consistent – meetings in Turkey, operational follow-up in Beirut, and direct access to Hezbollah’s core command environment. This is not episodic contact. It establishes Turkey not as a formal sponsor, but as a permissive environment enabling Hezbollah’s continued functionality under pressure.

One of the main reasons why a war continues in Gaza is because of Turkey’s support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic of Iran as they pursue their genocidal goals against Israel.

Meanwhile, Erdogan has targeted Israel with blood libels for years. On August 28, Erdogan claimed that “the genocide network has turned Gaza into the world’s largest cemetery for children,” adding that even kites are viewed as a threat.

By spreading such propaganda, Erdogan employed one of the oldest antisemitic tricks. Known as the blood libel, this refers to an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely accuses Jewish people of murdering non-Jewish children. For centuries, the blood libel has been used against Jews to dehumanize them and incite mass violence against them.

The blood libel has served as a highly effective tool to manipulate public fear. In the Nazi era, the propaganda newspaper Der Stürmer frequently revived medieval blood libel imagery and text to psychologically condition Germans to view Jews as subhuman monsters.

Today, the trope manifests online through internet conspiracy theories and specialized political propaganda, including false claims that the Israeli military systematically harvests organs or deliberately targets children out of a specific “Jewish thirst for blood.” To this day, this myth persists through statements such as those made by Erdogan.

In 2020, Erdogan called Israel “a pirate, cruel and insatiable,” and apparently forgetting that the Palestinians had been offered a state at least six times since the 1930s (the latest offer was made by President Trump in 2020), and each time Palestinians turned the offer down, opposing the idea that Jews too should have a state of their own. Yet, referring to President Trump’s “Peace for Prosperity” plan, commonly called the “deal of the century,” Erdogan said in a speech in 2020:

We never recognize and accept this plan that will destroy Palestine. Israel, which was established in a pirate way on Palestinian lands, has reached its present borders unjustly and unlawfully. The eyes of the cruel ones do not get enough of blood and wealth. Israel does not get enough of these things either. They are trying to put into effect this plan, which means the annexation of Palestinian lands. Now, without any shame, they are trying to deprive Palestine [of a state], including the West Bank.

Erdogan also condemned those who befriend and support Jews, whom he referred to as “those with a kippah on.”

When we look at the attitude of Islamic countries, I feel sorry for us. First of all, you, Saudi Arabia. You have been silent. When will you speak up? The Oman, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi administrations. They join [the peace initiative] and give applause. Shame on you! How will those clapping hands account for this treacherous step? Those sitting with kippahs on their heads [Jews] applaud and they [Muslims] applaud, as well. Tell me who your friend is and I will tell you who you are. The key to peace is in Jerusalem today, as it has been for thousands of years. Anyone who encourages Israel is responsible for the dire consequences that will occur.

Antisemitic tropes, anti-Israel rhetoric, and conspiracy theories have also increasingly appeared across mainstream Turkish television and media networks. As journalist Neta Bar reported on 11 July 2025,

“Turkey’s transformation under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan into a bastion of Palestinian advocacy and Israeli hostility has become impossible to ignore.

“Anyone walking through Istanbul’s streets encounters a disturbing visual landscape—painted portraits of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on Israel, Palestinian flags draped from buildings and graffiti demanding Israel’s annihilation.

This antisemitic spectacle pervades even traditionally opposition strongholds, where Hamas narratives have taken root with alarming success. The progression from legitimate criticism of Israeli policies to outright hatred and then to classical antisemitism represents a profound shift in Turkish society’s discourse.

Turkish media outlets, particularly those aligned with Erdoğan’s government, have enthusiastically embraced this toxic environment. The antisemitic imagery they deploy draws from centuries-old prejudices.

Notable illustrator Ibrahim Ozdaba, a prominent voice in Turkey’s right-wing circles, recently published a cartoon depicting Israel as an octopus—a direct homage to traditional antisemitic caricatures portraying Jews as tentacled predators consuming the world.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a particular target for these antisemitic attacks. One widely circulated cartoon, labeled “Netanyahudi,” portrays the Israeli leader as a skull-clutching demon. Created by illustrator Erdogan Ozer, this image spread rapidly across Turkish social media platforms.

The antisemitic rhetoric has penetrated Turkey’s media establishment at the highest levels. Ibrahim Karagul, a prominent columnist for the pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak and an influential political commentator, recently published his genocidal fantasies. “The time has come to destroy Israel. Geography is a weapon, and this weapon must be ignited now. Today it’s Iran, tomorrow it’s Turkey, or Pakistan,” Karagul declared.

Erdogan’s regime shelters Hamas, fuels antisemitic incitement and Holocaust distortion, and has committed grave war crimes and abuses against Kurds, Yazidis, Druze, and Christians, and brutal repression at home in Turkey. To divert attention from his regime’s terrible human rights record, Erdogan resorts to the oldest trick in the antisemitic playbook: making false accusations against Jews and Israel while causing massive instability and violence in the entire region.