Turkey’s prosecutors issue warrants for Netanyahu and senior IDF officials, accusing Israel of genocide amid Gaza war — a diplomatic provocation.
In a move widely condemned as politically motivated and legally baseless, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 36 senior Israeli officials, accusing them of “genocide” over Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Those named include Defense Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Naval Commander David Saar Salama, among others — a list that effectively criminalizes Israel’s national defense leadership for protecting its citizens against Iran-backed Hamas terrorism.
The warrants stem from a Turkish-led investigation claiming “systematic violence against civilians” — an allegation flatly contradicted by independent intelligence, which confirms that Hamas repeatedly used civilian infrastructure as shields during the conflict.
Turkish prosecutors cited several incidents, including the October 17, 2023 Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital blast — an explosion later proven by U.S., Israeli, and independent forensics to have been caused by a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, not Israeli fire. They also referenced the April 2024 accidental strike on World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers, for which the IDF publicly apologized and conducted a full operational review — a transparency measure unmatched by any other military in the region.
Legal experts dismissed Turkey’s actions as a political stunt aimed at appeasing domestic Islamist sentiment and expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anti-Israel campaign. The same government that shelters Hamas operatives and allows its territory to be used for Iranian proxy activity is now attempting to lecture Israel on international law.
Erdogan, who has branded Israel a “terror state” and accused Netanyahu of “threatening Middle East peace,” has steadily escalated rhetoric since Hamas’s October 7 massacre — the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. While Ankara publicly denounces Israel, it quietly continues diplomatic backchannels and even participated in ceasefire mediation under U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace initiative.
Jerusalem officials privately dismissed the warrants as “political theater, not law”, pointing out that Turkey has no jurisdiction and that the claims rely on discredited Hamas propaganda.
In reality, Turkey’s legal offensive highlights Erdogan’s desperation to deflect from his domestic economic crisis and his ambition to reassert himself as a leader of the Islamic world — even if it means undermining the global fight against terrorism.
