The Media Line: Netanyahu Blasts Erdogan After Turkey Seeks Interpol Arrest Notice  

Netanyahu Blasts Erdogan After Turkey Seeks Interpol Arrest Notice  

By The Media Line Staff  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of hypocrisy and attempting to intimidate Israeli leaders Friday after Turkey sought an Interpol red notice for Netanyahu over Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla.  

Israel “has long ceased to be impressed by Turkey’s hypocrisy,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, responding hours after Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced arrest warrants targeting Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.  

In a separate English-language statement, the PMO described Erdogan as “an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppose him.”  

“He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it,” the statement said.  

“Erdogan’s pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere,” it added.  

The PMO said in its Hebrew statement that Israel would continue to “act forcefully” against what it described as Turkish efforts to destabilize the region.  

Gurlek said Friday that Turkey’s Justice Ministry had asked the Interior Ministry to seek Interpol red notices for Netanyahu and Israeli official Afek Moskovitch. Arrest warrants for both men were issued July 14, 2026, as part of proceedings before Istanbul’s 11th High Criminal Court, he said. Documents related to the request were also forwarded to the Foreign Ministry.  

The proceedings involve 35 defendants and stem from Israel’s armed interception in international waters of activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, which had set sail to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.  

Turkish authorities accuse Netanyahu and Moskovitch of crimes against humanity, genocide, aggravated deprivation of liberty, intentional injury, torture, property damage, aggravated robbery and hijacking of transportation vehicles in connection with the interception and detention of the activists.  

Gurlek said Turkey would continue pursuing legal action over alleged crimes in Gaza.  

“We will resolutely use all the means available under national and international law,” he said.