Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who for months has held his tongue in the face of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's serial anti-Israel bashing, jabbed back Thursday, labeling "dark and libelous" Erdogan's characterization of Zionism as a crime against humanity.Breaking with their practice of not responding to Erdogan's tongue lashings in the hope of not exacerbating ties with Ankara, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying Netanyahu strongly condemned Erdogan's comments and "comparison of Zionism and fascism."Erdogan, speaking Wednesday before a Vienna forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, a UN framework for West-Islam Dialogue, said, "It is necessary that we must consider -- just like Zionism, or anti-Semitism, or fascism -- Islamophopia as a crime against humanity."This is a dark and libelous statement the likes of which we thought had disappeared from the world," Netanyahu said.
(photo credit: The Jerusalem Post)