Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, highlighting a March 30, 2025 prayer in which Erdogan asked that “Zionist Israel” be “destroyed and devastated,” and accusing the Turkish leader of consistently seeking to undermine the Jewish people’s historic bond to Jerusalem.
In a post on X/Twitter, Chikli wrote that the line, “May Allah, for the sake of His name… destroy and devastate Zionist Israel,” was not uttered by Hamas or Hezbollah, but by Erdogan himself during a public prayer. Israeli and international outlets reported at the time that Erdogan, speaking at Istanbul’s Camlica Mosque at the close of Ramadan, used language translated as a call for Israel’s destruction. Israel condemned the remarks.
Chikli described Erdogan as “a sworn enemy of Israel and the West, a jihadist in a suit,” and pointed to earlier statements by the Turkish leader claiming a special Turkish claim to Jerusalem. On October 1, 2020, Erdogan told Turkey’s parliament: “So Jerusalem is our city. Our first qibla…,” a passage widely reported at the time.
He also referenced Erdogan’s September 2025 comments amid a dispute over the ancient Siloam Inscription, when the Turkish president said, “We will not give even a single pebble belonging to Jerusalem to Israel.” Turkish and regional media covered those remarks at the time.
“We remind the ignorant dictator Erdogan of one simple truth: Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since the days of King David 1,500 years before the birth of Muhammad, and 2,500 years before the imperial-colonial Ottoman occupation,” Chikli wrote, adding: “We will not tolerate a Turkish presence, not on our northern border and not on our southern border.”
Turkey role in Gaza ceasefire framework
Chikli’s post came as debate intensified in Israel over Ankara’s emerging role in the US-led Gaza ceasefire framework. On Monday, The Jerusalem Post published a Media Line analysis noting that Turkey has signed on as a guarantor in the plan’s next phases, with experts saying Washington’s leverage pushed Jerusalem to accept a Turkish role it would otherwise have resisted.
The report added that Israel remains wary of Ankara’s ties to Hamas even as it seeks to limit Turkey’s footprint to technical tasks such as recovery of the bodies of Israeli hostages.
Israeli media previously reported Erdogan’s March prayer as a turning point in already fraught relations, with Israel’s leadership denouncing the rhetoric. The Post’s coverage documented the prayer and the diplomatic fallout.
Erdoğan’s 2020 “our city” comment about Jerusalem has frequently resurfaced in Israeli discourse as Jerusalem and Ankara navigate periods of confrontation and limited cooperation. “The rivalry between the two… is now changing yet again,” former diplomat Michael Harari told The Media Line, warning that Ankara’s ambitions could still clash with Israeli security priorities.