By Pesach Benson • July 6, 2026
Jerusalem, 6 July, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday accused his Turkish counterpart of employing rhetoric that amounted to incitement to genocide after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan declared that Israel had become “a burden that humanity can no longer bear.”
Speaking at a press conference, Sa’ar said Fidan’s remarks echoed language historically used to justify the persecution and extermination of Jews.
“I must address the shocking statements of the Turkish Foreign Minister,” Sa’ar said. “This is a sentence that echoes very similar sentences we heard about a hundred years ago. These things are a clear call for genocide.”
He warned that history has shown the danger of allowing such language to go unanswered.
“The Jewish people know very well what happens when such words are allowed to remain unanswered,” Sa’ar said. “The first step on the road to genocide is dehumanization.”
The dispute erupted after Fidan called Israel a “burden that humanity cannot bear” during a televised interview on Thursday.
“Israel is not just Turkey’s problem,” Fidan said. “Everyone knows it, feels it, whispers it in hidden corners, and occasionally speaks openly. These are humanity’s common problems.”
He went on to say, “These people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear, with their policies and their mindset. Humanity cannot bear this. I may be the only country raising my voice, but this is a problem for all of you.”
Sa’ar later amplified his criticism on X, calling the comments “textbook incitement to genocide.”
“Dehumanizing the Jewish people as an ‘unbearable burden’ is the classic, horrific language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes,” he wrote. “The civilized world And Turkey’s NATO allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for the erasure of Israel.”
The latest war of words comes against the backdrop of rapidly worsening relations between Jerusalem and Ankara, which have deteriorated since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide while voicing support for Hamas, placing Turkey among Israel’s harshest international critics.
Tensions escalated further after Israel Formally recognized the 1915 Armenian genocide in June, ending decades of official reluctance on the issue. Turkey, which rejects the genocide designation, condemned the decision, with Erdogan accusing Israel of raising the issue to distract from the Gaza conflict.
Fidan has repeatedly portrayed Israel as a destabilizing force in the region. In previous remarks, he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of exploiting security concerns to expand its territorial control, describing it as “a fundamentalist government” and “a problem for the whole world.”
The diplomatic confrontation unfolded as Turkey gears up to host the NATO summit on Tuesday.
