ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.
He made the comment after describing what Palestinian and Turkish officials said was the killing by Israeli troops of a Turkish-American woman taking part in a protest on Friday against settlement expansion in the West Bank.
“The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries,” Erdogan said at an Islamic schools’ association event near Istanbul.
“Israel will not stop in Gaza,” he claimed. “If Israel continues in this manner, it will set its sights elsewhere after occupying Ramallah. The turn will come for other countries in the region. It will come for Lebanon, Syria. They will set their eyes on our homeland between the Tigris and Euphrates.
“They openly state this with every map they pose in front of,” he claimed. “They are already declaring that they will not be content with occupying Gaza alone.” READ MORE