Netanyahu orders legal case against Erdoğan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered an interministerial team and a senior Justice Ministry official to prepare a possible legal case against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The move follows Erdoğan’s announcement that Türkiye had asked Interpol to issue a red notice for Netanyahu, according to foreign media.

Israel could seek to bring a case before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza since October 2023.

However, Israel is more likely to pursue any case through a third party, if it decides to proceed, the report said. It added that the proposed case could instead be used to put pressure on Erdoğan.

The case would focus on Israel’s allegations concerning the Turkish government’s relationship with Hamas and Kurdish groups, amid a renewed peace process between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The report comes after Netanyahu called Erdoğan a “tyrant” in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday.

A Turkish official responded by describing Netanyahu’s remarks as “desperate and empty attempts” to cover up what he called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and its ongoing attacks on the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere.

By Aghakazim Guliyev