Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Turkey is becoming \u2018The Squad\u2019 of NATO after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Israel a war criminal in its fight against Hamas terrorists.<\/p>\n
The GOP senator made the comment Saturday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n
\u2018Seems that Turkey, particularly senior leadership, is setting itself up to be \u2018The Squad\u2019 of NATO,\u2019 Graham wrote. \u2018Very disappointing and destabilizing.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The Squad\u2019 refers to the informal name of a group of progressive Democrat U.S. House members, including Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
Some of these \u2018Squad\u2019 members have been openly critical of Israel\u2019s government since Hamas launched its surprise attack on the Jewish State on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
\u2018As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue,\u2019 Tlaib, who has a well-documented history of anti-Israel comments, said in a statement the day after Hamas\u2019 attack began.<\/p>\n
Tlaib also continues to doubt the Israeli and U.S. governments\u2019 findings that an airstrike at a hospital in Gaza was the result of a misfired rocket launched from Gaza by the Hamas ally Islamic Jihad that was targeting Israel.<\/p>\n
The congresswoman further attempted to discredit the findings, which also determined the explosion was mostly in the parking lot of the hospital and that the death toll is estimated to be much lower than the several hundred Hamas first alleged, because she says the Israeli and U.S. governments have a well-documented history of misleading the public about war crimes.<\/p>\n
Graham\u2019s post linked to a Fox News Digital report about the recent comments from Erdogan condemning Israel as a war criminal for its retaliation against Hamas.<\/p>\n
\u2018Israel has been openly committing war crimes for 22 days, but the Western leaders cannot even call on Israel for a ceasefire, let alone react to it,\u2019 Erdogan told a crowd in Istanbul.<\/p>\n
\u2018We will tell the whole world that Israel is a war criminal. We are making preparations for this. We will declare Israel a war criminal,\u2019 the Turkish president added.<\/p>\n
Following Erdogan\u2019s comments, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen said Israel is recalling its diplomats from Turkey so that it can conduct a reevaluation of Israel-Turkey relations.<\/p>\n
Turkey had denounced the violence in Israel and condemned the deaths caused by Hamas shortly after the terrorist group began its attack earlier this month. But after Israel\u2019s response, Erdogan shifted his support and started to refer to Hamas terrorists as \u2018freedom fighters.\u2019<\/p>\n
More than 8,700 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas\u00a0launched its\u00a0largest attack\u00a0against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, leading to retaliatory action\u00a0from Israeli forces.\u00a0Thousands more have been wounded, and many others have been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered.<\/p>\n