Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a “paper sultan,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday after Erdogan’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Katz accused Erdogan of financing and embracing Hamas, and claimed that he dreams of “restoring the Ottoman Empire” in a post on X/Twitter.
“Now he’s signed the ‘Mecca Agreement’ to defend Saudi Arabia,” he said, “But when the Houthis fired missiles at Mecca and it was time to honor his word, he vanished into thin air.“
ארדואן @RTErdogan הוא סולטן של נייר שחזק בנאומי הסתה אנטישמים אבל חלש במעשים. אני מציע לו שיפסיק להתעסק עם ישראל. מדינת ישראל חזקה ויודעת לדאוג לעצמה – אנחנו לא הכורדים וחסרי הישע בהם הוא מתעלל בטורקיה גם בעצם הימים האלה
השבוע עמד ארדואן על במת האו”ם ונשא נאום אנטישמי ומסית שבו…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) September 24, 2026
He also told the Turkish president to stop picking fights with Israel.
“Israel is strong and knows how to protect itself. We’re not the Kurds and the desperate people he still oppresses in Turkey today,” he said.
Erdogan calls for UN Security Council reform, condemns Gaza situation
Erdogan told the UNGA on Tuesday that the UN had become unable to fulfill its duty of preserving peace and called for reform of the Security Council.
He also condemned the situation in Gaza, saying, “No one who holds humanity, compassion, and mercy in their heart, with a sense of justice and conscience, can turn a blind eye” to what was happening there.
He urged countries that do not recognize a Palestinian state to review their position and for all nations to increase pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza, which he called “our time’s most inhumane, most embarrassing concentration camp.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
