Israel must apologize to humanity for its crimes in Gaza if it wants to maintain its existence, Bilal Erdoğan said Friday at a Palestine Symposium in Istanbul.
“I hope this wound in the conscience of humanity will not be left bleeding and a collective willpower will emerge that can put a stop to Israel,” said Erdoğan, the deputy chair of Ibn Haldun University’s board of trustees and the son of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
He condemned a “global alliance aiding Israel’s monstrosity” in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has pounded since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed nearly 29,410 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 70,000, with mass destruction and a worsening humanitarian crisis. It has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Erdoğan said the Israeli regime was “the same as the Nazi regime acting entirely on genocide.”
“If they cared about civilian deaths, they could let humanitarian aid into Gaza through Rafah themselves but they don’t think the Palestinians there as people,” Erdoğan told the event.
“This is a period where Israel will destroy itself,” he said.
The symposium, organized by the university itself and featuring academicians, activists and students, is one of the many events held in Türkiye since Oct. 7 to draw attention to the Palestinian plight.
Türkiye has been a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause and President Erdoğan’s government continues diplomatic and legal efforts to resolve the conflict, including direct talks with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders and Hamas officials.
