The US State Department has condemned statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas.

"Anti-Semitic language has nowhere a place," said a spokesman.

Erdogan had spoken on Monday, according to agency reports, among other things, about an alleged statement by an unnamed Jewish Prime Minister who, as a general, had once killed Palestinians with "pleasure".

Erdogan stated: “It's in their nature.

They are only satisfied by sucking blood. "And:" They are so murderous that they even kill small children. "

Stephan Löwenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

  • Follow I follow

    Erdogan had also attacked the American President Joe Biden.

    “Unfortunately you are making history with your bloody hands.

    They forced us to say that, ”said the Turkish President to Biden's address.

    He was referring to an allegedly planned US arms sale to Israel.

    The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected US criticism on Wednesday, stating that Erdogan's statements were not based on Jews but on the Israeli government.

    FPÖ against lifting the Israel flag

    Erdogan's statements also led to a verbal exchange of blows between Turkey and Austria. Vienna had sided with Israel in the conflict, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg had the Israeli flag hoisted next to the Austrian flag over their official seats in Vienna last weekend to show solidarity. Erdogan said on Monday: “I curse the Austrian state. He probably wants the Muslims to pay the price for genociding the Jews. "

    This allegation was emphatically rejected by the government in Vienna.

    Schallenberg therefore called in the Turkish ambassador and said that Turkey's “all-round blow” demonstrated a “terrifying understanding of the law.

    Instead of pouring fuel on the fire, Turkey is urgently called upon to contribute to de-escalation. ”The raising of the Israeli flag has also met with criticism in the country itself.

    The right-wing FPÖ found this to be in contradiction to Austrian neutrality.

    According to a report in the newspaper Die Presse, Kurz had also asked Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen whether he wanted to raise the Israeli flag over his official residence, the Hofburg.

    But Van der Bellen did not want that, because that could be interpreted as consent to all actions of the Israeli government.