An Israeli cabinet minister said Tuesday that Israel has formed a united alliance with Greece and Cyprus against Turkey.
The remarks by the Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli to a group of visiting Christian state legislators from the United States came amid strained tensions between Jerusalem and Istanbul.
“Israel is united with both Greece and Cyprus against Islamic extremism in the region led by Turkey,” Israeli Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli told a visiting delegation from the National Association of Christian Lawmakers.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has emerged as one of the most vociferous critics of Israel in the world during the war against Hamas in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The hawkish minister, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, has long viewed the Turkish leader as a hostile regional threat due to his open support for Hamas and other jihadist forces.
Despite his strong support for U.S. President Donald Trump, Chikli also openly criticized American Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who serves as special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, for “acting against the interests of the West, Christians and the United States” in his diplomatic approach toward regional stabilization.
In his remarks to the American state legislators, Chikli also heaped praise on the “flourishing” Christian society in Israel, which he said was the “safest across the whole Muslim world and the Middle East,” and condemned recent attacks against Christians in Israel by ultra-Orthodox extremists.
“We need to better educate our ultra-orthodox youth about Christianity,” he said. “Christianity is our sister religion.”
