Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded on Monday the United Nations General Assembly use a 1950 resolution to override the Security Council and recommend action against Israel, including the “use of force.”
Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the genocidal terrorist organization Hamas, made the remarks in Turkey a week after addressing the the General Assembly in New York, delivering remarks in which he compared the Israeli government to Nazi Germany and defended Hamas’s attacks on the country as legitimate “resistance.” He expressed urgency on Monday in response to Israeli operations in neighboring Lebanon targeting another jihadist outfit in the country, Hezbollah, that successfully eliminated the leader of the organization, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday.
Israel declared war on Hamas in response to the atrocities the group committed against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. Invading Israel from the Gaza Strip, Hamas killed an estimated 1,200 people and engaged in the widespread torture, rape, and abuse of civilians in their homes at random. The Israeli government estimates that Hamas is still keeping about 100 October 7 victims hostage.
Erdogan has never acknowledged the gravity of the crimes against humanity Hamas committed on October 7, declaring shortly after the attack, “Hamas is not a terrorist organization” at a rally he organized to support the genocidal terrorists. His remarks on Monday, as reported by the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency, accused Israel of “cruelty and barbarism” while entirely disregarding the brutality of the October 7 attack or the violence similarly committed by groups such as Hezbollah.
“Today, standing up for Palestine, Lebanon means standing up for the humanity, peace, and the culture of coexistence among different beliefs,” Erdogan reportedly declared. “A handful of radical Zionists, blinded by blood and hatred, are setting the region and the whole world on fire. We will never consent to this cruelty and barbarism.”
Erdogan demanded that the United Nations General Assembly override the Security Council, the most powerful U.N. body and the one tasked with addressing issues of war, and pass resolutions condemning Israel, including calling for the “use of force” against the country.
“The U.N. General Assembly should rapidly implement the authority to recommend the use of force, as it did with the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, if the Security Council can’t show the necessary will,” Erdogan said, according to Reuters.
“Today, Israel sows seeds of enmity that will last for generations with its massacre policies, and those who support it are complicit in this crime,” Erdogan claimed. “With its escalating state terrorism, Israel is not only undermining faith in international law but also damaging the reputation of the countries that support it.”
The General Assembly, the largest U.N. entity, gave itself the power to pass resolutions overriding the will of the Security Council in 1950. The resolution that allows it to do so, “Uniting for Peace,” allows for “appropriate recommendations” for action in cases where the Security Council has not acted due to disagreements among its members, and explicitly notes recommending the use of force is among its potential suggestions. The rules only allow the General Assembly to recommend the use of force, however, and leaves unclear exactly whose force would be used to execute on the recommendation. The U.N. has no enforcement mechanism for its resolutions.
Contrary to Erdogan’s demands, the General Assembly convened under “Uniting for Peace” protocol in December to address the war between Israel and Iran’s proxies in the region.
“Member States adopted a resolution, demanding an ‘immediate humanitarian ceasefire,’ the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and well as ‘ensuring humanitarian access,’” according to the United Nations.
The last time prior to December that the General Assembly invoked the “Uniting for Peace” resolution was in 1997, also against Israel.
The Turkish president’s condemnations of the United Nations followed a 40-minute rant at the General Assembly on September 24 – the Assembly recommends a 15-minute “soft” limit for speeches – repeatedly condemning Israel’s attempts to protect its citizens.
“I call out to the United Nations Security Council: what are you waiting for to prevent the genocide in Gaza, to put a stop to this cruelty, this barbarism? What are you waiting for to stop [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his mass murder network?” he shouted.
Erdogan compared Israel to Nazi Germany, as he has repeatedly done publicly since October 7.
“Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, Netanyahu and his murder network must be stopped by an alliance of humanity,” he declared.
Erdogan also used his speech to lament the death of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh in July, caused by an explosion in his lodgings in Tehran while on a visit to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran has blamed Israel for the blast, but has not provided evidence linking the country to the event, nor has Israel taken responsibility.
Erdogan’s heightened urgency in pressuring the United Nations to recommend the use of force against Israel follows a massive Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, initiated in response to Hezbollah launching terrorist attacks on northern Israel. The Israeli government estimates that 60,500 people have been displaced in the north of the country by Hezbollah attacks and added their return to its list of goals in the war against Iran-backed terrorism.
Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah, the terrorist organization confirmed on Saturday, successfully eliminated its longtime jihadi leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah leaves a broken organized that had already lost dozens of leaders in a string of mysterious explosions of household communications devices – pagers, walkie-talkies, mobile phones, and others – earlier in September, attributed by some reports to Israel.
Israeli authorities announced on Tuesday that they had launched a ground operation in Lebanon to completely eliminate the Hezbollah threat.
