Erdogan-Netanyahu Escalate Twitter Spat over Comments on Israeli-Arabs

“Turkey’s dictator Erdogan attacks Israel’s democracy while Turkish journalists and judges fill his prisons. What a joke!” That was Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Twitter this week, firing back at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. An Erdogan spokesperson had referred to a previous Netanyahu tweet, in which the Israeli prime minister had described Israel as “the nation-state of the Jewish nation – and its alone” and “not a country for all its citizens,” by calling it an example of “blatant racism and discrimination.” Netanyahu had made the comment as part of a domestic back-and-forth, much of it on social media, over the place of Arab citizens in Israeli society, including the chances of their political parties being part of a ruling governmental coalition. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had also weighed in, condemning “unacceptable” remarks made about Arab-Israelis, who comprise some 20% of the country’s population.