Ankara, Tel Aviv in war of words

Senior Turkish and Israeli senior officials have started a war of words over the Israeli prime minister's controversial participation in a massive anti-terror demonstration in Paris, with his Turkish counterpart comparing his operations in Gaza to jihadist terrorists that killed 17 people last week in the French capital.

"[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, as the head of a government that massacred children playing on a beach in Gaza through aerial bombing, that destroyed thousands of houses, that made the killing of Palestinians routine on all occasions, that killed our citizens on board a humanitarian aid ship in international waters, committed crimes against humanity just like those terrorists who carried out the Paris massacre. He can't escape this," Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu told reporters Jan. 14 at a press conference before departing for Brussels.

The row between two countries' officials was sparked after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an slammed Netanyahu for daring to attend the Paris march along with other leaders. Netanyahu on Jan. 14 hit back at the Turkish president while Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused him of being an "anti-Semitist bully."

"I believe his shameful remarks must be repudiated by the international community, because the war against terror will only succeed if it's guided by moral clarity," Netanyahu's office quoted him as telling visiting leaders of the U.S. pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. "I've yet to hear any world leader condemn the comments by Erdo?an, not one. He said Israel should not have been represented in the march in Paris, and the reason he gave was our actions to defend our citizens against the thousands of rockets hurled at our cities by the terrorists of Hamas."