Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says, as reported on Fox News, that he considers Hamas as a resistance group, not terrorists, and blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the supposed “genocide” in Gaza. He stated as such at the U.N. General Assembly this week, condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“There is no war in Gaza. We cannot possibly talk about the presence of two sites in Gaza because, in Gaza, on one side there is a regular army with the most modern, most lethal weapons, and on the other hand, there are innocent civilians, innocent children,” Erdogan said to the U.N.
Furthermore, he classifies it not as a fight against terrorism, but an occupation, deportation, exile, genocide, and life destruction brought on by a mass destruction policy after Oct. 7, 2023 – when Hamas first attacked Israel, murdering more than 1,200 Israelis, kidnapping many more and taking hostages they still hold.
Congressman Warren Davidson is the U.S. representative of Ohio’s 8th District and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He spoke with Tony Perkins on Washington Watch about the Turkish president manufacturing the information.
“Obviously there's a war in Gaza. The whole world knows there is, and they want to change it,” says Davidson, referring to the two-state solution supported widely by the U.N. “So, he's gone even further to say ‘no they exist and Israel's just committing genocide against the peaceful people of Gaza’.”
Critics of Turkey point out that they are a member and ally of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and, therefore, to the U.S.; however, their stance with Israel is obviously against that of the U.S.
Turkey and the F-35 jet
In the middle of this, President Donald Trump and Erdoğan are reported by Spectrum News to be in talks about Turkey acquiring the F-35 fighter jet. Turkey was a part of the program during Trump’s first term, but they were expelled from the project after purchasing a Russian missile system. The concern was that Russia would end up with data regarding the F-35.
With all the differences, critics believe that Turkey should not have access to this technology despite being an ally of NATO.
“It would be better to have a great relationship with Turkey than to have a hostile relationship with Turkey, but Erdogan’s making it challenging with a lot of his positions,” states Davidson.
Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order this year on September 22 that labels Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization – just as Hamas is listed as a foreign terrorist organization. Antifa was labeled as such because of patterns of political violence used to “suppress lawful political activity” and “obstruct the rule of law,” the order states.
The order reads, “All relevant executive departments and agencies shall utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa.”
This includes those who provide material support as a part of or on behalf of Antifa and the investigation and prosecution of those who fund their operations.
Kyle Shideler is the director and senior analyst of the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy.
Antifa is made up of autonomous cells, such as different chapters and networks, that are highly organized and work together, but they are not under a hierarchical structure of receiving orders from the top-down.
It’s a different structure than Hamas.
Trump has had to get creative with Antifa
“I think it's worth recognizing that there is technically no domestic terrorism organization list or designation that has at current any statutory authority. What I think the president is indicating with this executive order is that he really intends a whole-of-government approach,” explains Shideler. “He expects to see every law enforcement agency and national security agency playing its part to address what he sees as a threat to the national security of the United States.”
Not only will law enforcement look into all manner of counterterrorism authorities, but Shideler hopes that they will look into a number of other crimes, such as white-collar crime authorities, racketeering and charity fraud.
“They'll do things like, for example, utilize counterintelligence capabilities and authorities to target the connections between some of these organizations and foreign adversaries who operate abroad,” says Shideler.
How the terror group angle can work
There’s also legal angle Trump can play here.
Shideler thinks that domestic Antifa groups can be designated under foreign terrorist if it links them back through international Antifa networks and groups working abroad if those groups are designated.
As for those that fund Antifa, Shideler says that Antifa work is not that expensive and that they crowdfund most of it.
“They engage in all manner of community projects, everything you can think of to do to raise money. They'll do, book fairs, bake sales, but most of their larger expenses, bail money and transportation, those tend to get provided by larger fiscal sponsor 501(c)(3) organizations, some of which do have connections to progressive foundations,” states Shideler.
