Bayit Yehudi Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has expressed concern about last week’s decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from Syria, saying it strengthens Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Shaked has, in the past, personally supported Kurdistan’s right to seek independence.
Speaking on Sunday in an interview with Galei Tzahal Army Radio, Shaked said the Kurds are “great heroes, and because of them, the West succeeded in its fight against Da’esh” (ed. note: the Arabic name for Islamic State terrorist organization.)
“They are allies and I hope that they will win in their battle against the Turks,” Shaked said. “I hope that the international community will prevent Erdogan from slaughtering the Kurds.”
“This step doesn’t help Israel,” she continued. “It strengthens Erdogan, an anti-Semitic war criminal who carries out massacres of the Kurdish people, and does so with a wink from the international community.”
Trump announced Sunday that he had a “long and productive” phone call with Erdogan over the weekend about the fight against the Islamic State terror group, their “mutual involvement in Syria, and the slow and highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area.”
