Amid his diplomatic row with Russia this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan found time to express support for the latest Palestinian Arab terror wave against Israel.

Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday of finance ministers of the Islamic Cooperation Organization, Erdogan expressed his full solidarity with the Palestinian Arab people in their struggle against Israel, including the current “Al-Quds Intifada”, as Hamas calls it, and which has killed 22 Israelis since the beginning of October.

Erdogan described the terror wave as a Palestinian “noble fight” in defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy places.

He blasted Israel for imposing a “siege” on Gaza, saying that “the Gaza Strip has become an open prison because of the continuing siege and this situation must not continue.”

It should be noted that Turkey gives full support to Hamas, which is expressed through economic aid delivered through charities, and permits Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades to operate on Turkish territory. Israel has in the past claimed that Hamas officials living in Turkey are responsible for planning terror attacks against Israel.

In September, Erdogan met in Ankara with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, and expressed the full solidarity of Turkey with the Palestinian Arabs and condemned the Israeli “attacks” against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Islamist Erdogan has been for years a vocal critic of Israel and has continuously verbally attacked the Jewish state.

In one his verbal tirades against Israel during the counterterrorism Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, Erdogan threatened to end the normalization process with Israel over what he called its “state terrorism”.