Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sharply condemned on Thursday evening Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement about Zionism and its comparison to fascism.

“This is a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world,” Netanyahu said.

Earlier on Thursday, Erdogan used a speech about Islamophobia in Europe at the opening session of the fifth UN Alliance of Civilizations to attack the Jewish State.

“Just like Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it becomes unavoidable that Islamophobia must be regarded as a crime against humanity,” the Turkish leader told the gathering.

Over the past three years, Israel has made numerous efforts to repair the fractures in the relationship with Turkey that first appeared following Israel’s Operation Cast Lead against Gaza terrorists in the winter of 2008-2009. 

Erdogan’s Islamist rage over the Jewish State’s air strikes on Gaza terrorist targets, launched to silence the constant rocket fire that had rained down from the region for years on southern Israeli communities, did not abate, however.

The subsequent deaths in May 2010 of nine armed men who attacked IDF commandos boarding a Turkish-owned vessel in an illegal flotilla attempting to breach Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza further worsened the breach.

Turkish leaders demanded an apology from Israel over the incident, but Israeli leaders refused, saying Israel had acted in self-defense. In response, Turkey downgraded its ties with the Jewish State.

Erdogan has repeatedly made things worse by verbally attacking Israel on a regular basis.

Earlier this week Erdogan slammed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad for slaughtering his own citizens, but also took advantage of the opportunity to once again verbally attack Israel.

“We will not remain silent in the face of the cruel dictator, the mute devil, who mercilessly carried out massacres against his own people, but who has remained silent and unresponsive toward those who have occupied his own territories for decades,” he said.

Earlier this month, Erdogan accused Israel of waging “state terrorism”, condemning an alleged Israeli air strike in Syria as an unacceptable violation of international law.