Turkey's charge on Morsi's ouster not worth commenting: Israel

Israel today said accusations by Turkish Prime Minister that it was behind the military-backed ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last month did not merit a response.

Speaking at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of the conspiracy saying, "Who is behind [Morsi's ouster]? There is Israel. We have [a] document in our hands."

"What do they say about Egypt: democracy is not the ballot box. Who is behind this? It's Israel," Erdogan said.

Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Erdogan's comments did not merit a response. "This is a statement well worth not commenting on."

The evidence Erdogan referred to is a video of a meeting in Tel Aviv before the elections in Egypt in 2011 between Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni and French-Jewish intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Levy reportedly said, "If the Muslim Brotherhood arrives in Egypt, I will not say democracy wants it, so let democracy progress. Of course not. Democracy, again, is not only elections, it is also values."

Erdogan also took a swipe at Arab countries, accusing them of betraying Egypt by supporting the country's military-backed new leaders, who removed Morsi from power on July 3.

Israel's former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said Erdogan's accusations is reminiscent of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Liberman, presently the head of Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee who is likely to resume the role of foreign minister pending the outcome of charges of corruption against him, spurned the restraint demonstrated by the PMO.

"Everyone who heard Erdogan's words full of hate and incitement understand without a doubt that we are talking about the successor to Goebbels, the Dreyfus trial, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," the ultra-nationalist leader said.

Both the US and Egypt also condemned Erdogan's words.

Yesterday, the office of Egypt's new prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi said Erdogan's words "have no basis in fact and are not accepted by any sane or fair person".

It rejected Erdogan's comments as "bewildering" and said they were intended to "target Egyptian national unity" and warned that Cairo's "patience was reaching breaking point".

The US also criticised the comments describing them as "offensive and unsubstantiated and wrong".

Liberman also called on the EU to condemn Erdogan for his words.