It is quite possible that Egemen Bağış, Turkey’s Minister for European Union Affairs, believes the world is flat, that two plus two equals five, and that mixing blue and yellow will yield orange.  How else – perhaps other than his deep-seeded hatred for Israel and the Jewish people – can his remarks yesterday in Brussels be received? They were so counterfactual and ignorant of history as to be laughable:

First, Bağış argued that Turkey was Israel’s only Muslim ally. Really? What about Bosnia? Azerbaijan? Albania? Uzbekistan? Informal relations with some North African Arab countries and Persian Gulf emirates and perhaps even Indonesia are warmer than with Turkey. Bağış may see Turkey as the center of the universe and seat of his imagined neo-Ottoman sultanate, but his attitude is just symptomatic of the arrogance and buffoonery which increasingly breed resentment rather than admiration toward Turkey throughout not only Europe, but the Arab Middle East as well.

Then Bağış argued that “it was in Israel’s interest to respect the people in the region, and to live in peace.” Well, on this, I’m sure Israelis could agree. If only successive Arab regimes—including those like Bashar al-Assad’s Syria which Bağış and his mentor Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once embraced—had not sought to eradicate the Jewish state, Israel might have been able to live in peace. It was Hamas, a group Bağış embraces but one that seeks genocide against not only Israelis but also the Jewish people, that Turks sailing on the Mavi Marmara had sought to supply. That these same Turks videotaped themselves chanting the basest anti-Semitic slurs prior to their confrontation with Israelis enforcing what the UN defined as a lawful blockade does not compute in Bağış’s mind, nor does he recognize his compatriots’ demand that Israelis “go back to Auschwitz” and their declaration, “We’re helping the Arabs go against the U.S., don’t forget 9/11 guys.” Of course, it would be much easier for Israel to get along with the residents of Gaza—land that was given in exchange for peace—if the administration in Gaza had not launched thousands of rockets at Israel. The Iranians are also a regional people. Perhaps Turkey might use its good offices to chastise the Supreme Leader for his Friday prayer sermon last month in which he declared, “The Zionist regime is truly a cancerous tumor in this region and it must be, and will be, cut out.”

Israel does respect the region’s people. It would like nothing more than to live in peace. It has extended an olive branch to Arabs, Persians, Turks, and even Kurds—a people whose suppression Bağış continues to advocate. Unfortunately, since the days of the Mufti of Jerusalem’s unholy alliance with Hitler, regional leaders have been intent on genocide. The only relevant question European officials should ask Bağış is why he cheerleads for such groups.