Overview
- Turkey's Ministry of Justice formally asked INTERPOL on Friday to issue red notices for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and another Israeli official, transmitting the case file to its interior and foreign ministries for international cooperation.
- The request continues a judicial case opened in Istanbul that on July 14 issued in‑absentia arrest orders for 35 people accused of crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity and torture over Israel's May interception of the Global Sumud flotilla.
- A red notice is a police request to locate and provisionally detain someone for extradition; it is not an automatic international arrest warrant and each INTERPOL member state decides whether to act on it under its own laws.
- Israel rejected the move with a blistering statement from Netanyahu's office that called President Erdoğan a “dictator antisemite,” signaling a sharp diplomatic escalation after an Israeli airstrike on the Abu Zuhur base in Idlib earlier this week.
- Even if INTERPOL accepts the request, enforcement faces political and legal hurdles such as INTERPOL's review for political content, national extradition laws, and immunity or protection that sitting officials may claim, which could limit practical impact and further strain ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv.