Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun / File.

JNS.org – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Christian members of the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday.

“We are proud of you; the entire nation is proud of you,” Netanyahu told them at a civil New Year event at the Tel Aviv Palmach Museum. “You belong to the most moral army on earth.”

Netanyahu then took a shot at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said on Saturday that “the Jews in Israel kick men, but also women and children, when they’re on the ground.”

“He is obsessed with Israel,” said Netanyahu. “He knows what a moral army is, and he knows what a genuine democracy is, as opposed to an army that massacres women and children in Kurdish villages and a state which, to my regret, is becoming more dictatorial day by day.”

“But there has been an improvement,” he added. “Erdoğan used to attack me every two hours and now it is every six hours.”