Senators roundly condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent threat to invade Israel over its war in Gaza, with some saying the warning is nothing more than tough talk.

Erdogan, who has stood with Hamas since Oct. 7 and harshly condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza, was delivering a speech to his ruling Justice and Development Party focused on celebrating achievements in Turkey’s defense industry when he made the comments, which mark his strongest indication that the NATO country would take any sort of action against Israel.

“We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” Erdogan said.

It was not clear if Erdogan’s comment was heated rhetoric or if Turkey has concrete plans to act against Israel.

Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan’s communications director, wrote in a lengthy post on X on Monday that Turkey was a “serious and responsible state committed to peace and stability in the region. However, anyone who is crazy enough to test our limits will get a swift and resolute response.”

The post condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s actions in Gaza, but did not refer to any potential moves by Turkey against Israel.

“That is outrageous and totally unacceptable,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), who has been critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, told Jewish Insider of Erdogan’s statement.

“I think it’d be best if he didn’t. I can’t believe it, I mean, that’s just reckless,” Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) told JI.

“It would be rich for anyone in that part of the world to tell Israel what they have to do. If President Erdogan had what he refers to as Kurdish terrorists come across the border in Turkey and rape and murder 1,200 people, would he actually care about anybody else’s opinion of what he should do to protect his people? I think we know the answer to that,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said. 

Still, most senators said that they weren’t losing sleep about the possibility of a clash between Turkey and Israel.

“It’s not going to happen,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said of Turkey targeting Israel.

“I wouldn’t worry about him too much,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told JI. 

Erdogan’s comments, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) noted, were made “in a context where it was partially brought up but nobody questioned him or really filled in the details. So it’s not enough to know what he meant at the time.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said, “I’m concerned about any autocratic anti-Israel rhetoric, most especially by the leader of a country that is a NATO ally, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Erdogan is mouthing off and backtracks.”

“President Erdogan goes off a lot, but here’s my advice: Israel and Turkey once had a very strong strategic relationship at its height. I think it is strongly in Turkey’s interests to reorient back towards Israel,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, called on NATO to immediately expel Turkey in light of Erdogan’s remarks. Katz “instructed diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urgently engage with all NATO members, calling for the condemnation of Turkey and demanding its expulsion from the regional alliance,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Katz accused Turkey of having “flagrantly violated NATO’s core principles by threatening to invade a democratic Western country without provocation,” the statement read.

Jewish Insider’s senior Capitol Hill correspondent Marc Rod and Israel correspondent Tamara Zieve contributed to this report