Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that the European Union “remains silent when Turkey, a Nato member, illegally occupies half of Cyprus, an EU member”, while accusing the bloc of “hypocrisy” in its stance on the Middle East.

“When the Jewish people want to exercise their historic right to build and live in their ancestral homeland, the EU is outraged,” he said.

The comment was made in reaction to a war of words between Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar and Prime Minister Janez Jansa, with the former having said that “Slovenia must support the European Union’s joint statement regarding further expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank”.

“The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank violates international law, undermines the two-state solution, and diminishes the prospects for lasting peace,” she said.

She added that “international law is not a matter of political choice and there must be no double standards in this respect”.

“Slovenia, from its own historical experience, understands well the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity, and therefore must be particularly consistent in defending those principles. When they are violated, Slovenia must be among the countries which clearly defend them,” she said.

In response, Jansa said that “swearing allegiance to international law while at the same time speaking of genocide in Gaza or in Judea and Samaria, which no competent institution has determined under international law, is a political choice of a special kind”.

“Slovenia is a sovereign state and an equal member of the EU, and without our consent, or the consent of any other member state, there is no ‘European foreign policy position’ which we would be obliged to support. We are co-decision-makers, not servants,” he said.

Netanyahu’s reference to Cyprus is his second in the space of a little over a week, after he had earlier said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbours Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppress him”.

“He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it. Erdogan’s pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere,” it added.

In response, Turkey’s presidential communications directorate described Netanyahu’s comments last week as a “groundless rant” which was “devoid of historical facts and political seriousness”.

“This cheap political ploy by Netanyahu and his cronies, which is also aimed at gaining an advantage for himself in the elections, holds no sway whatsoever, neither in his own community, nor in our region, nor in the international community, nor among us,” it said, with Israel set to hold legislative elections in October.

It added that the statements came “from a government awaiting accountability before international justice mechanisms on charges of genocide”, and as such, “serve as a stark, instructive testament to just how much Turkey’s world and our president’s unwavering stance in the face of truth unsettle certain parties”.

“As has become increasingly evident in recent days, Israel’s election campaign has fallen under the way of an irresponsible security-focused populism and the politics of threat which is growing ever harsher,” it said.

On this front, it said that “the Netanyahu administration’s effort to depict Turkey as a new figure of threat is part and parcel of this cheap politics”.