ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan entered the discussion on US college campus protests on Thursday, claiming that the government was being "cruelty" in suppressing professors and students who supported Palestine.

Protests against Israel's handling of the Gaza conflict have extended throughout American campuses, leading to police crackdowns and arrests at certain locations, including Columbia University in New York.

“Conscientious students and academics including anti-Zionist Jews at some prestigious American universities are protesting the massacre (in Gaza),” Erdogan told an event in Ankara.

“These people are being subjected to violence, cruelty, suffering, and even torture for saying the massacre has to stop,” he said,stating that academic staff members who supported the Palestinian cause were being "sacked and lynched."

Turkiye, an American ally in NATO, has harshly denounced Israel's attack on Gaza and what it terms the unqualified backing it gets from the West.

Israel receives a lot of military support from the US, which has also defended Israel in important UN votes.

“The limits of Western democracy are drawn by Israel’s interests,” Erdogan said. “Whatever infringes on Israel’s interests is anti-democratic, antisemitic for them.”

Palestinian health officials report that over 34,000 people have died in Gaza during Israel's almost seven-month war campaign. Israeli statistics indicate that on October 7, Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and capturing 253 captives.