Israel and Turkey got into a war of words on Tuesday, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Israeli leaders to Hitler over a controversial new law on Jewish statehood.

In one of his toughest recent onslaughts against Israel, Erdogan slammed the new law, saying: "This measure has shown without leaving the slightest room for doubt that Israel is the world's most Zionist, fascist and racist state."

There was "no difference between Hitler's obsession with the Aryan race and Israel's understanding that these ancient lands are meant only for Jews," he said in a speech to his ruling party.

"The spirit of Hitler, which led the world to a great catastrophe, has found its resurgence among some of Israel's leaders," he added.

Israeli members of parliament attend the Knesset Plenary Hall session ahead of the vote on the National Law which sees Israel as the historic homeland of the Jews, July 18, 2018. /VCG Photo

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly hit back, arguing that: "Turkey under Erdogan is becoming a dark dictatorship, while Israel is meticulously maintaining equal rights for all its citizens, before and after the law."

"Erdogan is massacring Syrians and Kurds and has imprisoned tens of thousands of his citizens," he added in a statement.

The legislation, passed last week in the Knesset, makes Hebrew the national language of Israel and defines the establishment of Jewish communities as being in the national interest.

Arabic, previously considered an official language, was granted only special status.

The issue is the latest source of tension between Israel and Turkey, one of the Jewish state's few key Muslim partners.

Ankara ordered out Israel's ambassador in May over the killing of protestors along the border with the Gaza Strip.

The strains have threatened a 2016 deal on normalizing ties after the crisis sparked by the May 2010 deadly storming of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos.

Erdogan regards himself as a champion of the Palestinians and has twice recently held summits of Muslim states to denounce the recognition by the United States of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. 

But analysts note that behind the rhetoric economic ties remain strong, with trade robust and both sides interested in the export of Israeli energy resources to Turkey.

(Top picture: Composite of pictures showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at the International Homeland Security Forum in Jerusalem, June 14, 2018, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan delivering a speech in Ankara, Turkey, July 15, 2018. /VCG Photo )