TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Joshua Levitt
July 20, 2014
“Things are getting serious here,” a Jewish activist in Turkey told The Algemeineron Friday, as riots in Ankara and Istanbul at Israel’s embassy and consulate overnight led the Israel Foreign Ministry to recall the families of its diplomats and to reduce its diplomatic representation to a minimum.
“Everything was at moderation until several speeches of [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, where he accused Israel of killing women and children,” said the activist, who requested anonymity due to safety concerns.
The escalation comes as Israeli forces entered Gaza in an expansion of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge aimed at ending rocket fire against civilians.
As well as Erdoğan, who condemned Israel in another hate-filled speech on Friday, the activist also fingered Bulent Yildirim, the head of IHH, a terror-tied humanitarian NGO behind the 2010 Mavi Marmara Flotilla in Gaza, for inciting Jew hatred in Turkey.
On Thursday, Yildirim told local television station Haber Turk that “Turkish Jews will pay dearly” for Israel’s actions. “Jewish tourists, don’t dare come to Turkey,” he said on television. “Tonight and tomorrow we are going to hold a different kind of protest, we do not have patience anymore. The Zionists are putting the future of the Jews in danger, we can not hold back our youngsters anymore.”
…..On Friday, Erdoğan accused Israel of “genocide,” according to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News. Erdoğan then said Israel “has never pretended to be pro-peace. It has always tormented [the Palestinian people] and today it is continuing to do so,” with good relations between the two countries ”impossible” under the current circumstances. “The government and I will never look positively [at Israel] as long as we are in power … [Israel] may seem like the winner for now. But it will eventually be defeated,” Erdoğan said, before calling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi an “illegitimate tyrant,” for attempting to broker a peace agreement to end the conflict……
ArchitectGuy on Israel 