Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Friday summoned the deputy ambassador from Turkey to deliver a “severe reprimand” after Turkey lowered the flag at its embassy in Tel Aviv to half-mast in honor of slain Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh, who led the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for the rapes and murders on October 7,” Katz declared after dressing down the Turkish deputy ambassador.
Katz noted that Haniyeh and his associates “even offered a prayer of thanksgiving and wished success to the murderers, while watching the horrifying images on television.”
“If the embassy representatives want to mourn, they should travel to Turkey and mourn with their master Erdogan, who embraces the Hamas terrorist organization and supports its murderous and horrific acts,” he suggested.
Graphic Content Warning: Home Where Hamas Murdered an Israeli Family in Kibbutz Be’eri
Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart News
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indeed come out in support of Hamas, mourning Haniyeh as his fallen “brother” and threatening to invade Israel. Erdogan declared a “day of national mourning” for Haniyeh’s “martyrdom” on Friday.
Erdogan’s government denounced the assassination of Haniyeh as “heinous” and “shameful,” while Erdogan accused Israel of “barbarism” against the “glorious resistance of Gaza.” Israel has not taken responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.
Katz had to settle for reprimanding Turkey’s deputy ambassador on Friday because Turkish Ambassador Sakir Ozkan Torunlar was recalled to Ankara in November to protest Israel’s operation in Gaza.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli lashed out at Katz on Friday, telling the Israeli foreign minister, “You cannot achieve peace by killing negotiators and threatening diplomats.”
Katz returned fire by lamenting Turkey’s descent into a “dictatorship” under Erdogan.
“He is blocking Instagram, with 57 million users in Turkey, cutting off sports broadcasts because an Israeli athlete defeated a Turkish athlete, threatening to invade a democratic country with which Turkey has no military conflict, and cutting trade relations, harming Turkish exporters to the tune of $6 billion a year,” Katz said.
“Erdogan is taking a Turkish state with scientific, cultural, technological, and economic capabilities and destroying it, eroding the legacy of Atatürk, who built a progressive and prosperous Turkey,” he said.
“Let’s hope for better days,” Katz concluded.
On Sunday, an Israeli “outdoor sporting aficionado” named Ohad Ben-Hemo flew his drone over the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv with an Israeli flag in tow. He said this display was a response to the embassy lowering its flag for Haniyeh. The embassy called the police to report the drone flyover, but Ben-Hemo thinks he was also able to prod the Turks into returning their flag to its normal position.
“The role of embassies is to make peace, not fan the flames. I’m happy that the memory of Ismail Haniyeh won’t be honored in the country I belong to, that I live in and am committed to,” he said.
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