Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who only several years ago called Israelis “child-killing bloodsuckers” published a Chanukah message for Turkish Jews on Sunday.
“While antisemitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia threaten social peace today in many countries, as well as global peace, the unity and solidarity all our citizens display in our country with mutual respect, love and understanding — without any discrimination — sets an exceptional example to the entire world,” Erdogan said.
In September, Erdogan told a group of Jewish leaders in New York he plans on visiting Israel in a meeting arranged by the Turkish embassy and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He also said at the meeting that antisemitism is a “crime against humanity.”
In the same week, Israel announced the appointment of a new ambassador to Turkey, the first person to hold the post since 2018, when Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Israel and ousted Israel’s ambassador after IDF soldiers opened fire on Hamas operatives during a violent protest on the Israel-Gaza border. Relations first frayed in 2010 after Israeli commandos were violently attacked by Turkish terrorists on the Mavi Marmara ship, part of a flotilla that breached Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza.
During those years, Erdogan not only made virulent statements against Israel but provided a safe haven for Hamas members, including those actively involved in financing and planning terror operations against Israel. He even granted citizenship to 12 Hamas terrorists, one of whom has been designated by the US as a terrorist and has a $5 million bounty on his head.
Over the past year, Erdogan made a decision to repair ties with a number of countries, including Israel, and under pressure from Jerusalem, took steps to expel members of Hamas’s military wing from the country.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
Realizing that the Conference of Presidents if filled with egotistical publicity hounds, no Jew should EVER sit down with someone who characterizes Israel in such a fashion. Shame on them.