Following Erdogan’s decree of a day of mourning for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Turkey lowered its flag on Friday at its embassy in Tel Aviv, sparking outrage among Israeli leaders.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned Turkey’s deputy ambassador in Israel for a “stern reprimand.”
Katz also stated on X (formerly Twitter) that Israel “will not accept expressions of participation in mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh who was the head of the Hamas terrorist organization that committed the acts of rape and murder on October 7.”
He added that Turkey “even offered a prayer of thanksgiving with his friends and wished success to the murderers against the background of the horrific images he watched from the television background.”
“If the representatives of the embassy want to mourn, let them go to Turkey and mourn together with their master Erdogan, who embraces the terrorist organization Hamas and supports its acts of murder and atrocities,” concluded Katz’s message.
I have instructed the Foreign Ministry officials to summon the Deputy Turkish Ambassador to Israel for a severe reprimand following the lowering of the Turkish flag to half-mast at the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv, in response to the elimination of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) August 2, 2024
Deputy Avigdor Lieberman called the lowering of the flag in Tel Aviv a “great shame” on X, stating that “It is impossible for a country that sided with terrorist organizations at the beginning of the war and threatened this week to invade the State of Israel to have an embassy in the heart of Tel Aviv.”
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the Turkish embassy, writing on X that “representatives of the Turkish Embassy in Israel are invited to take down the flag completely and return home. shameful”.
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