TURKISH PM ACCUSED OF ANTI SEMITISM
Israel has accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of inciting "anti-Semitism" by making remarks on the war crimes committed against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
A new report prepared by the foreign ministry in Tel Aviv charges that although Erdogan has stresses that anti-Semitism is "a crime against humanity," he "indirectly incites and encourages" it in Turkey, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Source: Press TV
A new report prepared by the foreign ministry in Tel Aviv charges that although Erdogan has stresses that anti-Semitism is "a crime against humanity," he "indirectly incites and encourages" it in Turkey, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
- "In our estimate, ever since his party took power, Erdogan has conducted an ongoing process of ... fashioning a negative view of Israel in Turkish public opinion," through endless talks of Palestinian suffering, repeatedly accusing Israel of war crimes and even "anti-Semitic expressions and incitement," read the report.
- The seven-page report written by the Center for Political Research has already been distributed to Israeli embassies and consulates abroad.
- "For Erdogan and some of those around him," the report claimed, "there is no distinction between 'Israeli' and 'Jewish,' and therefore, [their] anti-Israel fervor and criticism become anti-Jewish."
- "Turkey today, under the leadership of the AKP [Erdogan's Justice and Development Party], is different from the Turkey with which Israel forged a strategic relationship in the early 1990s," the report concluded.
- Relations between Israel and Turkey began to deteriorate after Erdogan publicly slammed Israel over its late 2008 incursion into Gaza and charged the regime with committing "barbarian" acts against the Palestinian civilians.
CALL ME ANTI-SEMITE IF YOU WANT TO
Speaking at a Nation of Islam conference in Illinois on March 1, Farrakhan sharply criticized Jews for expecting Muslims to stand against terrorist suicide bombers "while the Palestinians are being slaughtered," and accused Congress of being beholden to "the Israeli lobby."Farrakhan also raised doubts about the "veracity" of the numbers of Jews killed in the Holocaust and questioned European laws against Holocaust denial.
"I hate anti-Semitism. Please don't call me an anti-Semite, but you can if you want to, if it makes you happy," Farrakhan told the audience, according to excerpts released by the ADL.
"After his near-silence on Jews over the last several years, we thought Minister Farrakhan had put his long history of anti-Semitism and racism behind him, or at least had held his views in check," said the ADL's director, Abraham Foxman."Apparently, that was wishful thinking," Foxman said. "Once again he is clearly comfortable with putting his bigotry on display, unfettered and unhidden for his supporters and the world to see."
Calls to the Nation of Islam headquarters seeking comment were unanswered Tuesday.
Courtesy: JPost.Com
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