Erdoğan meets with anti-Zionist Jewish group in London
LONDON - Anadolu Agency
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with members of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta International organization in London on May 15.
EU Affairs Minister and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik and presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın also attended the meeting that lasted for about half an hour.
Neureti Karta is against the existence of the State of Israel.
“We have to realize and understand that helping the state of Israel is not in the favor of Jewish people,” Elahanan Beck, the chief rabbi of Neturei Karta, said.
“The Zionists say they want to make a safe haven for Jewish people, they want to help Jews but this is untrue. The most dangerous place today for Jewish people, not to speak for Palestinians, but even for Jews, is in the state of Israel,” Beck added.
“We are against the state of Israel. We are against occupiers, and we have to bring peace to the region. If you want to help the Jewish people, follow the example of what the Turkish president did: Withdraw your ambassador from there and come out in the clear,” Beck said.
Tensions between Turkey and Israel
The meeting between Erdoğan and the anti-Zionist group took place amid tensions in Gaza.
At least 62 Palestinians were killed and thousands more injured by Israeli forces during protests along the Gaza border on May 14.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered on Gaza Strip’s eastern border to take part in protests aimed to commemorate the “Nakba” — the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment — and protest the relocation of the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Since the border rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed by cross-border Israeli gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Earlier this week, Turkey asked Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Eitan Naeh to “temporarily leave the country” in reaction to the killing of scores of Palestinian protestors by Israeli security forces.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also on May 16 told Israel’s Consul General in Istanbul Yosef Levi Sfari to leave the country “for a while.”
In a tit-for-tat move, Turkey’s consul general in Jerusalem was summoned by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on May 15 and also asked to leave the country for an indefinite period of time.
