President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that his country is opposed to anyone that stands by Israel, while claiming that the Jewish State has been fearlessly engaging in state terrorism against Palestinians.
In an address to members of his AK party, Erdogan further insisted that “We are not accepting to remain silent against the state terrorism that Israel has been fearlessly engaging in Palestine. Everybody should know that we are opposed to anyone that stands by Israel. The ones who turn a deaf ear to the cry of Palestinians whose houses are being demolished in East Jerusalem and doomed to hunger in Gaza and who encourage the ones who do not respect to the secrecy of al-Aqsa mosque, are destroying their values with their own hands.”
The Turkish leader, who regularly voices rhetoric against the Jewish State, made his statement over the weekend – just several days after Israeli forces demolished a cluster of Palestinian homes that were built illegally next to the so-called separation barrier, that physically separates the West Bank from the rest of Israel.
While the United Nations enacted measures to halt the demolition plans; Israel underscored that the 10 apartment buildings, most of them still under construction, had been built illegally and posed a concrete security risk to Israeli armed forces that operate along the barrier. A senior Israeli official told TV7 that despite Israel’s decision to approve 700 new housing units for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, there is a dire residential housing shortage for the local Palestinian and Arab communities. Nevertheless, the official – who asked to remain anonymous – asserted that the illegal construction of houses cannot be excused, and will be dealt with, in accordance with Israeli law.