Israel summons Turkish ambassador for clarifications

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. May 9, 2017, 9:42 PM (IDT)

The Turkish ambassador Kemal Okem was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem Tuesday to hear an angry Israeli protest over the anti-Israel diatribe delivered by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan Monday. He called on Muslims to flock to Al Aqsa (Temple Mount) and declared that “every day Jerusalem is under Israeli occupation is an insult to us,” while condemning Israel’s “crimes against Palestinians.” Erdogan also shouted that Israel would not be allowed to pass the Muezzin law for “silencing Muslim prayers to heaven from Jerusalem.”

Monday, after the speech, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement which said: The serial abuser of human rights in his own country has no business preaching moral conduct to the only real democracy in the region. Israel jealously upholds the full freedom of worship for Jews, Muslims and Christians – and will continue to do so in the face of unfounded defamation.”

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