At least a dozen senior Hamas terrorists living in Istanbul have been given Turkish passports and ID cards by the Ankara government, according to a senior Israeli diplomat who spoke Wednesday with the Reuters news agency.
Israeli charge d’affaires Roey Gilad described the move as “a very unfriendly step” and said Israel would raise the issue with Turkish officials. The Israeli official said Israel has proof that Turkey was providing passports and identity cards to around 12 members of Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization.
“We have already one document that we will present to the government in copy,” Gilad told Reuters. “Judging by the last experience we had by presenting a well-based portfolio to the government… and getting no reply, I must say I don’t have high hopes that something will be done this time.”
The international bureau of Hamas has been carrying out “terror-related activity” from its seat in Istanbul for some time – a fact which Israel had already tried to discuss with Turkey’s government last year, to no effect.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made no effort to disguise his disdain for the State of Israel, and his hatred of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he has called a “thief,” a “terrorist,” and “a tyrant massacring Palestinian children.”
Erdogan has repeatedly condemned the Jewish presence in Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley and in Jerusalem; in fact, anywhere in the Land of Israel where he and those living in the Palestinian Authority believe Muslims should be living without anyone else.