Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is continuing his efforts to incite against the Jewish state in the hope of deflecting attention from his government's failed handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
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After announcing the country would extend the current lockdown aimed at reining in the outbreak in Turkey until the end of May, Erdogan went on the kind of anti-Israel tirade we have not seen since the weeks following the 2010 incident in which 10 Turkish nationals were killed and several Israeli soldiers were beaten when the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara attempted to breach Israel's maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The Turkish leader said, "We are all sad and furious at the evilness of the terrorist state that is Israel against the Palestinians. Confronting Israeli aggression in Palestinian cities and Jerusalem is an honorably duty for humanity.
"Turkey is ready to act toward the achievement of peace, and we are willing to make sacrifices. We will lead the struggle at the UN. I embrace all the Palestinian brothers who are rising up. Just as we supported Azerbaijan against Armenia, so, too, have we supported Libya and acted there. Today, too, we are ready to act. I call on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to act quickly against Israel," he said.
Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, whose Twitter profile displays a picture of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City, attacked Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for his decision to fly the Israeli flag above the chancellery building in Vienna in solidarity with Israel, Friday.
Kalin tweeted that "this kind of move is what encourages Israel to continue its attacks on the Palestinian people.
"I hope the Austrians and the Europeans with morals reject these disgraceful politics," he said in the post.
Erdogan's communications director Fahrettin Altun praised the president for "waging a diplomatic war against Israel, from the moment it began its terrorist activity. Our president called on all international officials to act against Israeli aggression."
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