Anti-Israel protest again held outside Istanbul synagogue

For the second time in less than a week, protesters demonstrated against Israel outside a synagogue in Istanbul.

The latest incident reported in the Turkish media occurred on Saturday outside the Ahrida Synagogue on the European side of the Turkish capital, in the north of the neighborhood of Fatih, which is a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements in Turkey.

On Thursday, protesters showed up at the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul, where they kicked the front door and hurled objects at it. Leaders of Turkish Jews condemned the targeting of synagogues to protest Israel’s actions. Following a deadly terrorist attack against Israeli police officers near the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, in which three Arab Israelis shot dead two Israeli police officers with guns they had smuggled into the site, Israel temporarily limited access to the holy site for men under 50 and placed metal detectors at the entrance to it.

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Responding to the Turkish Jewish community’s protests, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on Sunday said in a statement to the media that, while “limiting Muslims’ access to Al-Aqsa mosque for whatever reason is an unacceptable mistake that Turkey expects Israel to undo immediately,” the Turkish government “does not agree with actions actions outside places of worship of Jewish citizens.”

Yıldırım said the government “expects on all citizens exercise self restraint.” The short statement did not say what would happen to those who do live up to the government’s expectation.

Turquie : des ultranationalistes jètent des pierres sur la synagogue d'Istanbul https://t.co/OG37xHvyc6 @TurkishMinuteTM pic.twitter.com/vxV4fkmHht

— L'important (@Limportant_fr) July 22, 2017

At the Ahrida synagogue, which is one of the country’s oldest, at least 29 men gathered Saturday carrying signs with anti-Israel slogans and a cardboard structure meant to symbolize an x-ray machine, the Haberler news website reported. The demonstration was over Israel’s decision last week to put up metal detectors at the entrances to the the Temple Mount, which is also known to Muslims as Haram al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary).

Synagogues, which have been targeted by Islamists and other terrorists in Turkey in the past, are heavily guarded in Istanbul by police. To enter Istanbul’s main synagogues, including Neve Shalom, visitors must obtain the permission of the Jewish community prior to arriving there. The fact that demonstrators were able to gather outside the synagogues and stage protests there is highly unusual for Istanbul.

The placing of metal detectors outside the Temple Mount followed the slaying of two police officers by three Arab-Israel terrorists using weapons smuggled into the Al-Aqsa mosque, who also were killed in the July 14 shooting. Several Palestinians died in riots over the past week and three Jews were murdered in the West Bank settlement of Halamish inside their home by a Palestinian terrorist.

On Sunday, a security officer of the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan, killed two men after one of them attacked him with a screwdriver. Approximately 30 people were besieged in the embassy Monday due to the Jordanian authorities desire to detain and question embassy staff, who have diplomatic immunity under international treaties.