Drone with Israel flag trolls Turkey’s Haniyeh-saluting TLV embassy
Turkish ambassador, recalled to Ankara since November, complains after UAV hoists Israeli national banner over Turkish flag, lowered to half-staff to honor slain Hamas leader
A Ramat Gan resident flew a drone bearing an Israeli flag over Turkey’s embassy in Tel Aviv Friday in response to the embassy’s show of grief for assassinated Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh, drawing a protest from the country’s recalled ambassador, Hebrew media reported.
Ohad Ben-Hemo, a 41-year-old outdoor sporting aficionado, was incensed when the embassy lowered its flag to half-mast staff Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan declared Friday a day of mourning for Haniyeh.
“The role of embassies is to make peace, not fan the flames,” Ben-Hemo told the Ynet news site, saying he believed he succeeded in getting the embassy to put its flag back up. “I’m happy that the memory of Ismail Haniyeh won’t be honored in the country I belong to, that I live in and am committed to.”
“Am Yisrael Chai,” he added. “Don’t mess with us — we have nothing to lose.”
According to Ynet, the embassy’s staff summoned police, who arrived on the scene.
Turkish Ambassador Şakir Özkan Torunlar, who has been in Ankara since November, complained to the Foreign Ministry that the drone violated Turkey’s sovereignty and its mission’s diplomatic immunity.
Haniyeh was killed in a blast Wednesday in Tehran, hours after attending the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian. The country has vowed to inflict “harsh punishment” on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the assassination.
The Turkish embassy’s show of mourning for Haniyeh, in line with the country’s missions elsewhere, irritated Israeli officials. Hamas has had an office in Turkey since 2011.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the deputy Turkish ambassador was summoned for a severe reprimand over the matter.
Torunlar, who was appointed Turkey’s ambassador to Israel in 2022 after a four-year gap in the countries’ ties, was recalled to Ankara in November amid Turkish opposition to the war in Gaza.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, in which thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Last week Erdogan appeared to threaten to invade Israel in support of the Palestinians. Hours later, Ankara’s Foreign Ministry compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
