ISRAELI AMBASSADOR IN TURKEY PELTED WITH EGGS
by Hillel Fendel

Arutz Sheva
Nov 4 2009
Israel

(IsraelNN.com) Turkish police prevented a mob of students from breaking
into a car carrying Israel’s Ambassador in Turkey, Gabi Levy.

The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon in Trabzon, a city on
the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey.

Despite police efforts, the students succeeded in throwing eggs at
Levy, who was unhurt.

Tensions between Turkey and Israel have risen dramatically over
the past month, beginning when Turkey called off a joint military
exercise with Israel and then held one with Syria. In addition,
Turkey’s president has made some anti-Israel remarks, and even met
with and praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad.

Turkish television recently broadcast a fictional series depicting
IDF soldiers as cold-blooded murderers, prompting official protests
from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman.

Anti-Israel protests have been held in Turkey of late, featuring the
burning of Israeli flags and the waving of Palestinian Authority flags.

Israeli Tolerance

Despite the above, the new Turkish Ambassador to Israel spoke this
past Sunday to an Israeli audience in Be’er Sheva, nearly without
incident. Marking the conquest of the Negev city from the Turks by
Great Britain in 1917, Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol was interrupted
only by two men carrying signs. The signs were addressed to Turkish
Prime Minister Erdogan, and read, "Remember the Holocaust you
[perpetrated upon] the Armenian people!"

Before his speech, Ambassador Celikkol said there is no anti-Semitism
in Turkey, and that "every relationship has its ups and downs; I am
sure we can rehabilitate the relations between us."