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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is encouraging expressions of anti-Semitism in his country by espousing biased views and wholeheartedly accepting the Hamas narrative of the recent Gaza fighting, a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.Erdogan blasted Israel throughout the fighting, called on it to be barred from the UN, accused it of using white phosphorus against Gaza civilians and charged it with other "inhuman actions which would bring it to self-destruction. Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents."Yet during the fighting, Erdogan "did not utter one word that placed even one percent of the responsibility for the conflict on Hamas," said the Israeli official. "He has utterly adopted the Hamas narrative."One example cited by the official of Erdogan's alleged encouragement of anti-Semitic sentiments came in a January 13 speech to Turkey's parliament in which, moments after he claimed to oppose anti-Semitism, Erdogan accused Jews of controlling the media and intentionally targeting civilians."Media outlets supported by Jews are disseminating false reports on what happens in Gaza, finding unfounded excuses to justify targeting of schools, mosques and hospitals," Erdogan charged.As the country's prime minister was lambasting Israel repeatedly, Turkey's Jewish community was experiencing "the worst situation in memory," said someone close to the community.The community, estimated to number some 26,000, has seen a spate of anti-Semitic incidents in the wake of Israel's operation against Hamas.At anti-Israel demonstrations throughout the country, demonstrators were seen carrying blatantly anti-Semitic signs. At a demonstration in the industrial city of Eskisehir, for example, signs read, "Dogs allowed, but no Jews or Armenians."Posters placed on billboards throughout Istanbul showed bloodied children from Gaza, and addressed Jews directly, calling them "no sons of Moses."An Istanbul newspaper published a caricature this week showing Hitler flying an Israel Air Force jet, while another called for the expulsion of Turkey's chief rabbi and claimed the Torah permitted Jews to murder their own parents.In the weeks since the Gaza operation began, Jewish community institutions were targets - alongside Israel's diplomatic missions - of hundreds of e-mails, faxes and phone calls that included, in the words of the Israeli official, "blatant anti-Semitism and curses."At least one store in Istanbul's old city saw a sign posted outside notifying shoppers to avoid it because it was owned by Jews. Israeli officials have also followed calls on Turkish Internet sites to boycott Jewish businesses. There are reports of Jewish doctors who are losing patients because the patients are unwilling to be treated by Jews."I feel worried, sad and scared for myself and for my country's future, which is leaning towards racism," Turkish-Jewish academic Leyla Navaro wrote in the Radikal newspaper, Reuters reported... By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
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