ANKARA: Turkiye on Thursday slammed a group of Western countries that temporarily closed down their consulates in Istanbul over security concerns, accusing them of waging “psychological warfare” and attempting to wreck Turkiye’s tourism industry.
Germany, the Netherlands and Britain were among countries that shut down their consulates in the city of around 16 million people this week. The German Embassy cited the risk of possible retaliatory attacks following Qur’an-burning incidents in some European countries. The United States and other countries issued travel warnings urging citizens to exercise vigilance.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the consulate closures and travel warnings were part of a Western plot to prevent a rebound in Turkiye’s tourism sector following the coronavirus pandemic.
“On a day when we declared our aim of (attracting) 60 million tourists, at a time when 51.5 million tourists arrived and we obtained $46 billion in tourism revenue, they were on the verge of starting a new psychological warfare (against) Turkiye,” said Soylu, who is known for his anti-Western rhetoric.
The minister said Turkiye had conducted as many as 60 operations against the Daesh group so far this year and detained 95 people. Last year, close to 2,000 Daesh suspects were detained in more than 1,000 operations against the group, he said.
Earlier this week, the Interior Ministry said Turkish authorities had detained a number of suspects following a warning from a “friendly country,” but hadn’t found any weapons, ammunition or sign of a planned act of violence.
In November, a bombing on Istanbul’s bustling Istiklal Avenue, located in the heart of the city and near a number of foreign consulates, killed six people and wounded several others. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on Kurdish militants.
Last weekend, Turkiye’s foreign ministry issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia. The warning followed demonstrations the week before outside the Turkish Embassy in Sweden, where an anti-Islam activist burned the Qur’an and pro-Kurdish groups protested against Turkiye.
In a related development, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Norway’s ambassador to ask for a protest planned for Friday in the Scandinavian country to be prevented because there would be an “attack” on the Qur’an during the event, Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported Thursday.
Norwegian newspaper VG said a group called Stop Islamization of Norway planned to burn the Qur’an outside the Turkish Embassy in Oslo on Friday.
The group’s leader, Lars Thorsen, told VG that he planned to carry out his protest “in the context of Turkiye’s intolerance of Western values of freedom.”
Recent demonstrations in Europe where activists desecrated Islam’s holy book have infuriated Muslims in Turkiye and elsewhere.
Anadolu said the Norwegian ambassador was told that the planned action would constitute a “hate crime” that should not be allowed.
Turkiye slams West for security warnings ‘harming’ tourism
https://arab.news/7jq4x
Turkiye slams West for security warnings ‘harming’ tourism
- The German Embassy cited the risk of possible retaliatory attacks following Quran-burning incidents in some European countries
- The US and other countries issued travel warnings urging citizens to exercise vigilance
Israel close to completing Gaza missions, focus on north, defense minister says
- “The center of gravity is moving northward, we are near to completing our tasks in the south, but our mission here is not yet done,” Gallant told troops
- “These instructions that you are waiting for here today, I gave in the south and saw the forces operate“
JERUSALEM: Israeli forces are near to fulfilling their mission in Gaza and their focus will turn to the country’s northern border with Lebanon as daily exchanges of fire with Hezbollah take place, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday
“The center of gravity is moving northward, we are near to completing our tasks in the south, but our mission here is not yet done,” Gallant told troops on Israel’s northern border in a video sent by his office.
Gallant was attending a ground combat drill, his office said.
“These instructions that you are waiting for here today, I gave in the south and saw the forces operate,” Gallant said referring to Israel’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip three weeks after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that triggered the war.
The Lebanese group Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8 and the two sides have been trading fire since, with tens of thousands of civilians displaced on both sides of the border.
Israeli leaders have said they would prefer to resolve the conflict through an agreement that would push Iran-backed Hezbollah away from the border. Hezbollah has said that it will continue fighting Israel as long as the war in Gaza is ongoing.
In separate remarks to journalists on Tuesday, Gallant said:
“While we pursue an agreement, I have directed the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) to prepare for every scenario, including directing our attention to the northern arena. We are committed to changing the security situation on the northern front and to bringing our citizens home safely.”
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force. The group confirmed his death but not his role and said it fired rockets at Israeli army targets across the border in retaliation.
Israel strike on Lebanon kills Hezbollah commander: source, army
- Mohammad Qassem Al-Shaer, “a field commander” in the group’s elite Radwan Force, “was targeted in an Israeli strike on a motorcycle in the Bekaa” Valley
- Hezbollah earlier announced Shaer had been killed by Israeli fire, but did not refer to him as a commander
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike Tuesday on eastern Lebanon killed a Hezbollah commander, a source close to the group and the Israeli military said, the latest in near-daily exchanges throughout the Gaza war.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group has traded fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack triggered war in the Gaza Strip, with repeated escalations during more than 11 months of the cross-border violence.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that Mohammad Qassem Al-Shaer, “a field commander” in the group’s elite Radwan Force, “was targeted in an Israeli strike on a motorcycle in the Bekaa” Valley in Lebanon’s east, far from the Israeli border.
Hezbollah earlier announced Shaer had been killed by Israeli fire, but did not refer to him as a commander.
The Israeli military said its air force had “eliminated the terrorist Mohammad Qassem Al-Shaer in the area of Qaraoun,” in the Bekaa Valley.
It referred to Shaer as “a Hezbollah Radwan Force commander.”
Elsewhere in Lebanon, the health ministry said an “Israeli enemy” strike on a building in the southern city of Nabatiyeh “caused light injuries to nine people.”
The cross-border violence since early October has killed some 615 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including 138 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.
Cousin of Israeli slain in captivity says military pressure is killing the hostages
- Gat’s body and those of five fellow hostages were recovered by Israeli troops on Sept 1, triggering an outpouring of grief and mass protests among Israelis demanding a hostage deal
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said increased military pressure would ultimately bring the hostages home
JERUSALEM: Gil Dickmann’s worst nightmare came true when he was told his cousin Carmel Gat, who had survived 11 months in Hamas captivity, had been killed in a tunnel in Gaza just before Israeli forces arrived.
“She was so close to hugging her father,” Dickmann, 32, told Reuters outside the Israeli Knesset, where he was lobbying lawmakers to push for a deal to secure the hostages’ release.
“We failed as a country, we failed as a community.”
Gat’s body and those of five fellow hostages were recovered by Israeli troops on Sept 1, triggering an outpouring of grief and mass protests among Israelis demanding a hostage deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said increased military pressure would ultimately bring the hostages home.
An autopsy revealed that Gat and the other five hostages had been shot in the back of the head at close range, less than 48 hours before Israeli forces recovered the bodies in a tunnel under Gaza.
“Military pressure kills the hostages,” said Dickman. “We know that for a fact.”
Hamas has said in separate statements that Israel is responsible for killing the hostages, or that Netanyahu is responsible for killing them by obstructing a ceasefire agreement.
Oct. 7 was the deadliest day for Israel in its 75 year history, with around 1,200 people killed and some 250 seized and taken as hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in a hostage deal in November.
Carmel Gat was taken hostage on October 7th, while staying at her parents’ home in Kibbutz Be’eri, in southern Israel.
Talks to bring the hostages back and end the fighting in Gaza, where Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 40,000 people according to Palestinian figures, have stalled.
Esther Buchshtav, whose son Yagev was killed in captivity earlier this year, said on Monday at a meeting in Israel’s parliament that a military investigation found her son had been executed by Hamas when soldiers came close to where he was being held.
Dickmann has become one of the most recognizable faces in the movement to push for a hostage deal. He has appeared often on Israeli nightly news shows and clips have circulated widely on social media showing him in screaming matches with Israeli lawmakers and giving passionate speeches in Israel’s Knesset.
Last month, he went to Israel’s southern border along with a group of hostage families who ran toward the border in an effort to gather sympathy for their cause.
The high volume of protesters who demonstrated after Gat’s death, Dickmann said, showed that the Israeli government is disconnected from the will of the people.
“The Israeli people want life,” Dickmann said. “We fight for the lives of the hostages. We don’t fight for revenge.”
Arab League’s chief calls for Denmark’s recognition of Palestinian state
- Ahmed Aboul Gheit expresses appreciation for Denmark’s supportive positions
- Arab League’s chief urged Denmark to follow the lead of several European countries that had recently recognized the independent state of Palestine
CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has called on Denmark to recognize the state of Palestine.
Aboul Gheit made the remarks as he received Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Denmark’s minister of foreign affairs, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Cairo.
Gamal Roshdy, a spokesman for the secretary-general, said that the meeting between the two focused on enhancing bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
Aboul Gheit expressed appreciation for Denmark’s supportive positions on the Palestinian cause.
Aboul Gheit spoke of his confidence that Denmark would continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace, security, and stability in the Arab region — particularly in light of Copenhagen’s recent success in securing a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2025-2026 term.
The Arab League’s chief urged Denmark to follow the lead of several European countries that had recently recognized the independent state of Palestine within the borders of June 4, 1967, and with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He stressed that such recognition was crucial to realizing the two-state solution.
The foreign minister reaffirmed his country’s support for Arab issues and concerns and outlined Denmark’s current foreign policy priorities.
He also stressed his country’s keen interest in strengthening relations with Arab nations across all sectors.
Algeria presidential candidate appeals election result
- Abdelaali Hassani, who heads the moderate Islamist party the Movement of Society for Peace, said the day before he had “lost the battle but not the war“
- Hassani earlier denounced what he called “false figures” on voter turnout
ALGIERS: The Islamist candidate who lost out to incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algeria’s presidential election filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court Tuesday, contesting the provisional result of the vote.
Abdelaali Hassani, who heads the moderate Islamist party the Movement of Society for Peace, said the day before he had “lost the battle but not the war” and denounced the results as a “fraud.”
He was one of just two challengers to Tebboune in Saturday’s election, the second being Youcef Aouchiche of the center-left Socialist Forces Front (FFS), who is also expected to appeal.
The North African country’s electoral authority, ANIE, announced on Sunday that Tebboune had won “94.65 percent of the vote,” with Hassani on 3.17 percent and Aouchiche 2.16 percent.
Hassani earlier denounced what he called “false figures” on voter turnout and demanded that the authorities put an end to the “masquerade.”
Tebboune, 78, had been widely expected to breeze through the election and was focused instead on securing a high turnout.
He was elected in December 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, despite a record abstention rate above 60 percent, amid the massive Hirak pro-democracy protests.
More than 24 million Algerians were registered to vote in this election, but ANIE did not say how many people turned out.
Instead, it announced a “provisional average turnout” rate of 48 percent, which many including Hassani and Aouchiche have disputed.
The Constitutional Court is set to announce the final results within 10 days of receiving the count from Algeria’s 58 provinces.
On Monday it said it had yet to receive all of them.
