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Israel protests at televised Turkey airport patdown of its envoy

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People gather to protest against Israeli violence in Gaza and United States' plans to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, at Gaza-Israel border, in Konya, Turkey on 15 May, 2018 [Abdullah Coşkun/Anadolu Agency]

People gather to protest against Israeli violence in Gaza and United States' plans to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, at Gaza-Israel border, in Konya, Turkey on 15 May, 2018 [Abdullah Coşkun/Anadolu Agency]

Israel today protested over what it called Turkey’s “inappropriate treatment” of its expelled ambassador, after the envoy was shown on Turkish media undergoing an airport security patdown in public view, Reuters reported.

In response to Ambassador Eitan Naveh’s treatment, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it summoned the Turkish embassy’s charge d’affaires.

Turkey had expelled Israel’s ambassador and recalled its ambassadors from Tel Aviv and Washington following the killing of more than 60 Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip over the past two days.

Israel’s consul general in Istanbul Eitan Naeh is seen at Ataturk Airport prior to his departure for Tel Aviv in Istanbul, Turkey on 16 May, 2018 [İzzet Taskiran/Anadolu Agency]

Ankara has also ordered the Israeli consul general in Istanbul to return to Israel “for some time”, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said today.

Turkey has been among the most vocal critics of the Israeli use of deadly force against protesters at the Gaza border and of the US decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem.

Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been exchanging heated words on Twitter as a result.

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