Jews barred from shops as antisemitism surges in Turkey

Proposed laws may forbid anyone with an Israeli passport from purchasing land in Northern Cyprus, and Turks with Israeli citizenship may see their assets frozen.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

In Turkey, a number of stores have recently barred Jews from entering, putting up signs or posters declaring Jews unwelcome, amid a surge in both anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiments in the predominantly Muslim country.

In addition, there are proposals now under consideration to bar Israeli passport holders from purchasing land in Turkey and Northern Cyprus.

Under other proposed laws, Turks with Israeli citizenship may see their assets frozen, Ynet reports.

After Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler and said military operations in Gaza were as severe as Nazi atrocities, evidence of growing antisemitism in Turkey can be seen everywhere.

In Istanbul many stores display signs forbidding Jews from entering and people who are allowed to enter are invited to step on an Israeli flag placed on the ground in front of the entrance.

Netanyahu is hung in effigy off a bridge in the Turkish city of Afyonkarahisar, and in Ankara the Israeli PM’s head is superimposed on the body of a pig next to a swastika on a sign that says, “Israel murders babies.”

Supermarkets advertise proudly that they boycott all Israeli goods while images of Hamas terrorist gliders decorate the walls.

Vandals were caught red-handed attempting to deface the entrance of the main synagogue in Izmir with antisemitic graffiti.

Yeni Safak, The daily newspaper aligned with the ruling Justice and Development Party called for the complete destruction of the State of Israel.

The printed declaration said, “There must be an end to this terror state. The world must destroy this Virus” and “Netanyahu is the butcher of Gaza.”

Additionally, conspiracy theories circulate that allege Israel wants to annex Gaza as a first step to eventually capturing and occupying Northern Cyprus, which is currently under Turkish control.

A map demonstrating this false theory was printed in the Sabah newspaper and it called for a ban on the sale of any real estate in Northern Cyprus to anyone with an Israeli passport “so we don’t become a second Palestine.”

The Free Cause Party with ties to Hezbollah called for a revocation of Turkish citizenship for anyone who also holds an Israeli passport, a freeze and transfer of their assets to the Turkish government and a life sentence for any dual Turkish-Israeli citizen who participated in “the genocide in Gaza.”

However, given ongoing conflicts between Erdogan and the Free Cause Party, the latter radical measures are unlikely to pass.

“Antisemitism (in Turkey) has never been this bad,” said Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a researcher at the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, at Tel Aviv University.

Yanarocak is concerned that the Turkish government is associating Israel and the PKK, a Kurdish terror group that is considered a threat to national security.

However, despite the intensity of antisemitism in Turkey, Yanarocak notes that the country has yet to completely sever ties with Israel with Turkish ships continuing to sail into Israel’s ports.

Israel-Turkey relationsPresident ErdoğanTurkey