Turkey responds after Israel pulls diplomats

Turkey has responded after Israel’s foreign affairs minister said he was withdrawing diplomats and planning a “reevaluation” of the relationship between the two countries on Saturday.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Israel “cannot even tolerate criticism and condemnation” even as it commits “a crime against humanity in front of the whole world”.

The ministry also responded to accusations of anti-Semitism against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by Israeli officials, describing them as “baseless” and stressing that Turkey being a “safe haven” for Jewish people.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN earlier said that Erdogan “remains an anti-Semite”, according to reports from Israel’s Army Radio.

On Saturday, Erdogan addressed hundreds of thousands of people at a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul.