Raids in 57 locations
Turkish police arrest 33 suspected Israeli spies
January 2, 2024, 4:54 p.m
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The suspects are said to have had the goal of kidnapping foreigners living in Turkey: special forces arrested 33 suspected employees of the Israeli foreign secret service Mossad in raids. A firearm was also found during the searches.
In Turkey, police have arrested 33 people who, according to the Interior Ministry, are said to have spied for the Israeli secret service Mossad. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said they were suspected of targeting foreigners living in Turkey. In December, Turkey warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it tried to take action against members of the radical Islamic group Hamas outside the Palestinian territories. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also made a similar statement.
Unlike most of its Western allies and some Arab states, Turkey does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Interior Minister Yerlikaya wrote on Platform
The suspects were believed to have aimed to identify, monitor, attack and kidnap foreigners living in Turkey. Among other things, around 150,000 euros and an unregistered firearm were found during the raids.
Turkish President Erdogan calls Israel a “terrorist state”
Footage was also released showing police searching houses, handcuffing people and taking them away in police vehicles. Anadolu news agency reported that authorities were searching for 13 more people. Israel initially did not comment on the events.
The Gaza war has drastically deteriorated the relationship between Turkey and Israel, after a brief period of detente between the two countries. But after the major attack by the radical Islamic Hamas on Israel and the subsequent Israeli counter-offensives in the Gaza Strip, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned to sharp criticism: Erdogan described Israel as a “terrorist state” and a “war criminal” and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “butcher of Gaza” and compared him to Adolf Hitler. Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, called Erdogan a Palestinian “liberation group.”
The Turkish president also withdrew Ankara’s ambassador from Tel Aviv and called for a trial against the Israeli leadership at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. On New Year’s Day, tens of thousands of people protested in Istanbul against Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).