Turkey denies permitting Hamas to plot attacks against Israel

Turkey on Thursday rejected a report suggesting that the government in Ankara is hosting Hamas terrorists on its soil and permitting them to plan terror attacks on Israeli targets.

Tuesday’s report in The Telegraph, which cited transcripts of Israeli police interrogations of terrorists, said that senior Hamas terrorists are using Istanbul as a center for the terror group’s operations abroad.

Terrorist leaders operating out of Turkey’s largest city direct Hamas activities in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, the report added, including a foiled plot to assassinate the mayor of Jerusalem.

“The majority of the international community considers Hamas not as a terrorist organization but as a political reality which has won the elections in Gaza back in 2006,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry tweeted on Thursday in response to the report.

“It is worth recalling that the UNGA rejected branding Hamas as a terrorist organization last year. Various countries, including Turkey, have contacts with Hamas at different levels,” it added.

“However, we firmly reject the accusation that the Turkish territory is being used for any act against Israel or any other country,” the Foreign Ministry said.

While Israel has discussed Hamas’ operations on Turkish soil with Turkey’s government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to crackdown on Hamas terrorists in his country, or even to interfere with their plots against Israel.

Last weekend, Erdogan met with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and vowed to continue support for the terror group.

“We will keep on supporting our brothers in Palestine,” he said.

Last year, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency revealed that a group of Hamas terrorists living in Turkey were still active on behalf of the terror group, raising funds and organizing cells for attacks in Israel.

Following the Hamas-instigated riots on the Israeli border with Gaza in May of 2018, Erdogan denied that Hamas is a terrorist organization, calling the terror group a “resistance movement”.

“Reminder to Netanyahu: Hamas is not a terrorist organization and Palestinians are not terrorists. It is a resistance movement that defends the Palestinian homeland against an occupying power. The world stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine against their oppressors,” he said at the time.