Turkey’s Erdogan phones Herzog to discuss Temple Mount tensions, terror attacks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called President Isaac Herzog on Saturday night to express his concerns amid escalating tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank over the past week, as Israel grapples with a string of terror attacks that killed three people over the weekend.

According to a readout from Herzog’s office, Erdogan initiated the phone call and expressed his condolences to the Israeli people for the separate attacks Friday in the West Bank, where two sisters were killed and their mother was critically injured, and in Tel Aviv, where an Italian tourist died in a suspected car-ramming attack.

The call came as Muslims mark the Islamic holy month of Ramadan which this year once again coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover. Erdogan wished Herzog and the people of Israel a happy Passover, and the Israeli president responded with the greeting “Ramadan Kareem.”

In Israel, the month of Ramadan is known to be a period of high tensions between Israeli forces and Palestinians, especially in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Tens of thousands of worshipers visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque — located in the Temple Mount in Jerusalem — throughout the month, regularly leading to a spike in violence. The site is the holiest site for Jews, as the location of two biblical temples, while the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Mount is the third holiest shrine in Islam, turning the area into a major flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This week, tensions have soared following clashes at Al-Aqsa, followed by tit-for-tat rocket fire by terror group Hamas from the Gaza Strip and Israeli strikes, a major rocket barrage from Lebanon on Thursday — also believed to be the work of Hamas in southern Lebanon — as well as rocket fire Saturday night from Syria, and a suspected Iranian drone launched from Syria earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, police said they had entered Al-Aqsa after masked youths barricaded themselves inside with fireworks, clubs and rocks and refused to come out peacefully. Officers apparently believed the group intended to assault Jews visiting the mount on Passover Eve.

Video of police apparently beating Palestinians in the mosque went viral and sparked outrage across the Muslim world. Police said in response that they had come under direct fire.

In a call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Friday, Erdogan said that “the Islamic world should be united against Israel’s attacks in Palestine.”

The call to Israel’s arch-foe Iran, which backs Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group, likely presents a challenge to Jerusalem’s newly restored ties with Ankara.

“Emphasizing that common sense should prevail to prevent a new spiral of violence, Erdogan said that it would be beneficial to take initiatives to guide all parties to common sense,” the Turkish readout said of the call with Raisi, without elaborating.

In the call with Herzog on Saturday, the Israeli president affirmed the country’s commitment to preserving the status quo on the Temple Mount, and at the holy sites in general, according to the Israeli readout.

Herzog told the Turkish president that “Iran, by means of its proxies, including Hamas, is leading a campaign on several fronts with the aim of undermining regional stability and is using terrorism based on religious incitement, focusing on the situation in Jerusalem.”

The president referred to “biased and false reports in the Arabic-language media, and gave as an example the dissemination of fake and outdated videos to encourage incitement, leading to terrorism,” according to the readout.

In the Turkish readout, cited by the Haaretz news site, Erdogan brought up “the attack by the Israeli forces on the Al-Aqsa Mosque” on Tuesday, and Israel’s “harsh attitude towards the worshipers in the holy places.”

Erdogan told Herzog Muslims would not be able to remain silent “in the face of the provocations and threats to the status and spirituality of Al-Aqsa,” adding that “events like this, which occur every Ramadan, should not be allowed to dictate the fate of the entire region.”

He said Turkey was “ready to assist in steps for sustainable justice and peace.”

Under an arrangement that has prevailed for decades under Jordan’s custodianship, Jews and other non-Muslims are permitted to visit the Temple Mount — under numerous restrictions and only during limited hours — but may not pray there. This arrangement is commonly referred to as the “status quo.” In recent years, Jewish religious figures, including members of the new governing coalition, have increasingly visited the site and demanded equal prayer rights for Jews there, infuriating the Palestinians and Muslims around the world.