ANKARA (WJC)–An Israeli women’s volleyball team was assailed by protestors while playing against Serbia in the Turkish capital Ankara on Saturday. Rioters carrying Palestinian flags clashed with a large police force deployed at the event. The match was closed to the public because of security concerns. Authorities in Ankara imposed heavy security on the European Volleyball League match, dispatching police to block roads around the venue. Israeli security officials guarded the women, and the players rode in a bus with tinted windows to the 7,000-seater hall, which was almost completely empty. Israel lost 0:3 against the Serbian team.
“Don’t be dogs of Zionism. God will hold you to account,” some demonstrators shouted at police who pushed them back with shields of reinforced plastic. “Esteemed friends,” appealed a police commander with a loudspeaker, adding: “Please don’t cause trouble.” The demonstrators also carried posters of Furkan Dogan, the youngest of nine activists who were killed during the Israeli Navy’s raid against a Turkish ship trying to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The government in Jerusalem last week lifted a travel advisory warning Israelis not to visit Turkey in the wake of the flotilla incident. However, Turkish hostility toward Israel has been mounting for some time. In February of this year, months before the flotilla incident, an Israeli basketball team playing in Turkey was pelted with glass bottles and forced to flee the court during a game.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress