TIMES OF ISRAEL – In Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, rallies were held in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, some of them turning violent as demonstrators clashed with police forces and vandalized public property. There were also protests in cities including London, Madrid, New York, and Cape Town.
In Istanbul, police warded off hundreds of rioters who attempted on Thursday to storm the Israeli embassy building. Demonstrators in Ankara and Istanbul also hurled stones at several compounds where Israeli officials reside. Calls for the destruction of the Jewish state were heard in both Turkish cities. Police responded by firing tear gas canisters and water cannons at the crowds.
In Cairo, supporters of overthrown Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, as well as members of his outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, marched in protest of “Israeli aggression,” and criticized Arab governments for failing to assist the Palestinian people.
In Jordan, protesters called on the Egyptian government to open the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and the Sinai peninsula, as Hamas has demanded, in order to allow the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Strip.
On Thursday, in the Polish city of Krakow, a group of Israelis were assaulted and spat at in the city’s main square by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters, Channel 2 reported.
“They approached us and hit the cameras we were holding,” one of the Israelis said of the Polish demonstrators. “They shouted at us, calling us ‘killers’ and ‘criminals’,” he added.
Police forces broke up the demonstration a short while later; no arrests were made.
Anti-Israel protests all over the world as Israel invades Gaza
