President Isaac Herzog spoke on Saturday evening with the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who initiated the phone call in order to express his concern in light of the security escalation and the situation in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount.
At the start of the conversation, President Erdoğan wished to express his condolences to President Herzog and the Israeli people for the painful terror attacks over Passover and Shabbat.
President Herzog thanked President Erdoğan for his condolences and emphasized in response that Israel is firmly committed to preserving the status quo at the holy sites in general and on the Temple Mount in particular.
The President added 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.
Herzog pointed to biased and false reports in the Arabic-language media and gave as an example the dissemination of fake and outdated videos to encourage incitement, leading to terrorism.
President Herzog underscored the importance of collaborating as extensively as possible in the war on terror everywhere.
President Erdoğan wished the Israeli people a happy Passover, and President Herzog, for his part, concluded their phone call by wishing the President of Türkiye and his people a Ramadan Kareem.