Mob harasses Jews heading to Istanbul Chanukah candle-lighting

Pro-Palestinian agitators harassed a group of Jews heading to light the eighth and final Chanukah candle in Istanbul on Sunday evening, according to video of the incident circulating on social media.

The Jewish worshippers were walking to the Neve Shalom Synagogue in the Karaköy quarter of the Beyoğlu district when protesters, some with Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, aggressively approached the group, shouting, “Zionists, leave this country.”

Police dispersed the demonstrators. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The Anti-Defamation League said it was “alarmed” by the reports from Istanbul. “Targeting Jews during religious observance, especially during Hanukkah, is becoming all too common around the world,” the ADL stated. “Jewish communities around the world should be able to worship safely and without fear.”

Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly defended Hamas as “liberators” and “freedom fighters,” insisting it is not a terrorist organization. In parallel, he has adopted an increasingly hostile posture toward Israel, canceling a planned visit, denouncing Israel as a “war criminal” and “occupier,” and leading diplomatic, economic and trade measures against it.

Since opening in 1951, the Sephardic Neve Shalom Synagogue has been targeted in at least three terrorist incidents, beginning with the 1986 Abu Nidal–linked massacre in which gunmen killed 22 worshippers during Shabbat services. A 1992 bombing outside the building caused no casualties, while a 2003 car-bomb attack, part of coordinated synagogue bombings in the city and attributed to local jihadist networks with suspected Al-Qaeda ties, killed more than a dozen people and wounded many others around the synagogue.