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Turkish Governor Threatens To Turn Synagogue Into Museum

The governor of the Turkish province of Edirne has threatened to turn a historic synagogue into a museum, the Hurriyet Daily News reports. “While those bandits blow winds of war inside al-Aqsa and slay Muslims, we build their synagogues,” said Dursun Şahin, making reference to recent tensions in Jerusalem, and implicating Turkey’s Jewish population in the blame for them.

“I say this with a huge hatred inside me,” he continued. “We clean their graveyards, send their projects to boards. But the synagogue here will be registered only as a museum, and there will be no exhibitions inside it.” The synagogue, which dates back to 1907, is in the process of being restored by the government, and Jewish residents were planning to host sermons and wedding ceremonies there.

Şahin’s bigoted diatribe was rebuffed by officials in charge of the restoration project, as was his attempt to collectively punish local Jews for the alleged actions of others in Israel. 

Read entire article at Tablet