Two Chabad rabbis encountered Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, and asked him to “protect Jewish people living in Turkey,” according to Turkish state-run news agency Anatolia.
Turkish Prime Minister: Jews Safe in My Country
Two Chabad rabbis encountered Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, and asked him to “protect Jewish people living in Turkey,” according to Turkish state-run news agency Anatolia.
According to the report, he responded by saying that “under my leadership, the Jewish community in Turkey is safe, they are under my protection. We see (them) as brothers.”
The Algemeiner identified the rabbis as brothers Avraham and Yirmi Berkowitz of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch. “It was a chance meeting,” they told The Algemeiner, “we mentioned the ancient and prestigious history of Jews in Turkey, which the Prime Minister acknowledged.”
“Erdogan also mentioned Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Haleva by name, saying that he ‘is like a brother to me,’” they said.
The report claimed that the rabbis asked Erdogan “what he thought about the people of Israel,” and he responded by saying, “We have no problem with the Israeli people. Our problem is the aggressive behavior of the Israeli government. We have to find solutions to problems in the Middle East. The Israelis have to treat the Palestinians better.”
The rabbis told The Algemeiner that they responded by saying, “the people of Israel don’t want to kill anyone; we love life and hate death, but the State of Israel needs to be able to defend itself and needs to have secure borders.”
Mendel
The twins made a kiddush Hashem and kiddush Lubavitch.
tell the truth
bull …. Now is the time for Turkish Jews to leave Turkey is only going to get worse don’t be fooled leave now!!!!!!!
mushki
non the less the twins do a gr8 job
Babishka
They’re brothers 2 years apart, they look alike but they are not twins!
The Berkowitz boys are twins indeed
No they really are twins. I know them personally and they are fraternal twins. Very nice young fellows
The Turkish president was so inspired
That he decided to convert
isser
They are actually triplets if you include laibel the brother in alabama
Mendel
Kol hakavod to R Berkowitz for speaking up for Jewish people.