Obama administration belatedly rips into ally Turkey over Israel criticism

The State Department on Tuesday ripped into U.S. ally Turkey for calling Israel a “terrorist state” after coming under harsh criticism for failing to do so earlier.

“Well, let me just say that some of the extremely harsh rhetoric coming from Turkey we do not consider helpful at all. And, of course, we don't agree with some of these very difficult statements that have been coming there, and we've made those views to the Turks,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at her daily briefing. 

“I'm not going to get into detail other than we've made clear from this department to the Turkish government our concerns that this kind of rhetoric is not helpful.”

The comments come after an Associated Press reporter pressed Nuland on Monday to explain why the Obama administration had declined to denounce Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's comments to the conference of the Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul. Nuland at the time declined to condemn Erdogan's comments, saying, “I’m not going to get into a public spitting match with allies on either side.” 

The heated exchange was widely covered by U.S. conservative media.

Ties between Israel and NATO member Turkey have unraveled since Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish activists trying to break the Gaza blockade two years ago.

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