Anti-Israel protests disrupt cities (to the point of being banned in France), anti-Semitism appears at prestigious universities, a Molotov cocktail in a Canadian city, and a US congresswoman draped in the Palestinian flag in front of her office.
Hamas against Israel. Where does it end?
Or perhaps more accurately – is this just the beginning? Because he is now in the hostage-taking stage.
Fortunately, everyone is safe after a former employee took seven hostage at gunpoint Thursday at a Procter & Gamble plant in Gebze, Turkey, in protest of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to news reports.
“The assailant was arrested by law enforcement,” a Procter & Gamble spokesperson told CBS News. “The employees who were detained were safely evacuated.”
At approximately 3 p.m. local time, the gunman entered the US-owned Procter & Gamble factory in the Turkish province of Kocaeli.
He demanded a ceasefire in Gaza and took hostages, leading to negotiations that lasted 9 to 10 hours, various media outlets reported.
Agence France-Presse and The Times of Israel reported that riot police raided the factory when the gunman took a bathroom break.
“Our esteemed police officers and heroic security forces made the necessary intervention as soon as we were sure that the hostages were not harmed,” the state governor, Sedar Yavuz, said on the state-run Anadolu news agency, according to ABC News.
“The fact that no one was harmed is our greatest comfort,” was the reaction of a P&G spokesman. “We are grateful to the authorities and first responders who managed the situation with courage and professionalism.”
ABC said the suspect was not injured.
A government official said initial reports about two gunmen were wrong.
Turkish media showed a suspect inside the factory carrying a gun and appearing to be wearing some type of explosive.
The black and white headdress was covering the man's face, and he was displayed next to a wall bearing graffiti bearing the flags of Turkey and Palestine and reading: “The gates will open. Either prayer or death for Gaza.”
Musalla means a prayer area for Muslims, usually associated with funerals.
After the gunman took hostages, police closed roads in the area and negotiations began, eventually ending in the raid, CBS reported.
Public sentiment in Turkey against Israel and the United States has increased since the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7.
What makes matters worse is the anti-Israel stance expressed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who described Israel as a “terrorist state” and likened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, CBS reported.
In November, Brian Nelson, the US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, expressed concern about Turkey tying Hamas to financial resources, the Financial Times reported.
In addition to protests over the situation in Gaza, and now the Procter & Gamble hostage incident, there have been attacks on famous American companies such as McDonald's and Starbucks in Turkey, media reported.
P&G is headquartered in Cincinnati. Its factory in Gebze mainly manufactures cosmetics.
The company employs 700 employees in three locations in Turkey, including Istanbul and Kocaeli Province.
In addition to cosmetics, P&G products made in Turkey include cleaning and hygiene products, including toothpaste.
This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.
