Condemnation of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge has come from the expected sources in the Middle East. Turkey was one of the first to roundly condemn Jerusalem, without expressing any sympathy for Israeli civilians forced to shelters because of Hamas rocket fire from Gaza.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement offering Ankara’s thoughts:

Turkey has requested Israel to immediately stop its military operation in Gaza that is tantamount to what it said “mass punishment” of people in the coastal strip living under severe conditions of Israeli-imposed blockade.

A statement Foreign Ministry released on Tuesday said the military offensive in Gaza will increase agony of the Gazans and will result in “rightful outrage” against Israel.

The Arab League called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council because of the “dangerous Israeli escalation.”

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood published comments regarding “the Zionist war machine continues to claim more lives and destroy more citizens’ homes in an attempt to break the will of the resistance and the noble Palestinian people’s steadfastness.”

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Momani described Israel’s actions as “barbaric.”

And the Twitter account of Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, recently posted tweets calling armed resistance against Israel “humane and sacred” and that “Resistance against occupiers is not terrorism. The obvious terrorist is the Zionist regime.”

All of this flies in the face of Western comments, which, while calling on all sides for restraint, make clear that Israel has every right to defend itself. The White House and U.N. were among those speaking out on behalf of the five million Israelis now under rocket threat from Gaza.

[Photo: World Economic Forum / Wiki Commons]