Children in Turkey rip apart US flag and pictures of Donald Trump

A video of kids tearing down the Israeli and US flags, as well as Donald Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s portraits, has emerged online from an event held in Turkey. The children were filmed at a school event in Turkey. The ceremony showed a portrait of Iran’s former leader, Ali Khamenei, and included a screen reading “Cruel US & Israel”.

The video, which circulated online this week but could not be independently verified by the Express, has sparked outrage from pro-US and pro-Israeli groups as well as anti-Semitism campaigners. Some others say the act reflects growing public anger over ongoing global conflicts, the Middle East Bulletin reports. The event was a memorial for the school attack in Minab, Iran, in which 156 people were killed in the attack. Of them, 120 were children. Multiple independent investigations concluded that the US was responsible for the strike.

The non-profit organisation Stand With Us, which supports Israel, commented: “This video from Turkey, a NATO member country, showing children ripping U.S. and Israeli flags, serves as a stark reminder of how young children are being indoctrinated and taught violence instead of hope. A better future can only be achieved when extremism and hate like this have no place in society.”

Backing the Iranian regime’s survival, Turkey has publicly condemned the US-Israeli attack on the country in February. One day after the beginning of the war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his “sadness” at the elimination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and offered his “condolences” to the people of Iran.

His reaction points to Turkey’s long-standing preference for the survival of Iran’s Islamist regime and its opposition to the emergence of a democratic, Western-aligned government in Tehran.