Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan under fire for Zionism remarks "We encourage people of all faiths, cultures, and ideas to denounce hateful actions and to overcome the differences of our times," a spokesman for the National Security Council, Tommy Vietor, said. Mr Ban, who was criticised by a Geneva-based website, UN Watch which proclaims itself as being "affiliated to the American-Jewish community," for initially staying silent about Mr Erdogan's comments, said they breached the spirit of the Alliance of Civilisations, which was formed in 2005 to promote east-west understanding and combat extremism. "The Secretary-General believes is it is unfortunate that such hurtful and divisive comments were uttered at a meeting being held under the theme of responsible leadership," a statement from his office said. Relations between Israel and Turkey - once close allies - have been in the doldrums since 2010, when nine Turkish activists were killed after Israeli commandoes stormed a flotilla heading for the Gaza Strip. Mr Netanyahu has resisted Turkish pressure to apologise and pay compensation for the incident. Ties between the two nations were recently said to be undergoing a quiet revival, amid reports that Israel had resumed selling armament equipment to Turkey. Mr Erdogan, a former Islamist, has sharply criticised Israel in the past. In 2009 he stormed out of a debate with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, after telling him "you Israelis know how to kill."