Hours after Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan referred to Israel as a ‘terrorist state’, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland was confronted by fiery AP reporter Matt Lee, who has had more than a few run-ins with Nuland over matters relative to State’s policies toward Israel.

First, what Erdogan said via Reuters:

“Those who associate Islam with terrorism close their eyes in the face of mass killing of Muslims, turn their heads from the massacre of children in Gaza,” Erdogan told a conference of the Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul.

“For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts,” he said.

The following exchange between Lee and Nuland took place as a result of Erdogan’s words. In addition, take note of the real journalism that takes place here. Lee presses and presses and presses until he gets Nuland to finally answer his question. Folks, every member of the White House press corps. should take notes from Lee here:

Via WFB:

This is not the first time Nuland and Lee have had heated exchanges over Israel. In this back and forth from March of this year, Lee pressed Nuland over the State Department’s refusal to acknowledge Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel:

We would honestly like to commend the AP for hiring Matt Lee.

Great choice.