The U.S. ambassador to Turkey sparked fury on Tuesday for chiding a group of Lebanese journalists to “act civilized” and not be “animalistic,” saying such behavior is responsible for the strife in the Middle East.

During a press conference in Beirut on Tuesday, as reporters asked questions and clamored for his attention — a typical practice in news conferences around the world — Tom Barrack complained about the crowd before he even stepped up to the podium, saying “no no no, I’m not going up there.”

After he stepped up to the podium, he said, “we’re going to have a different set of rules, please be quiet for a moment. The moment that this starts becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone.”

“Act civilized, act kind, act tolerant, because this is the problem with what’s happening in

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