Turkish terrorist organization IHH involved bigtime in the Gaza flotilla fiasco

[Warph]

1. Prominent among the coalition organizations participating in the aid flotilla is the Turkish IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi, IHH, "humanitarian relief fund"). It is a radical Islamic organization, established in 1992 by a member of the Turkish Refah Party and formally registered in Istanbul in 1995.

2. As far back as 1996, it was identified by the CIA as a radical Islamic humanitarian organization named International Humanitaire Hilfsorganization (IHH) a.k.a International Humanitarian Relief Organization, with its main offices in Zagreb and Sarajevo and headquarters in Germany. The CIA report noted that the organization had connections with extremist groups in Iran and Algeria.

3. The January 1996 CIA report entitled International Islamic NGOs and Links to Terrorism was declassified by the American administration after the September 2001 attacks for use in the government trials of captured Al Qaeda members. The report mentions a large number of Islamic organizations affiliated with radical Islamic groups.

4. The report deals with the charities and their involvement in terrorism during the conflict in Bosnia, where aiding Muslims in distress was an Islamic religious duty. Islamic activists dominate the leadership of the largest charities, and prominent members of some smaller organizations have been identified as extremists. The main objectives of the organizations include proselytizing, helping the needy and defending Muslim communities. Where Muslims are engaged in armed conflict, some Islamic organizations provide military aid as part of a "humanitarian" package.

5. All the major and most of the minor Islamic charities were significant players in the former Yugoslavia, particularly in aiding Bosnian Muslims. Their contributions represented a significant proportion of the humanitarian aid received. According to the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi nationals alone gave $150 million through Islamic NGOs in 1994. Most of the offices of NGOs active in Bosnia are located in Zagreb, Sarajevo, Zenica, and Tuzla. Their field of operations appears to be confined to the Muslim areas in the northeastern and central parts of the country.

6. The CIA report identified International Humanitaire Hilfsorganization (IHH) as part of 15 organizations employing members or otherwise facilitating the activities of terrorist groups operating in Bosnia. Some Islamic NGOs not included in the list have terrorist connections outside of the Balkans.

7. Some the charities mentioned in the report were designated by the United States as terrorist organizations after the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa, while the majority were designated only after 9/11.

8. IHH is not designated by the USA and was designated by Israel only in 2008 because of its connections with Hamas and its fronts within the Union of Good umbrella organization, which, along with its 36 affiliated associations, was outlawed by Israel.

[Warph]

This piece was written as the flotilla left port in Turkey.  More on the IHH Terrorist Organization:

Israel: Gaza Freedom Flotilla Organizers Linked To Worldwide Terrorism

Israel News Agency
By Joel Leyden


Jerusalem ---- May 29, 2010 .... The "Gaza Freedom Flotilla", a group of ships carrying up to 800 people and 10,000 tons of supplies destined for the Gaza Strip has the alledged aim of stirring international debate regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza. However, questions have been raised as to their motives especially given evidence of the organizer's direct ties to international terrorist organizations including al Qaida and Hamas.

Israel security sources have told the Israel News Agency that the main organization behind the "freedom" flotilla that is now sailing towards the Gaza Strip is called The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a so-called "relief" organization from Turkey.

This is an organization unabashedly proud of its close ties to Hamas, a terror organization as recognized by the United States, Israel and the European Union (EU).

The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation is openly supportive of Hamas, an organization that is widely seen as the one of the largest perpetrators of human rights violations, having violently seized control of the Gaza Strip, and committed immeasurable human rights violations against its own people, not to mention hundreds of terror attacks initiated targeting the citizens of Israel.

These aren't the only roles the IHH has played to support Islamic terror, as if this wasn't enough. In fact, not only is IHH linked to global Islamic terror organizations, but it is the direct supporter of not only terrorism against Israel, but a primary backer of world-wide terrorism against nations which practice democracy.

At the heart of many terrorist networks are so-called Islamic "relief" organizations have proven invaluable as sources of cash, weapons, and recruitment of terror operatives. So effective is their role in covering up terrorist activity from the international intelligence community under the guise of promoting humanitarian aid, that Osama bin Laden has admitted that these NGO "charities" have been al-Qaida primary source of funding and have enabled the build-up of his organization to fly under the radar.

Examples of Islamic organizations funneling funds to terror organizations masked as NGOs include: the Benevolence International Foundation, Global Relief Foundation, Taibah International Aid Association, all of whom and countless other have been shut down, banned and its leaders arrested by the US government.

The IHH is one of such organizations, a primary example of an NGO that functions as a "charitable" organization in order to divert resources to terror activity.

In a working paper for The Danish Institute for International Studies, an independent international affairs research institution of Denmark, terrorism analyst and expert witness for the prosecution in U.S. terrorism trials, Evan Kohlmann details IHH's extensive affiliation with the Islamic terror network, including: explicit ties to Hamas, al-Qaida, as well other militant Islamic organizations based in Algeria, Libya, Turkey.

Even in Turkey there have been hostile exchanges between the IHH and the Turkish government, who had previously made efforts to combat home-grown terrorism. In December 1997, Turkey authorities began a criminal investigation into IHH when sources revealed to them that the IHH had purchased semi-automatic weapons from Islamic terror groups. Their Istanbul bureau was thoroughly searched and the local leaders arrested. Inside the bureau an array of items were found: "firearms, explosives, bomb-making instructions and a jihadi flag." After analyzing seized IHH documents, the Turkish authorities determined that the arrested leaders had been on their way to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya.

During the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, the IHH was banned from providing relief aid efforts because the organization was deemed by the government as a fundamentalist organization and would not provide transparency of their bank accounts to Turkish officials.

It is odd that today Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports the IHH in their attempt to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip, and ranks the IHH's efforts as his "top priority" for the country.

The IHH has also provided aid to insurgents seeking to kill American troops in Iraq. In his working paper, Kohlmann notes that the IHH played a large role in providing "charitable donations" to insurgent rich areas in central Iraq such as Fallujah and that the current president of IHH and organizer of the "Freedom Flotilla", Bulent Yildrim, had galvanized anti-America sentiment and incitement in these areas against U.S. troops during the Iraqi War.

Not only have the IHH stirred trouble in Turkey for supporting terror, but their aims to promote terror activity have reached a worldwide level.

In 1996, phone records of the IHH showed calls to an Al Qaida guesthouse in Milan and to Algerian terror cells throughout Europe.

Kohlmann also cited that famed counter-terrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere found that in the mid 1990's Bulent Yildrim also conspired to recruit members in anticipation for a coming jihad, and sent IHH members to war zones in Muslim countries in order for them to gain combatant experience. He sought to obtain support by these Muslim countries for the IHH by transferring weapon and explosives caches to these countries.

Jean-Louis Bruguiere has also testified to a U.S. Court in 2003 that the IHH played a "central role" in the attempted al-Qaida Millenium bomb plot targeting Los Angeles International Airport, among other areas of the world. Bruguiere added that the IHH is a "cover-up" NGO which had served to recruit, forge documents and traffic weapons for the terrorists involved in the terror attack attempt.

The same U.S. Court document cites that the IHH has also had contact with Abdurahman Alamoudi, founder of the American Muslim Council, who is serving a 23 year sentence for illegal transactions with the Libyan government and was part of a Libyan plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

The IHH organization is banned in Israel as part of a group of organizations ironically titled the "Union of Good." Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed an order citing the IHH as an organization that fund-raises and assists Hamas.

It would be comical to assume that an organization so entrenched in terror activity has good intentions in orchestrating a large PR publicity stunt for an area with a supposed "humanitarian crisis", and it would be naïve to assume that most of the so called peace activists on the ships heading towards Gaza are unaware of their organization's connections with terror.

In fact, one of the 39 principles of Islamic Jihad or Holy War practiced and advocated by Al-Qaeda's Jihad, which was exposed in a private study by Israel researcher Col. Jonathan D. Halevi (res.), explicitly illustrates a how-to chapter on performing electronic Jihad.

These people are not riding donkeys, rather these 21st century Jihadists have their fingers dancing on computer keyboards across the globe. In performing electronic Jihad - Al-Salem attributes paramount importance to the Internet as a component for Jihad. He calls believers to join the Jihad against all Jews and Christians by participating in Internet forums to defend the Islam and Mujahideen, to preach Jihad and to encourage Muslims to learn more about this sacred duty. The Internet provides an opportunity to reach vast, target audiences on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and respond swiftly to opposing allegations. Islamic computer experts are asked to use their skills and experience in destroying American, Jewish and secular Websites as well as morally corrupt web sites. The so called Gaza Peace ships are using this inciteful electronic Jihad as they broadcast live using the Internet from their ships.

Sadly, much of the international media from the BBC, SKY News and CNN to Reuters, AP and AFP are not reporting about recent previous terror activity and present media public relations tactics of the IHH, as well as the long history of bogus NGO's created to divert funds to Islamic terror groups.

The IHH and organizations similar to it have always sought to generate PR publicity stunts of providing humanitarian aid in order to mobilize their extremist base and the "Freedom Flotilla" is yet another example of this.

[Anmar]

I wondered how long it would take for the zionists to start their BS pubilicity campaign.  The IHH is not a terrorist organization, being investigated doesn't make them guilty.  They are not on the list, end of story.

By the way, 1 boat out of the more than 25 that have attempted to break the blockade in the last 4 years hardly equates "involved bigtime"  The flotilla was led by european organizations. 

One of the people killed was an American teenager.  But just like Rachel Corrie (an american who was ran over by an Israeli bulldozer) you zionists chicken hawks and your propaganda machines will prove that America is not your primary interests, although you live here and take advantage of our resources and political system.  America is just a tool for you to protect Israel in her sins agains humanity.

[Warph]

Israel: Hamas Gaza Terror Flotilla Organizers Not Humanitarian, Wanted Massacre For Public Relations

Israel News Agency
By Joel Leyden
May 31, 2010


"The so called Gaza Peace Freedom Flotilla is using
electronic Jihad to incite thousands of Muslims."


Jerusalem ---- May 31, 2010 .... The Israel Navy this morning blocked the Hamas backed "Gaza Freedom Flotilla", a group of ships carrying up to 800 people from entering the Gaza Strip.
Israel was well aware that this was not a humanitarian love boat trek but rather an exercise in Islamic digital PR.

The organizers of the Palestine Flotilla to Gaza consisted of some of the worst global terror groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda and their fund raisers the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation.

What made this Palestine PR stunt or electronic Jihad exercise even more barbaric was the blatant use of volunteers on the ship who had good and true humanitarian intentions.

Some of these humanitarian volunteers were unaware that they were being used by the terror group Hamas as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation used both diplomats and volunteers from the UK, the US, Sweden, France, Germany and other countries as human shields as Hamas attacked a peaceful IDF boarding force with guns, knives and clubs.

Just before sunrise the IDF Navy intercepted six ships that were attempting to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip. Israel and the Israel Navy provided numerous warnings issued prior to the incident. The Israel Navy requested that the Hamas backed ships to redirect themselves towards Ashdod where they would be able to unload their aid supplies which would then be transferred to Gaza after undergoing security inspections.

Israel provides tons of food, water, medical supplies and fuel to Gaza on a daily basis. Israeli officials repeated that if this was a true humanitarian event, not a PR exercise, Hamas would have used the existing channels - the UN, the EU and Israel to transfer whatever cargo they had.

During the boarding of the Gaza flotilla ships, protesters onboard demonstrated that this was not a non violent event as they attacked IDF Naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs.

"The Palestinian Gaza demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose," the IDF told the Israel News Agency.

Israel was aware that Hamas true intent was to gather support for Islamic Jihad against Israel and all Western, democratic nations. The IDF knew that Hamas would not hesitate to use the flotilla volunteers as human shields and thus employed riot dispersal means.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda and the The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation were responsible for murdering 10 demonstrators on the flotilla and injuring 7 Israel Defense Forces commandos, 2 of which remain in severe condition.

All of the injured from Israel and abroad are currently being evacuated by helicopter to hospitals in Israel.

In the coming hours, the Hamas backed Gaza flotilla ships will be directed to the port of Ashdod port, while the IDF naval forces perform security checks in order to identify the people on the ships and the cargo brought on board.

Israel security sources have told the Israel News Agency that the main organization behind the so-called "Gaza Freedom" flotilla is the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a so-called "relief" organization from Turkey.

This is an organization which does not conceal its close ties to Hamas, a terror organization as recognized by the United States, Israel and the European Union (EU).

The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation is openly supportive of Hamas, an organization that is widely seen as the one of the largest perpetrators of human rights violations, having violently seized control of the Gaza Strip, and committed immeasurable human rights violations against secular Palestine Arabs, not to mention hundreds of terror attacks initiated targeting the citizens of Israel.

Many find it odd that Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports the IHH in their attempt to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip and ranks the IHH's efforts as his "top priority" for the country. Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel and canceled three joint military drills as they keep a watchful eye on riots taking place at the entrance of Israeli ambassador's residence in Ankara - something they could have prevented.

The IHH has also provided aid to insurgents seeking to kill US troops in Iraq.

Not only have the IHH stirred trouble in Turkey for supporting terror, but their aims to promote terror activity have reached a worldwide level.

In 1996, phone records of the IHH showed calls to an Al Qaida guesthouse in Milan and to Algerian terror cells throughout Europe.

Sadly, much of the international media including the BBC, SKY News and CNN to Reuters, AP and AFP are not reporting the terror activity and present media public relations tactics of the IHH, as well as the long history of false NGO's created to divert funds to Islamic terror groups.

The IHH and organizations similar to it have always sought to generate PR publicity stunts of providing humanitarian aid in order to mobilize their extremist base and the "Freedom Flotilla" is yet another example of this.

"It's going to be a big scandal, no doubt about it," Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Israel trade minister, said in an interview in Doha, where he was on a visit to Qatar, one of the few Arab states where Israeli officials can travel.

"The whole thing was a provocation from its beginning. They planned it almost two months ago, and we tried all the way to explain to them: 'Gentlemen, don't try to do it because we have all the right to defend ourselves'," he said in English.

StandWithUs, a pro Israel, pro democracy group denounced the anti-Israel flotilla goals and lynching attempt.

"We regret the violence, unnecessary casualties, and loss of life instigated by the anti-Israel flotilla when it defied national and international law, and provoked a confrontation with Israel early this morning. It did not have to be like this," said StandWithUs Israel Director Michael Dixon.

"Israel has sought peace and compromise with its neighbors for all of its 62 years. However, Hamas terrorists and supporters, in an intentional provocation against Israel, violated international law, violently attacked Israeli military and security personnel with steel pipes, knives, rocks and, according to the most recent news reports, with gun fire, and provoked bloodshed."

As the the White House says it: "deeply regretted" the loss of life and injuries sustained in the clashes, those of us living in Israel remain committed to peace.

Israelis know that the Palestine people are being used and abused by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
That they use civilians as human shields to create massacres and then attempt to secure PR for Islamic Jihad (holy war against Jews and Christians) - a very unhumanitarian, bloody act that has now transcended the dusty streets of Gaza and has found its way onto "Gaza peace ships" in the Mediterranean Sea.


The Israel News Agency, which is accredited by Israel Government Press Office, was the first on line news organization in Israel. The INA reaches up to 60 million readers through Google News and Internet social networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from New York, London, Moscow and Paris to Toronto, Los Angeles, China and India. Leyden is presently launching the United States News Agency using the INA as a successful working model.

[Anmar]

Another BS article from the same lying BS reporter.  This was a humanitarian mission, run completely by internationally recognized humanitarian organizations,  Stop spamming us with your BS

[srkruzich]

I wondered how long it would take for the zionists to start their BS pubilicity campaign.  The IHH is not a terrorist organization, being investigated doesn't make them guilty.  They are not on the list, end of story.

By the way, 1 boat out of the more than 25 that have attempted to break the blockade in the last 4 years hardly equates "involved bigtime"  The flotilla was led by european organizations. 

One of the people killed was an American teenager.  But just like Rachel Corrie (an american who was ran over by an Israeli bulldozer) you zionists chicken hawks and your propaganda machines will prove that America is not your primary interests, although you live here and take advantage of our resources and political system.  America is just a tool for you to protect Israel in her sins agains humanity.

Funny how you justify the attacking israeli soldiers.  Sure there was a few activists killed. IF they were so peaceful, then why did they pick up weapons and attack the soldiers?   That was stupid if they are nothing but activists.  What this was is a setup by anti israeli organizations to try and get the soldiers to massecre the ones on the ship so they can drive the world against israel.  The problem is it didn't work.  The soldiers as they were traind to do diffused the situation with minimal casualties.

[srkruzich]

Another BS article from the same lying BS reporter.  This was a humanitarian mission, run completely by internationally recognized humanitarian organizations,  Stop spamming us with your BS

Humanitarian mission my ass.  IF they were on a humanitarian mission, then they are absolute morons to attack the soldiers.
Israel had every right to search the ships.

[Anmar]

I'm not justifying anything.  But when someone breaks into your house, you fight them, right?  I mean, they have the right to defend themselves, don't they?  Are you saying that you wouldn't have defended yourself if some soldier drops out of the sky onto your boat?

They didn't attack the soldeirs genius, the soldiers attacked the boat....

[pamagain]

     In a "cause" like this you are going to have 99% people who are sincere in their desire to bring humanitarian aid and 1% looking to "make a point". Generally the ones who are sincere in their desire to help are the ones who end up with busted heads and dead.
    Personally I have ALways thought Israel is arrogant, argumentative and confrontational in the extreme. They are like the chihuahua my Dads cousin had when I was a kid...I absolutely HATED that dog..it would run out and bite you and when you swelled up at it run back under the furniture where you couldn't get at it yippin like IT was in pain and get MY ass whupped......that's what I think of when I think of Israel.......they are the chihauhau with the god complex and the USA is the furniture it hides under when it bites.
   And before you trot out the well they are "the Chosen" people of God.........whatever......yeah THEY think THEY are.....WE are just a TOOL they are usin to get what they want.......

[Warph]

The "Humanitarian Relief" Wing of Hamas and Al-Qaeda      

Written by John Perazzo     
Wednesday, 02 June 2010   
Frontpage Magazine

The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (better known by its Turkish acronym, IHH) is the group that organized the six-ship flotilla which recently tried, without success, to sail all the way to Gaza. Established in Turkey in 1992, the Foundation sends aid to distressed areas throughout the Middle East - in the form of food, medicine, vocational education, and building supplies.

A prime destination for this aid is Gaza, where - according to IHH - Palestinians are being oppressed by an unjustified Israeli naval blockade. (For the record, that blockade was put in place to prevent Hamas, which controls Gaza politically and has fired thousands of rockets into southern Israeli towns in recent years, from importing additional weaponry from Iran and other allies abroad.)

For several days last week, as the flotilla approached Gaza, Israel issued warnings that the ships would not be permitted to reach their destination without first submitting to an inspection of their cargoes - to ensure that no weaponry was being transported. But when the respective crews of the vessels refused to comply, Israeli commandos took action and intercepted the flotilla in the early morning hours of May 31. The IHH-affiliated activists responded with violence, instantly attacking the commandos with knives and clubs, and throwing one of them overboard. In the melee that ensued, ten activists were killed and seven Israeli soldiers were wounded. How could this be? How can we be expected to believe that a well-meaning "humanitarian relief" group would ever behave in a manner that might provoke violent reprisals from Israeli troops?

A more thorough examination of IHH's history and affiliations explains everything:

While IHH is indeed involved in the aforementioned humanitarian endeavors, its overall objectives are much broader. Belying the dove of peace whose image appears on its logo, IHH overtly supports Hamas, is sympathetic to al Qaeda, and maintained regular contact with al Qaeda cells and the Sunni insurgency during the bloodiest stretches of the Iraq War. Moreover, IHH has supported jihadist terror networks not only in Iraq, but also in Bosnia, Syria, Afghanistan, and Chechnya. According to Carnegie Endowment analyst Henri Barkey, IHH is "an Islamist organization" that "has been deeply involved with Hamas for some time." A 2006 report by the Danish Institute for International Studies characterized IHH as one of many "charitable front groups that provide support to Al-Qaida" and the global jihad.

Is the IHH beginning to sound less and less like a "humanitarian relief" group? Let's look a little deeper still:

***According to a French intelligence report, in the mid-1990s IHH leader Bülent Yildirim was directly involved in recruiting "veteran soldiers" to organize jihad activities, and in dispatching IHH operatives to war zones in Islamic countries to gain combat experience. The report also stated that IHH had transferred money as well as "caches of firearms, knives and pre-fabricated explosives" to Muslim fighters in those countries. Given this track record, can Israel's concern about the contents of the IHH flotilla cargoes really be considered excessive or unwarranted?

***In 1996, IHH continued to burnish its credentials as a "humanitarian relief" organization when an examination of its telephone records showed that repeated calls had been made to an al Qaeda guest house in Milan and to Algerian terrorists operating in Europe. That same year, the U.S. government formally designated IHH as a terrorist organization with ties to extremist groups in Iran and Algeria, and as a facilitator of terrorism in Bosnia.

***In December 1997, Turkish authorities, acting on a tip from sources claiming that IHH leaders had purchased automatic weapons from other regional Islamic militant groups, initiated a domestic criminal investigation of IHH. A thorough search of the organization's Istanbul bureau uncovered a large assortment of firearms, explosives, bomb-making instructions, and a "jihad flag." In addition, Turkish authorities seized a host of IHH documents whose contents ultimately led investigators to conclude that the group's members "were going to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya."

***Near the end of 2000, IHH organized protests against proposals to overthrow that humanitarian icon, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein; American and Israeli flags were burned at these rallies.

***During the April 2001 trial of would-be "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, it was revealed that IHH had played an "important role" in the plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on December 31, 1999. Some reasonable observers might contend that to classify such a pursuit under the heading of "humanitarian relief" would require an unduly broad definition of that term.

***In 2002, investigators found correspondences from IHH in the offices of the Success Foundation, a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organization whose Secretary was Abdul Rahman Alamoudi. For the record: The Brotherhood was the ideological forebear of Hamas and al Qaeda; it supports jihad; and it seeks to impose shari'a law on the entire civilized world. Mr. Alamoudi, for his part, is currently serving a prison term of nearly a quarter-century for his role as a funder of international terrorism. He is best known for having proudly declared himself to be a passionate supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah. The connections to "humanitarian relief" seem rather tenuous here.

***According to a report issued by a website close to Israeli military intelligence: "Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, IHH has supported Hamas' propaganda campaigns by organizing public support conferences in Turkey." The report also states that IHH continues to operate widely throughout Gaza and to funnel large sums of money to support the Hamas infrastructure.

***In January 2008, an IHH delegation met with Ahmed Bahar, chairman of Hamas' council in the Gaza Strip. At the meeting, the delegation not only boasted about the large amount of financial support it had given Hamas during the preceding year, but also declared its intent to double that sum in the future. Once again, we are left to wonder how any of this falls under the rubric of "humanitarian relief."

***In 2008 Israel banned IHH from the country because of the organization's membership in the "Union of Good" (UOG), a Hamas-founded umbrella coalition comprised of more than 50 Islamic charities (most of which are associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood) that channel money and goods to Hamas-affiliated institutions. In December 2008, the U.S. government designated UOG as a terrorist entity that was guilty of "diverting" donations that were intended for "social welfare and other charitable services," and using those funds "to strengthen Hamas' political and military position."

***In January 2009, IHH head Bülent Yildirim met with Khaled Mash'al, chairman of Hamas' political bureau in Damascus, and Mash'al thanked Yildirim for the support of his organization.

***In November 2009 IHH activist Izzat Shahin transferred tens of thousands of American dollars from IHH to the Islamic Charitable Society (in Hebron) and Al-Tadhamun (in Nablus), two of Hamas' most important front groups posing as "charitable societies."

This, then, is the IHH: a pack of anti-Semitic supporters of terrorism, cloaking themselves in the vestments of victimhood, and bleating to the world about how unfairly they have been treated by the very nation whose extermination they have worked long and hard to bring about. It's actually a story that has become quite familiar.