Because facts are stubborn things…
The Terror Finance Flotilla
The Turkish organizers of the Gaza Strip-bound flotilla that was boarded this morning by Israeli commandos knew well in advance that their vessels would never reach Israeli waters. That’s because the organizers belong to a nonprofit that was banned by the Israeli government in July 2008 for its ties to terrorism finance.
The Turkish IHH (Islan Haklary Ve Hurriyetleri Vakfi in Turkish) was founded in 1992, and reportedly popped up on the CIA’s radar in 1996 for its radical Islamist leanings. Like many other Islamist charities, the IHH has a record of providing relief to areas where disaster has struck in the Muslim world.
However, the organization is not a force for good. The Turkish nonprofit belongs to a Saudi-based umbrella organization known to finance terrorism called the Union of Good (Ittilaf al-Kheir in Arabic). Notably, the Union is chaired by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who is known best for his religious ruling that encourages suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. According to one report, Qardawi personally transferred millions of dollars to the Union in an effort to provide financial support to Hamas. Read it all.
The Flotilla Attack Was a Terrorist Operation Against Jews
The critics are right: the flotilla attack today was indeed heinous and unforgivable. It is a moral outrage, and must be condemned by all civilized people. Indeed, it was an act of planned terrorism. We must stand as one and condemn it.
Alas, this is unlikely to happen. When one party is represented by ‘oppressed third world people of color,’ we’re not likely to get anywhere. And when it’s a premeditated assault by Islamists on Jews, turn the lights out.
The five points below, presented very briefly, are the essential facts of this incident. When dealing with people who have decided a priori that Israel is the bad guy and is therefore guilty in any conflict in which it is a party, no progress can be made. But most people have no strong opinion about the Israeli-Arab conflict. Reaching them is a moral imperative. This little guide for the perplexed should help people connect the dots and realize that — as usual — Israel has done nothing wrong and is being treated like, as Alan Dershowitz has aptly put it, the ‘Jew among nations,’ even when dealing with genocidal terrorists. Read the 5 Points.
‘Peace convoy’? This was an Islamist Terror Ambush
As the international community rushes to condemn Israel for the violence on board one of the ships in the Gaza flotilla, which left a reported 10 people dead and dozens injured, it is now obvious that the real purpose of this ‘armada of hate’ was not merely the further delegitimisation of Israel but something far worse.
Gaza’s markets are full of produce, thousands of tons of supplies are travelling into Gaza every week through the Israeli-controlled border crossings, and there is no starvation or humanitarian crisis. It was always obvious that the flotilla was not the humanitarian exercise it was said to be. Read it all.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.