Some more points arising from the happenings off the coast of Israel & Gaza

I note that the the United Nations Security Council managed to hold an emergency meeting and agree to condemn Israel. I also note that the same United Nations Security Council has yet to meet to condemn the North Korean attack on the South Korean ship that resulted in 46 sailors dying and looks like it might lead to the resumption of war on the Korean peninsular. Does this disparity of treatment show that China is more willing to support the rogue state of North Korea than a Barack Obama lead United States is to support the democratic country of Israel?


In an interesting article Commentary Magazine reports five previous occurrences of Hams trying to bring weapons into Gaza by sea. These are occurrences when the smuggling of arms failed, we have no way of knowing how many succeeded.


The Weekly Standard reports that:

'The convoy of ships allegedly trying to bring aid to the Gaza Strip was organized by a group belonging to an officially designated terrorist organization. '

and that:

'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.

In 2008, the Israelis banned IHH, along with 35 other Islamist charities worldwide, for its ties to the Union of Good. This was a follow-on designation; Israelis first blocked the Union of Good from operating in the West Bank and Gaza in 2002.

Interestingly, the Union of Good may not only be tied to Hamas. Included in the Israeli list of 36 designees was the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). In 2006, both the U.S. government and the United Nations designated the IIRO branch offices in Indonesia and the Philippines for financing al Qaeda. French magistrate Jean-Louis Brougiere also testified that IHH had an "important role" in Ahmed Ressam's failed "millennium plot" to bomb the Los Angeles airport in late 1999.'

Read the whole piece but it seems that this is part of the same old war that is being fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere.


Egypt's blockade of Gaza seems to get very little publicity, all the attention seems to be on Irael. I would ask 'why?' but the answer is obvious.