Jewish media in the U.K. is reporting that the IHH, a Turkish charity tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and sponsor of the June 2010 Gaza flotilla that was involved in a violent altercation with Israeli naval forces, may be involved in transporting weapons to Syria on behalf of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. According to a Jewish Chronicle report:
There is evidence to suggest that IHH, the Islamic charity that helped organise the 2010 flotilla to Gaza, has been involved in gun-running to Syria on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. Free Syrian Army commanders have told The Times that a boat containing weapons that docked in Syria this week was registered to members of the IHH, which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Samar Srewel, an FSA activist who had helped to organise the consignment, told The Times: ‘It was clear from that second what was happening. The Muslim Brotherhood, through its ties in Turkey, was seizing control of this ship and the cargo. This is what they do. They buy influence with their money and guns.’ In Syria, rebel groups that have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood are said to have the best weapons and equipment. About a quarter of the 130 members of the Syrian National Council have links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
A post from June reported that the President of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (?HH) was being investigated for allegedly financing al-Qaeda through his organization.
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) has published a report titled “Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla” by analyst Steven Merley. Important conclusions from the report include:
- There is strong evidence for Turkish governmental involvement in the Gaza flotilla incident, with Turkish government support channeled through the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood network. Since 2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood. The IHH was not acting alone but rather was an integral part of a Turkish Muslim Brotherhood network.
- The Gaza flotilla incident brought into sharp focus an even more significant long- term development: the growing relationship between the Erdogan government and the Global Muslim Brotherhood, which has given rise to some of the most notorious Islamist terrorist groups – from al-Qaeda to Hamas. Since 2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood, while the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip acted as the main axis for this activity.
- Although IHH declared that the flotilla was humanitarian in nature, the history of IHH suggests that it is not only a humanitarian organization…..Aside from these terrorist connections, this report demonstrates that IHH and the rest of the Turkish/MB network are in fact Islamist, politicized organizations. ….Whether or not the violence was planned, this report demonstrates that the intent of the flotilla was breaking the Gaza blockade and delegitimizing Israel.
The JCPA report contains extensive information on the extremist/terrorist ties of IHH. Read the rest here.
A post from August identified a leader of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a third individual tied to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood that is also a part of the Syrian National Council (SNC), a group described on its website as
…a council that includes competent national figures to serve as a political umbrella for the Syrian Revolution in the international arena and support the just cause of the Syrian people, who yearn to be liberated from tyranny and create a civil democratic state.
Previous posts have noted that the SNC includes at least two known members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood- Louay Safi, a leader in the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Najib Ghadbian, a board member of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID). The relationship between the SNC and Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi should also be noted.