B'nai Brith: Turkish NGO IHH has Terror Ties

B’nai Brith is asking the Government of Canada to designate as a terrorist organization the Turkish NGO known as IHH. The Islamist group came to international attention for its involvement in the Gaza Flotilla incident as the owner and operator of three of the six ships, including the flagship Mavi Marmara which was at the centre of the incident in which Israeli commandos boarded the ship and were violently attacked and nine IHH members were killed in the skirmish.

B’nai Brith honorary senior legal counsel and noted international human rights lawyer, David Matas, explained in a statement the reasoning behind the designation in a letter sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Leader of the Oppostiion Michael Ignatieff.

Peter Kent, Thornhill MP and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Americas, told Shalom Life, “As demonstrated by our record, our government is strongly committed to protecting Canadians against terrorism. There is a formal procedure in the Criminal Code for determining whether an organization constitutes a terrorist group. This assessment process for possible listings is ongoing.”

Based on multiple credible sources, B’nai Brith laid out in its case that IHH has links to the “global jihadi movement”, various ties to Hamas, supports Al-Qaeda and has been connected to a number of terrorist acts.

Futhermore, IHH has been called a “radical Islamist group masquerading as a humanitarian agency” by the Daily Telegraph, while the Washington Post has expressed doubt that IHH is solely an “Islamic charity”, and The Wall Street Journal has laid out a case for the organization’s links to terrorist entities.

“We have contacted both Prime Minister Harper and the Leader of the Opposition to call on them to act against IHH without delay,” said Frank Dimant, executive vice president of B’nai Brith Canada. “The IHH, the radical Islamist organization, has a long history of involvement with and links to Islamist terrorist organizations which clearly justify its inclusion on the list of designated terrorist entities.”

Dimant added that “designating IHH as a terrorist entity would clearly fit with the Harper administration’s public safety platform, and we fully expect that the Liberal Party, under the stewardship of Mr. Ignatieff, will support this undertaking.”

Matas said that the IHH has connections to the Canadian-linked Millenium Bomber terrorist plot which should cause concern. He feels that Canada needs to keep a close watch on the group for the security threat it could post.

“There is more than enough information on the public record about IHH to raise real concern that this organization uses humanitarian aid as a front or cover to pursue a terrorist agenda,” he said. “Listing the IHH as a designated terrorist entity now would also serve as a timely reminder that the Gaza Flotilla incident was far from a humanitarian operation. IHH was rather using the cover of humanitarianism to poke a hole in an arms blockade against Hamas, a terrorist organization which the IHH has very strong ties to.”