|
Trending Topics
|
Will the Turkish Flotilla Group Be Named as Terrorists?
(Foreign Policy) Jonathan Schanzer - House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ed Royce (R-CA), the ranking member of the terrorism subcommittee, recently sent a letter to Stuart Levey, the undersecretary for terror finance at the Treasury Department, stating that evidence "strongly supports" designating the Turkish charity IHH for its support of terrorist groups. IHH sponsored the flotilla designed to break Israel's blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza in May. Last week, Richard Verma from the State Department's Office of Legislative Affairs responded that "U.S. government agencies are taking a close look at IHH" for Treasury designation because "serious questions of support to terrorist organizations have been raised." It is puzzling that IHH has not already been designated. The group advertises the fact that it is a participating member of the Saudi-based umbrella organization Union of Good. In 2008, the U.S. listed the Union as a terrorist entity, stating that the group was "created by Hamas leadership to transfer funds to the terrorist organization." Germany banned its IHH affiliate in July, noting the group's close and continuing ties to Hamas, which the EU classifies as a terrorist organization. An Israeli military spokesman announced that one of the flotilla passengers was Hussein Urosh, a Turkish IHH member who was trying to smuggle al-Qaeda operatives via Turkey to Gaza. The writer, a former intelligence analyst at the U.S. Treasury, is vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.