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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2524893/posts
Three Bay Area residents in flotilla raided by Israelis are unharmed (California Activists)
Contra Costa Times ^ | 05/31/2010
Posted on May 31, 2010 5:36:50 PM PDT by EBH
Three of the nine Americans reportedly on board a Gaza Strip-bound flotilla raided by Israeli soldiers early today are Bay Area activists but they were apparently not among those injured or killed, according to news reports, friends and family.
At least nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed and dozens were wounded when Israeli naval commandos seized the boats about 70 miles offshore.
Meanwhile, about 200 demonstrators gathered in front of the Israeli consultant in downtown San Francisco this aternoon to condemn the raid before marching through the city.
A few dozen counterprotesters waving Israeli and American flags confronted pro-Palestinian demonstrators, but police kept the groups apart. No arrests were reported.
Bay Area residents on the flotilla include linguist Paul Larudee of El Cerrito; retired math teacher Janet Kobren and construction engineer Eugene St. Onge, both of Oakland.
Members of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) today expressed concern for the safety of the Bay Area activists.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/terror-finance-flotilla
“The Terror Finance Flotilla”
“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.”
BY JONATHAN SCHANZER
May 31, 2010 4:20 PM
SNIPPET: “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.”
SNIPPET: “The U.S. government, it should be noted, also views the Union of Good as a terrorist organization. On November 12, 2008, a press release from the U.S. Treasury announced the umbrella group’s leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT), stating that the group was “created by Hamas leadership to transfer funds to the terrorist organization.””
SNIPPET: “According to Treasury, Hamas’s leadership actually created the Union of Good in 2000—just after the launch of the armed campaign against Israel—as a means to transfer funds to Hamas. At the time of designation in 2008, the Treasury believed that the Union of Good was transferring “tens of millions of dollars a year” to Hamas-controlled entities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
As the Treasury release explained, “The Union of Good acts as a broker for Hamas by facilitating financial transfers between a web of charitable organizations—including several organizations previously designated… for providing support to Hamas—and Hamas-controlled organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. The primary purpose of this activity is to strengthen Hamas’ political and military position in the West Bank and Gaza.”
It gets worse. The Treasury, drawing from declassified documents, stated unequivocally that the Union of Good “compensated Hamas terrorists by providing payments to the families of suicide bombers.”
NOTE: “Jonathan Schanzer is a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.”