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U.S. and Israeli diplomats agreed that the increasingly strained relationship between Turkey and Israel derives mostly from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hatred of the Jewish state, according to embassy cables posted by WikiLeaks.org. Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy described Erdogan as a “fundamentalist” who “hates us religiously” in a 2009 meeting with U.S. Ambassador James F. Jeffrey in Ankara, according to a cable sent from the U.S. embassy on Oct. 27 that year and released by WikiLeaks. “Our discussions with contacts both inside and outside of the Turkish government on Turkey’s deteriorating relations with Israel tend to confirm...

NOTE: THIS IS THE NEW FLOTILLA/CONVOY/"HUMANITARIAN AID"/"HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS" THREAD. SNIPPET: "While the debate over mosque development in New York continues to dominate the news cycle, opposing sides in the Israeli blockade on Gaza are gearing up for a new round of confrontations that could take place as soon as next month. Although the list of items restricted from entering Gaza has been dramatically reduced, George Galloway, the ex-British MP who runs the group Viva Palestina, promises a new land convoy leaving from London, Casablanca and Doha September 18. Galloway has made it clear his mission has more to do...

Deep ignorance: Most Turks know nothing about what really happened on the "Mavi Marmara" In May, a ship full of civilians — but not full of humanitarian aid — sailed from Turkey to join the Free Gaza flotilla. Having warned the Mavi Marmara that it would not be allowed to breach the blockade, Israeli commandos raided the ship. In the clash, nine Turks were killed. I've lived in Istanbul for five years and I've spoken to hundreds of Turks about these events. A Turkish documentary filmmaker and I have filmed some of these conversations. Something will immediately strike the...

BBC’s flotilla film slammed as ‘biased’ By JONNY PAUL 08/20/2010 01:13 Anti-Israel groups outraged at 'racist' documentary; plan protests. LONDON – A BBC documentary screened this week that investigated the Gaza flotilla incident on May 31 is causing a storm of protest – from critics of Israel, who are furious that the program was not as hostile to Israel as they thought it should be. The critics, including an activist from the Free Gaza movement who was aboard the Mavi Marmara, are organizing demonstrations on Sunday outside the BBC’s London headquarters and other BBC offices, and are calling for...

SNIPPET: "Iranian parliament member Mahmoud Ahmadi Bigesh said Wednesday that Egypt has promised to issue entry permits for him and three of his fellow parliament members, who want to enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing."

For The Record - The IPT Blog "Arab Journalists Come Out in Support of Israeli Flotilla Actions" by IPT News • Jun 29, 2010 at 6:01 pm SNIPPET: "Journalists in the Arab world have come out in support of Israel in the aftermath of last month's flotilla incident, which left 9 dead after Hamas-tied "humanitarian activists" attacked Israeli commandos with clubs, knives, and other weapons. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released excerpts from an interview with Magdi Khalil, an Egyptian-American writer, aired on June 15 on Al-Jazeera TV. Khalil explains: "The Turkish ship, however, was organized by a...

Here they are, the people the MSM has been calling “peace activists” since the IDF raid on the Gaza flotilla…

President Obama's ties to far left progressives have been a secret. As he expressed his views in favor not only a larger federal rule in the lives of Americans long before he took office. For example, in this 2001 Chicago public radio station WBEZ interview where he was quoted by the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily. True democracies were "People's Democracies" and "People's Republics" where the economy was controlled by the government in the name of the people and for their benefit - and redistributive justice ("social justice") assured that each received what they rightly deserved. It is...

Iran blinks, will not send "aid ship" to Gaza SNIPPET: "IRNA said that Sheikholeslam told reporters in the northern city of Rasht that the ship had originally been scheduled to depart for Gaza on Thursday, but that its departure was postponed until Sunday because of restrictions imposed by Israel. He added that officials then decided instead to cancel the trip altogether, shipping to Gaza the goods by other means, IRNA said."

Column One: Weathering the approaching storm By CAROLINE B. GLICK 18/06/2010 Israel is endangered today as it has never been before. Israel is endangered today as it has never been before. The Turkish-Hamas flotilla two weeks ago precipitated a number of dangerous developments. Rather than attend to all of them, Israel’s leadership is devoting itself almost exclusively to contending with the least dangerous among them while ignoring the emerging threats with the potential to lead us to great calamities. Since the Navy’s lethal takeover of the Mavi Marmara, Israel has been stood before an international diplomatic firing squad led by...

VIDEO / IHH leader tells Gaza flotilla activists to 'throw IDF soldiers into the sea' New footage released by the Foreign Ministry shows IHH leader Bulent Yildirim rallying dozens of passengers on board the Mavi Marmara as they chant 'millions of martyrs marching to Gaza!' The Foreign Ministry released a new video on Friday in which IHH leader Bulent Yildirim is seen on board the Gaza flotilla's ship the Mavi Marmara, telling dozens of activists to throw Israeli commandos overboard if they attempt to board the ship. "If they board our ship, we will throw them into the sea, Allah...

"As Pro-Palestinian Flotilla Activists Gather in NYC, Jewish Group Urges State Dept. to Probe Links to Terrorism" Thursday, June 17, 2010 By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – Tensions in the Middle East over the recent Gaza flotilla incident could surface in New York City on Thursday evening, when a pro-Palestinian group hosts flotilla activists at a public meeting Jewish activists have tried to thwart. An organization called Al-Awda (The Palestine Right to Return Coalition) is holding a meeting in a Brooklyn church featuring a leading official in IHH, the controversial Turkish organization behind the attempt to break Israel’s...

SNIPPET: "The Turkish group IHH announced Wednesday that it will send another flotilla to Gaza comprised of six ships during the second half of July. On the same day, Israel added IHH to its terrorist watch list." SNIPPET: "An IHH press conference was held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, organized by Richard Howitt, a British member of the Parliament. During the conference, Howitt encouraged the EU to back the new flotilla initiative, stating: "If this terrible (May 31) tragedy tips the balance so that the international community finally insists on full and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, then some...

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/ipc_e091.htm Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center June 16, 2010 “Inflaming Emotions aboard the Mavi Marmara” before the Confrontation with the IDF (Video File No. 2) SNIPPET: “1. During the voyage the passengers of the Mavi Marmara, especially the hard core of IHH operatives, were indoctrinated by senior figures such as IHH head Bülent Yildirim and Israeli-Arab sheikh Ra’ed Salah, a radical Islamist. A number of hours before the IDF took control of the ship, in addition to organizing and preparing weapons, the operatives on the upper deck shouted battle cries to incite those who were expected to take part in...

Former Weather Underground leaders William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, as well as Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, helped organize the Free Gaza Movement, which launched the six-ship flotilla from Turkey to Israel that ended in a violent clash with Israeli Defense Forces, BigGovernment.com reported. In January, the trio were spotted in Egypt attempting to stir up crowds on the streets with 1,400 other left-wing activists after the Egyptian government refused to allow Free Gaza Movement members to enter the Gaza Strip. About 100 marchers were eventually allowed to cross the border, where they were met by former Hamas prime minister...

SNIPPET: "The navy will operate under the assumption that groups of provocateurs are aboard any future ships that try to break the Israel-imposed sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, Deputy Commander of the Navy Rear-Admiral Rani Ben-Yehuda told The Jerusalem Post on Monday."

TEHRAN, June 14 - Iran is sending aid ships to blockaded Gaza, state radio said on Monday -- a move likely to be considered provocative by Israel which accuses Tehran of arming the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers, Hamas. One ship left port on Sunday and another will depart by Friday, loaded with food, construction material and toys, the report said. The boats would be part of international efforts to break Israel's isolation of the Gaza Strip. "Until the end of the Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid," said an official at Iran's Society for the Defence of the...

SNIPPET: "Majlis National Security Committee chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Egyptian parliament, Muhammad Al-Fiqi, has authorized the members of the Iranian flotilla, which is to arrive via the Suez Canal, to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. Boroujerdi clarified that this flotilla, which includes Majlis members, is distinct from the one being organized by the Iranian Red Crescent."

By all means, get that Lenovo computer, buy stock in Haier, and encourage your child to study Mandarin. China can’t help but be a twenty-first-century superpower. But if you want to really be ahead of the curve, pay close attention to that vital crossroads between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It won’t be long before we’ll all be talking Turkey, notes John Feffer. How Turkey Is Chasing China to Become the Next Big Thing The future is no longer in plastics, as the businessman in the 1967 film The Graduate insisted. Rather, the future is in China. If a...

  When Israeli commandos recently raided a terrorist-laden “relief” ship, they came into deadly contact with so-called “peace” activists who were aiding the terrorist cause of Gaza’s Hamas rulers. Among them were representatives of Viva Palestina, an organization founded by the anti-American former member of Britain’s parliament, George Galloway. Viva Palestina portrays itself as a humanitarian group dedicated to helping the people of Gaza. In reality, the group has longstanding ties to terrorism — one its members was once a senior leader in Hamas — and prolongs the Gazans’ suffering by supporting Hamas; by aiding its jihad to destroy Israel; and...