Love Boat or Hate Boat? An Interview with IHH from Cultures of Resistance on Vimeo.
At Huffington Post, director of Cultures of Resistance and flotilla member, Iara Lee demonstrates that the attacks on IHH, the Turkish charity that helped organized the Gaza flotilla, are essentially Islamophobic. "Slandering the good guys":
After the attack on the Mavi Marmara, I had an opportunity to ask the vice president of IHH, Huseyin Oruc, about accusations of IHH terror links. While he was not interested in dignifying such claims, he was very emphatic about the transparency of IHH's work over the years, and hoped people would look at their large-scale sanitation and medical missions around the African continent -- including 40,000 cataract surgeries in Sudan alone, clean water projects in Ethiopia- and IHH's extensive work dealing with orphans in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Gaza. While they are an Islamic organization, Oruc told me that IHH refuses to differentiate who receives attention based on religion, race, or political affiliation, and has noted their various projects in South America where Muslim populations are slight.
Their modus operandi is simple and direct. Given the neutrality of their humanitarian mission, IHH has been able to access some of the most inaccessible and dangerous regions of the world to help those most in need. Like most NGOs, this means they must coordinate with local governments in order to reach these populations. So while they must communicate with the Hamas government of Gaza to help civilians there, they must likewise do so with Fatah in the West Bank, Al Shabab in Somalia, the military junta in Myanmar and so on. Oruc was adamant that this did not mean IHH endorses any of those governments, and said that anyone who cared to investigate their work would find nothing other than great successes in helping ordinary people in situations of war, poverty, and natural disasters in places such as Haiti, Indonesia, and even the US in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He also told me people were free to investigate their funding, most of which comes from lower and middle class donors, while the rest is raised through food fairs, auctions for Turkish artifacts, and other cultural events. By its own mandate, IHH is not beholden to any government or business interests.
You mean it’s just like any Jewish American NGO funneling support to the illegal Israeli settlers, aided by the US IRS?
Yep. Except for the illegality, political instead of humanitarian, the jews-only criteria, and the IRS support.
Well, the treatment of organizations like the Holy Land Foundation show that, in the United States, helping Muslim children is considered tantamount to terrorism. Kind of like how it used to be here that interracial marriage used to be a crime against humanity.
Yes, it was an error by Israel to block that aid convoi, engaging in fights with the peace loving humanitarian activists of IHH. Israel should have let them go directly to Gaza to fill the empty shelves of the new mall just now finished being build there.
link to ynetnews.com
These aid flotillas are a real help for the starving population of Gaza.
Clearly Israel, apart from sniffing cinnamon, doesn’t know how to impose a blockade. Which is not the same as stating that there is none.
jonah,
Perhaps you could explain how in the absence of cement and other building materials, an entrepreneurial businessman managed to build a mall in Gaza. Once you answer that question, you’ll have the rebuttal to your claim.
Really, Jonah, you make it seem as if Walmart did an economic study and decided to build a superstore in Gaza because of its indigenous wealth.
I’m somewhat suspicious, though. Seems like a hasbara coup for the Zionists beeping and squawking that there’s no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Where did the they get the cement to build the mall? Who are the investors in the mall? Seems kind of convenient for it to pop up among the rubble of the hundreds of thousands of homeless following the white phosphorus devastation of Operation Cast Lead.
A 20,000 square foot shopping center in Gaza is a weak and intellectually dishonest argument that everything is hunky dory in Gaza. No one here is buying it, no pun intended.
I live in the Philippines, where shopping malls ARE a major relief for the poorest of the poor to dress up, go out, and gawk or window shop. They are generally regarded as clean, cool and safe family environments. Very few visitors ever buy anything, although among the thousands of visitors there may be a tiny mini-fraction who buy anything at Lacoste.
I don’t have the same feelings about shopping malls, (I hate the damned things) and I doubt, Jonah, if you do. US shopping malls are for shoppers, not gawkers.
I congratulate Gaza for opening its first shopping mall under the current circumstances. It certainly doesn’t reflect a spread of wealth into the world’s largest open-air prison.
Dear Richard, indeed not all Gazans go shopping in the mall … Many – I suppose the majority – prefer to go to the market. (Sure you know … as in the Philippines).
link to paltoday.ps
Greetings.
“Greetings.”
Shouldn’t that be:
“Greetings, Earthling”?