US Intelligence: "NO connection between Turkish charity IHH & Al Qaeda..."

Israel lies again, and again and again!

DECLASSIFIED/ here

The Obama administration has been circumspect in its official statements about Israel’s deadly May 31 commando raid on the Turkish passenger ferry Mavi Marmara. In private, however, U.S. officials are questioning Israeli claims that the Gaza relief convoy’s sponsor, the Istanbul-based Islamic charity I.H.H., has ties to terrorist groups....

Although I.H.H. is reportedly bannedby the Israeli government, it is not on any U.S. anti-terrorist sanctions list. ..... chief State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley confirmed in his daily briefing on Wednesday that although the government is aware of I.H.H.’s possible radical connections, the group is not subject to counterterrorism restrictions. “We know that I.H.H. representatives have met with senior Hamas officials in Turkey, Syria, and Gaza and over the past three years,” he said. “That is obviously of great concern to us. That said, the I.H.H., which stands for the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, has not been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.”

Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, asking for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, tell Declassified that although there is evidence that I.H.H. or some of its personnel had interactions in the past with radical groups beyond Hamas. intelligence available at present does not substantiate a significant connection between I.H.H. and Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization. A third U.S. official, also requesting anonymity, says the Obama administration asked the Turkish government late last year for information about possible I.H.H. links to terrorist groups. Two of the officials say the fact that I.H.H. still isn’t on the list is a sign that Turkey’s response did not show a substantial connection between I.H.H. and active terrorists. And the Obama administration has no plans at present to add I.H.H. to the list, according to two of the officials. “I.H.H. is sympathetic to Hamas,” says one of the officials. “[But] that by itself does not make them terrorists.” ...."