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Sun, Sept 19, 2010 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Left: The front cover of a book about the Mavi Marmara flotilla which was published in Turkey. Right: A picture from the book showing a banner hung on the upper deck of the Mavi Marmara. The names on the banner, Sarajevo, Gorazde and Srebrenica, were sites of massacres during the 1992-1995 war Bosnian war. It illustrates the direct line drawn by IHH from the organization's military involvement in Bosnia to the aid it gives Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Iranian Expert: IHH is a Jihadist Organization

The Iranian media publicized an interview with an Iranian expert on Palestine who visited Turkey and met with IHH operatives. He described the circumstances surrounding the establishment of IHH as an Islamist, jihadist organization whose operatives fought in Bosnia, and stressed the influence of Khomeini’s ideology on the organization’s activity.

Overview

On August 25, 2010, Yazdan Karimi, an Iranian researcher considered an expert on Palestinian issues, was interviewed by the Iranian news agency Fars, which has a conservative editorial policy and is close to Ahmadinejad. The interview centered around the Turkish Islamist organization IHH, its founding and its participation in the fighting aboard the Mavi Marmara.

The interview was conducted following Karimi’s weeks-long visit to Turkey, where he met with and interviewed the IHH leader and organization operatives. Sympathetic to IHH and the flotilla, the interview was printed under the title “Gaza’s ship of liberation [i.e., the Mavi Marmara] sailed [on waves of] the Ayatollah Khomeini’s ideology.”

Karimi described the circumstances surrounding the establishment of IHH in 1992. He said it was founded as a jihadist Islamic organization which sent fighters (mujahideen) to Bosnia to help the local Muslims fight the Serbs. IHH, headed by Bülent Yildirim, later established a financial-social network using charity money (zakat) to extend its activities to many locations around the globe. He noted that IHH provided Muslim communities with material, educational and religious aid (i.e., in addition to its humanitarian activities, IHH operates like other “charitable societies” of the same nature, such as those of Hamas and Hezbollah, to indoctrinate radical Islamic ideology).

Following the publicity IHH received in the Mavi Marmara flotilla, an American website dealing with the study of terrorism and the Middle East posted an article about IHH’s involvement in the fighting in Bosnia entitled “IHH: From the War in Bosnia to the Gaza Flotilla” (See Appendix III). A recent article in the Serbian daily Banja Luka Glas Sprske claimed that IHH is still active in Bosnia and that funds collected in Bosnian mosques are transferred to Hamas (See Appendix IV). IHH is a participating member of the Union of Good, which sends funds to Hamas, and for that reason it was outlawed by Israel.

The fighting aboard the Mavi Marmara as described by Karimi is based on statements made by IHH operatives and its leader, Bülent Yildirim. The description is one-sided and distorted, accuses Israeli soldiers of indiscriminately shooting at Mavi Marmara passengers and of mistreating them after the takeover of the ship. Similar descriptions appeared in Turkey and in our assessment may correspond to the spirit of the “testimonies” given by IHH operatives to the investigating committees of the Turks and of the UN Human Rights Council, which sent a “fact-finding” team to Turkey and took statements from flotilla passengers.

At the end of the interview Karimi stated that IHH was inspired by the ideology of the Ayatollah Khomeini. He said that IHH operatives told him they believed in Khomeini’s famous dictum, that if each Muslim threw a bucket of water on Israel, it would be erased. According to Karimi, the slogan appeared on a banner at the memorial service for the flotilla casualties (second half of July).

The Appendices:

A. Appendix I — The main points of the interview with Yazdan Karimi, Iranian expert on Palestine, about IHH and the fighting aboard the Mavi Marmara.

B. Appendix II — The ideological dimension of transferring Islamic charity funds to finance terrorist activity

C. Appendix III — “IHH: From the War in Bosnia to the Gaza Flotilla,” an article by Jean-Charles Brisard, from the analyst-network.com website

D. Appendix IV — Banja Luka Glas Sprske September 15, 2010 article, “IHH raises funds in Bosnia for Hamas”

Appendix I

The main points of the interview with Yazdan Karimi, Iranian expert on Palestine, about IHH and the fighting aboard the Mavi Marmara^[1]

The circumstances surrounding the establishment of IHH

1. IHH was founded in 1992 by Turkish mujahideen [jihad fighters]. Its immediate goal was to support the Muslims fighting the “occupation forces” in Bosnia-Herzegovina and other areas. The Islamic fighters from Turkey were transported to Bosnia and other war zones by IHH and supported the Muslim fighters operating in those regions.^[2]

2. At around the same time, the Turkish mujahideen asked the Turkish Red Crescent for help for their fighters wounded in Bosnia, but were refused [Note: At that time, the Turkish regime was hostile to IHH and other Turkish Islamist organizations]. Therefore, IHH established its own network to support Muslims in battle zones, and in addition to support for the poor and weak around the world.

3. The founders of IHH, headed by Bülent Yildirim, also used Islamic capabilities and potential to collect money. They encouraged Muslims to contribute zakat, khams and waqf^[3] funds to provide IHH with as much money as possible to enable the organization to operate more widely (See Appendix II for information on how money collected by charities is used to fund terrorist activity).

4. IHH gave extensive aid to the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip during, before and after the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead.^[4] IHH branches in Africa also support Muslim orphans with material aid, education and religious studies, and establish Muslim religious schools, etc.

IHH involvement in aid convoys to the Gaza Strip

5. After Operation Cast Lead (December 2008-January 2009) IHH began “sending aid to the Gaza Strip.” Initially, Egypt prevented the first IHH convoy from entering the Gaza Strip however, “in light of the organization’s firm stance, the Egyptians eventually capitulated.” Karimi added that IHH’s activities were joined by Viva Palestina, the organization of George Galloway, a former British MP. Viva Palestina collected a great deal of support from various European countries, including Greece, Britain and Ireland.^[5]

6. At the beginning of 2010 IHH expanded its efforts to “break the siege on Gaza.” It used its money to purchase three ships (the Mavi Marmara, the Gaza and the Daphne) because most of the shipping companies, fearing an Israeli attack, were unwilling to rent boats. When Turkey refused to let the ships sail under its flag, they sailed under the Comoro Islands flag carrying Comoro Islands documents.

The events aboard the Mavi Marmara

7. Yazdan Karimi spoke with IHH leader Bülent Yildirim about the events aboard the Mavi Marmara. Yildirim stated, Karimi reported, that from the very first he was convinced Israel would attack the ships and force them to change course, but he and his comrades were surprised by the strength of the Israeli “attack.” In addition, IHH operatives told him they thought Israel would use underwater explosives to disable the Mavi Marmara’s engines and stop the ship from sailing.^[6]

8. IHH operatives described the action to Karimi by saying that “passengers were divided into a number of groups and each had its own mission. They were briefed and reported to the places assigned them, everything done to prevent the Israelis from gaining access to the deck.”^[7] He then gave a biased, selective and sometimes untrue description of the events provided by an IHH operative.

9. Two months after the events Israel returned the Mavi Marmara and the other two vessels to Turkey. IHH operatives claimed that Israel renovated and painted sections of the Mavi Marmara “to hide the evidence of its crimes.” A Turkish forensic team collected 200 shell casings left on the Mavi Marmara. They were interpreted as a message intended to frighten the Turkish man in the street. IHH activists claimed to Karimi that Israel also left bloodstained clothes, bulletproof vests and first aid stretchers on board, all returned with the ships.

Consequences of the flotilla according to IHH

10. As far as IHH is concerned, the flotilla to the Gaza Strip was “very successful,” even though it did not reach its destination. However, according to IHH, it exposed Israel to the world as “an entity seeking bloodshed and not afraid to commit crimes.” After the events European countries initiated meetings with Israeli ambassadors, an unusual occurrence. Even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is considered “an ally of the occupiers,” was forced to open the Rafah crossing. As far as IHH was concerned, the flotilla was widely covered by the media, no less than Operation Cast Lead and the Second Lebanon War.

11. IHH operatives told Karimi that the organization was currently concentrating all its efforts on trying Israel in international courts of law, and that they were closely monitoring the events.^[8]

12. Karimi claimed that the link between the Ayatollah Khomeini’s ideology and the flotilla was widely discussed in his conversations with IHH operatives. He concluded the article by saying that IHH was inspired by Khomeini’s ideology. He said that “Bülent Yildirim and his deputy, Gülden Sönmez,^[9] [said that they] believe in the Ayatollah Khomeini’s famous dictum, that ‘if each Muslim throws a bucket of water on Israel, it will be erased’ by the ensuing flood.”

13. As proof of the influence of the dictum, Karimi said that 50 days previously [i.e., during the second half of July] there was a memorial service in Turkey for the casualties of the flotilla. The Ayatollah’s dictum was on a banner hung in the hall in which the service was held. He ended his article saying that “all the activists who participated in the flotilla to liberate the Gaza Strip dream of saying a prayer of thanks in the city of Al-Quds [i.e., Jerusalem] to bring about the liberation of Palestine.”

The end of the article, which deals with the influence of the Ayatollah Khomeini on IHH activities

Appendix II

The ideological dimension of transferring Islamic charity funds to finance terrorist activity

1. In the interview, Yazdan Karimi says that since IHH’s inception, its heads have encouraged Muslims to donate money as charity to construct the financial capabilities which will enable the organization to operate in various locations around the globe. Zakat, i.e., alms, charity, is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

2. From its beginning Islam has held that every Muslim has moral, economic and social obligations to care for the poor and hungry and to take pity on widows and orphans, and by doing so he purifies himself of sin in this life and will be granted eternal life in paradise on Judgment Day. Eventually zakat turned into a kind of tax paid by Muslims all over the world (usually voluntarily and sometimes according to a small percentage of the individual’s income.)

3. In the Arab and Muslim world, as well as in Western countries, there are many Muslim charitable societies which raise funds from Muslims and give them to the needy, based on the zakat. In most cases the money finds its way to the original destination, that is, it goes to support the genuinely indigent. However, during the past three decades, zakat funds have also been put to political use. That happened especially following the radical Shi’ite Islamic revolution in Iran and the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan (both in 1979), and the general ascendance of militant Islam (both Shiite and Sunni). Those political uses include the transfer of money to Islamic terrorist networks in various war zones and the dissemination of radical Islamic ideology, both of which serve as catalysts for the perpetration of acts of terrorism.

4. The Ayatollah Khomeini provided religious Islamic legitimacy for using zakat funds to finance the armed Palestinian insurgency against Israel. A book published by the Syrian Ministry of Information in 2000 deals with Khomeini’s view of the Palestinian problem based on his speeches and on his religious Islamic edicts (fatwas).

5. The book, called Palestine in the Speeches of the Ayatollah Khomeini, quotes him as saying that the State of Israel constitutes a continuing threat to Islam and the Islamic countries. Therefore, claims Khomeini, it is the duty of all Muslims in general and the Muslim régimes in particular “to get rid of that germ of corruption [i.e., Israel] in any way possible.” To that end “it is not enough to extend practical support to them [the Palestinians] to achieve the goal but it is also possible to direct resources to that end from the zakat and other Islamic charity monies.”^[10]

6. The principle of using charity funds to finance terrorist activities was manifested by IHH in Bosnia during the first years after the organization’s founding and in other battle zones where Muslims fought “infidels” (such as Chechnya and other Caucasian regions).^[11] Today it is manifested in the support IHH gives Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and Europe. IHH is a member of the Union of Good, an umbrella organization for more than 50 Islamic funds and foundations around the globe which channels funds to Hamas institutions in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria.^[12] (The Palestinian Authority is currently waging a fierce struggle against those institutions, which it regards as Hamas’ power base.)

The cover of Palestine in the speeches of the Ayatollah Khomeini. According to a fatwa issued by Khomeini and quoted in the book, charity funds may be transferred to the Palestinian insurgency to destroy Israel, represented as an enemy of Islam.

Financial jihad (holy war)

7. The basic concept of jihad means a faithful Muslim’s battle against the infidels for the sake of Allah, from which comes the term mujahideen, used by IHH operatives when they come to support Muslims in various battle zones.

8. Muslims who die in jihad (today, especially suicide bombers) reflect the highest level of piety and devotion according to the beliefs of Islam and thus receive the appropriate rewards in paradise. However, the term jihad has implications broader than simple military battles, according to the fatwas of qualified Muslim clerics from the dawn of Islam to the present day.

9. Muslim clerics have expanded jihad beyond the battlefield to include the following:

A. Jihad by means of the Qur’an, that is, through debate and preaching (da’wah) the Islamic religion.

B. Jihad of the soul, that is, every Muslim’s internal moral struggle to abandon evil and to adhere to the goodness commanded by Allah. Jihad of the soul
includes the good Muslim deeds required of the faithful, such as study, preaching and the willingness to sacrifice one’s life for the sake of Allah.

C. Financial Jihad (al-jihad bil-mal), that is, contributing to needy Muslims and to jihad fighters. That was expressed by the famous Saudi cleric Salman bin Fahd al-‘Oadah [al-Awdah] in an essay entitled Al-Irhab: Al-Mafhum wal-Mu’alajah, “The meaning of terrorism and how to cope with it.”^[13] “A financial jihad,” he wrote, “means spending money for the fighters for the sake of various worthy causes, among them for the fighters in the way [i.e., for the sake] of Allah, as is noted a number of times in the Qur’an.”

10. Among the types of jihad, that of a financial jihad (that is, an economicoriented jihad) is particularly important. According to the official religious Islamic explanation, its importance is based a verse in the Qur’an which states: “Fight [your enemies the infidels], with your possessions and your souls in the way [i.e., for the sake] of Allah.”^[14] Putting possessions (that is, financial support for active fighting) first within a jihad context shows, as far as Muslim clerics are concerned, their priority of the elements of jihad in the eyes of Allah.

11. Examples of the importance of a financial jihad can be found in a lecture given in the UAE by the well-known radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Yussuf al-Qardawi (who maintains close relations with IHH), in which he said that the money collected for the mujahideen was not a contribution or present for them but a duty in view of the sacrifices they were making for the Muslim nation.^[15] Hussein Shihatah, a cleric who belongs to the faculty of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, issued a fatwa stating that Muslims were committed to an “economic jihad,” which meant designating funds to be used for jihad and the mujahideen.^[16] Other examples appeared in a document issued by the Chechen mujahideen entitled “Seventy ways to support the Chechen jihad,” and in another posted on Al-Qaeda’s Internet site called “Thirty-nine ways to fund the jihad.” Both stressed the importance of donating money and equipment to the mujahideen.

12. Contemporary Islamic terrorism recognizes that jihad can only attain its goals by constructing a broad apparatus and support system which will assure it the constant funding it needs for its military activity. In addition, it considers that there is a need to construct a broad social network to provide the jihad fighters and their families with financial security. That will create a solid social foundation which will inculcate its perceptions into the consciousness of the fighters.

13. That recognition is common to both Shi’ite and Sunni radical Islamic organizations, to Hamas and Hezbollah. They have established within the territories they control a widereaching socio-economic network which, alongside its social endeavors, also supports terrorism. For obvious reasons, IHH (like Hamas) ordinarily emphasizes its humanitarian activities for Western ears and obscures the fact that it is a radical extremist organization supporting terrorist organizations.^[17]

Appendix III

“IHH: From the War in Bosnia to the Gaza Flotilla” by Jean-Charles Brisard, from the analyst-network.com website

Appendix IV

Banja Luka Glas Sprske September 15, 2010 article, “IHH raises funds in Bosnia for Hamas”

1. According to the article, sources close to the Serbian regime reported that IHH, which has a number of offices throughout the country, pays imams in mosques in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The article states that contributions collected in those mosques are sent to Hamas via IHH branch offices in Sarajevo, Gracanica, Tuzla, Zenica and Kalesija.^[18]

2. The article was prompted by the upcoming Serbian government investigation of IHH activities in Bosnia-Herzegovina (it is unclear if the flotilla is a matter for consideration).

The original version of the article

Notes:

[1] For the full version in Farsi see Farsnews.net.

[2] The fighters who arrived in Bosnia from Arab-Muslim countries were called mujahideen. They were organized into brigades and participated in the fighting in Bosnia from 1992-1995. At that time IHH headquarters were in Germany and it had offices in Zagreb and Serbia. It had links to Algerian terrorist organizations and with Iran. (For further information see the Shaul Shai, Islamic Terrorism in the Balkans, (Hebrew), The Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center,
The International Institute for Counterterrorism, 2006, pp. 80, 83-85), henceforth Shaul Shai.

[3] Zakat is alms, charity, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam. In time it became a kind of tax paid by Muslims around the world (usually voluntarily and sometimes a fixed percentage of the individual’s income). Khams is literally one fifth. It is a 20% income tax paid by Shi’ites but not Sunnis, who only contribute zakat. Shi’ite clerics sometimes use the money for their own purposes and thus have great power. Waqf is the endowment of Muslim community assets for helping the poor and funding public Muslim necessities (mosques, schools, hospitals, cemeteries, etc.)

[4] Yazdan Karimi, using terminology learned from IHH operatives, represents the aid as going “to the Gaza Strip” and ignores the fact that in effect it is given to the de facto Hamas administration, with which IHH has close relations.

[5] The reference is to the Lifeline 3 convoy (December 2009-January 2010). Prominent among its participants were George Galloway’s Viva Palestina and IHH operatives headed by Bülent Yildirim. They conducted a violent confrontation with the Egyptian security forces, which ended with dozens of wounded Egyptians.

[6] Diving equipment was found on board the Mavi Marmara, including four full diving suits (fins, goggles, wetsuits and oxygen tanks). Two underwater spear guns were also found. Diving equipment is routinely found on ships but in our assessment at least some of it was brought aboard based on the assumption that the Israeli Navy would try to disable the ship below the waterline.

[7] The description is similar to our information and to the statements of passengers, which indicate that the violence employed by IHH against the IDF was neither spontaneous nor self defense, but premeditated and organized in advance and carried out by the hard core of dozens of IHH operatives. The operatives were briefed by their commander, Bülent Yildirim. They were separated from the other passengers, put on bullet proof jackets and masks and armed themselves with weapons prepared in advance. They separated in to a number of groups and took up positions to which they had been assigned in advance.

[8] Complaints have in fact been made against senior Israeli figures in various courts around the world or the intention to make such complains has been publicized, because of the flotilla affair.

[9] Karimi’s information was not correct. Gülden Sönmez is not Bülent Yildirim’s deputy, but rather a senior member of the organization. He is the deputy of Ahmet Faruk Unsal, an IHH leader and former member of the Turkish parliament, representing the AKP (Erdogan’s ruling party). In addition to his IHH duties, Ahmet Unsal is also the chairman of an Islamist organization called Mazlum-der.

[10] Adnan Hussein Abu Nasser, Palestine in the Speeches of the Ayatollah Khomeini [Arabic], The Syrian Ministry of Information, 2000, p. 120.

[11] In his book, Shaul Shai elaborates on the activities of charitable societies in Bosnia which coordinated training and shipments of weapons and military equipment, p. 65, Hebrew.

[12] For further information see the May 28, 2010 article, “Humanitarian aid as a cover for anti-semitism” (terrorisminfo.org.il).

[13] Salman bin Fahd al-‘Oadah is a Saudi cleric born in 1956 in the Buraydah area of Saudi Arabia. He conducts research, lectures and preaches. Saudi security forces arrested him in 1994 because of his radical opinions; he was released in 1999. He justifies jihad against the infidels in the Muslim countries as part of the Muslims’ right to self defense and considers the da’wah (preaching, propaganda and socio-economic networks) as a very important factor in proliferating Islam worldwide. The article in question appeared on his Website, Islamtoday (Arabic, with an English version at Islamtoday.net/english).

[14] Surah 9 (Al-Tawbah) Verse 41.

[15] Akhbar Al-Khaleej (UAE), May 5, 2002. Al-Qardawi has issued similar fatwas in the same spirit.

[16] From Islam-online.net, October 8, 2004, quoting opinions from May 1, 2002.

[17] For further information see the September 8, 2010 article, The aim of the Gaza Flotilla was to isolate Israel, (terrorism-info.org.il).

[18] The information is compatible with IHH’s activity to raise money for Hamas through the Union of Good, which is composed of more than 50 Islamic funds and foundations worldwide which channel money to Hamas institutions. IHH is outlawed in Israel because of its membership in the Union of Good. American law also bans giving support, even that labeled “humanitarian support,” to terrorist organizations (See the article by Jean-Charles Brisard entitled “The U.S Supreme Court bans humanitarian support to terrorist organizations ,” jcb.blogs.com.