Conspicuous Among the Passengers and Organizations Aboard the Mavi Marmara Were Turkish and Arab Islamic Extremists Led by IHH
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center October 5, 2010 Conspicuous among the passengers and organizations aboard the Mavi Marmara were Turkish and Arab Islamic extremists led by IHH. They were joined by extremist European left activists and volunteers who answered the call to help the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and were not 1 partners in IHH's violent plans. (Full Version) The Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara, the flagship of the flotilla. It is decorated with the Turkish flag and the logo of the Turkish Islamist organization IHH, the moving spirit behind the flotilla (next to the Turkish flag) (Photo from mycatbirdseat.com, May 22, 2010). 1 This is an executive summary of a detailed report analyzing the human, ideological and organizational components of the passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara. The document itself shortly will be issued separately. 2 2 Executive Summary 1. This objective of this report is to examine the 561 passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara, their identity and the ideology, nature and goals of the organizations behind them, based on the large amount of evidence accumulated since the flotilla. Even if our information is not complete, it clearly provides a picture of their most prominent common characteristics. 2. The Mavi Marmara, the flagship of the last flotilla, was launched, along with two cargo ships, by an extremist Turkish Islamist organization called IHH, which played a key role in the extensive preparations for the voyage. The IHH operatives, some of whom boarded the ship in Istanbul without undergoing a security check, were those who were the most active assailants in the violent, premeditated confrontation with the IDF (while the IDF took control of five other ships – as well as the Rachel Corrie – without exceptional incident).
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