Flotilla Update:


French judge: I knew Turkish group behind Gaza flotilla had terror ties in 1996

"I haven't had professional reasons to visit Israel," he stresses. "Most of my activity in recent years has focused on the financing of al-Qaida and its offshoots, and in this respect Israel can be pleased. Thus far, I have not found any operational or financial ties between Hamas an al-Qaida." Despite this, a possible indirect link between the two organizations has been discovered recently via the Turkish group IHH, the organizers of the flotilla of aid ships that sailed to Gaza in late May, which resulted in an Israeli naval raid that left nine Turks dead. IHH has past ties to al-Qaida affiliates, and Bruguière says he is proud of the fact that – already in 1996 - he came to the conclusion that IHH "is a terror organization and not a charity group," he says. Bruguière was asked to investigate the Turkish group after French intelligence discovered that Canadian couriers were sending forged Moroccan passports to France for use by Islamic militants intent on carrying out attacks in France and other European countries."