Hüseyin Oruç interviewed by the Islamist Kanal A TV.
Signs carried during the demonstration in front of the courthouse (IHH website, December 6, 2012)
Signs carried during the demonstration in front of the courthouse (IHH website, December 6, 2012)
Bülent Yildirim's interview in the Turkish newspaper Star.
Overview
1.The Turkish Islamist media recently spread the false claim initiated by the IHH that Turkish Jews fought alongside IDF soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara. Yenisafak, an Islamist newspaper affiliated with the Turkish government published an op-ed column on December 13 entitled "Are there murderers in our midst?" Three days later Hüseyin Oruç, deputy IHH president, interviewed by the small Islamist Kanal A TV station, made the false claim that five of the IDF soldiers who belonged to force that took control of the Mavi Marmara were Turkish citizens. He also said that the IHH demanded that the Turkish government and the Turkish intelligence service (MIT) locate the five Jews and bring them to trial.
2. The IHH, which organized the Mavi Marmara flotilla and whose operatives were the main force in fighting the IDF, has turned the show trial in Istanbul into an anti-Israeli hate campaign, which the Turkish government has so far done nothing to prevent. The campaign, whose objective is to turn the trial into an indictment of Israel and its policies, included a mass demonstration in front of the courthouse on the opening day of the trial, where demonstrators carried signs equating Israel ("Zionism") with Nazi Germany and Hitler. Later on, the campaign also integrated anti-Semitic incitement against the Turkish Jewish community.
3. IHH and its president, Bülent Yildirim, have a long history of anti-Semitic incitement and hate propaganda, usually focused on making political capital from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion myth that the "Zionists" [i.e., the Jews] rule the world, especially the United States (See Appendix C). This time, however, the IHH and the Islamist Turkish media directed their anti-Semitic hate propaganda inward towards the country's small Jewish population, which had no connection or involvement whatsoever with the Mavi Marmara affair.[1]
4. Attacking Turkey's Jews with anti-Semitic hate propaganda and incitement was the direction taken by IHH leader Bülent Yildirim. Interviewed by the Islamist newspaper Sabah Gazetisi several months before the opening of the show trial, he claimed that there were Turkish-speaking Israelis aboard the Mavi Marmara (Sabah Gazetisi, May 26, 2012). The remark made by deputy IHH president Hüseyin Oruç about "five Turkish-speaking suspects" among the IDF soldiers was intended, in out assessment, to reinforce and give credibility to Bülent Yildirim's accusations, using the classic anti-Semitic allegation that Jews have dual loyalty.
5. Following a protest by the American-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Turkish ministry of the interior issued a statement intended to moderate the damage to its image. It again took the familiar Turkish government stand that for centuries Turkey has provided a safe haven for the Jews and that it regards anti-Semitism and racism as a crime against humanity (See Appendix A). In out assessment, however, it is doubtful whether the statement indicates the Turkish administration's intention to take vigorous action to keep the show trial in Istanbul from becoming a stage for anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic incitement and hate propaganda (the distinctions between which are lost on Bülent Yildirim and other anti-Semitic figures).
Appendices
6. Three appendices follow:
1) Appendix A: The interview with Hüseyin Oruç and the reactions
2) Appendix B: Hüseyin Oruç, IHH deputy president
3) Appendix C: Anti-Semitic remarks made by Bülent Yildirim
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* Supplement to the November 13, 2012 bulletin "An Istanbul court holds a show trial of Israelis accused of responsibility for the deaths of nine Turkish operatives aboard the Mavi Marmara. The IHH, whose operatives waged a violent attack on the IDF, is exploiting the trial for hate propaganda and plans to use it for international lawfare."
[1] Turkey's Jewish population numbers between 18,000 and 20,000.
