News Release

87 Senators vs. the Facts on Turkish Group IHH?

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IARA LEE
Available for a limited number of interviews, Lee is recently back from Turkey. She wrote the piece (and produced accompanying video) “Slandering the Good Guys: Some Basic Facts About IHH,” which states: “In the immediate aftermath of the massacre aboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010, while journalists and activists were detained and isolated from the world, the Israeli government was quick to unleash their own version of events. Like the physical assault on the boat, the Israeli media assault was also reckless, clumsy, malicious, and dangerous. They were cynical enough to understand that first impressions in the mainstream American media are what count, and with this in mind they began to frantically hurl the word ‘terrorist’ in reference to both the victims of their attack, as well as one of the main organizers of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the Turkish NGO IHH. It is a curious thing that few people asked the Israeli government why they would release ‘terrorists’ that they had in their custody, and even fewer asked for (or received) solid evidence to support this claim. Despite the fact that several courageous journalists both in the U.S. and abroad thoroughly debunked the Israeli account of what happened (this includes deliberately doctored footage along with the libelous accusations of links to terrorism), the damage was done.”

Lee added: “87 U.S. senators have urged President Obama to launch an investigation of whether or not IHH should be added to the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. … The vice president of IHH, Huseyin Oruc … was not interested in dignifying such claims, he was very emphatic about the transparency of IHH’s work over the years, and hoped people would look at their large-scale sanitation and medical missions around the African continent — including 40,000 cataract surgeries in Sudan alone, clean water projects in Ethiopia — and IHH’s extensive work dealing with orphans in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Gaza.”

Lee is director of Cultures of Resistance and an independent filmmaker who was on the Mavi Marmara when Israeli forces boarded it in international waters.

Background: “Bipartisan Group Of 87 Senators, Led by Reid And McConnell, Send Letter To President Obama In Support Of Israel’s Right To Self-Defense.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020