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Just Journalism Newsletter   15 June 2010  The dark truth about those Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla 'humanitarians' Just Journalism's Executive Director Michael Weiss discusses the background of some of those aboard the Mavi Marmara in an opinion piece for the New York Daily News. To read the article in full, click here. The wisdom of Israel's raid of the Turkish ship in the "Free Gaza" convoy last week is still being vigorously debated, nowhere more than in Israel itself. However, there's a certain lexicon failure in the way in which the international media have elected to characterize the passengers onboard the Mavi Marmara as "humanitarians" and "pro-Palestinian activists." Humanitarians don't stick knives into other people - and to be in favor of Palestinian statehood is axiomatically to be opposed to Hamas. The grim retinue of this vessel failed both tests. The Mavi Marmara was purchased from the Istanbul city government by the Turkish group Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), which claims to be a human rights outfit but has stood accused of being a recruitment center and financial clearinghouse for global jihadism. The IHH was formed in 1992 and formally registered as a charity in Istanbul in 1995. Its ostensible purpose was to provide food and aid to orphans, build mosques and monitor human rights abuses in Muslim communities. IHH is the Anatolian affiliate of the larger, Saudi-based umbrella organization known as the Union of Good. The Union of Good, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, is a siphon for Hamas money that distributes it via a "web of charitable organizations." The IHH, according to former Treasury Department official Jonathan Schanzer, is one of these. To continue reading, click here. Media review: The Israel-led flotilla inquiry Much of today's Israel-related media coverage focused on the newly planned Israeli inquiry of the flotilla raid. As the BBC News website described it, the investigation 'will consider how nine Turkish activists died after their ship was boarded by Israeli commandos' and 'will also adjudge whether Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is allowed under international law'. However, the controversy lies in the composition of the inquiry's panel. Indeed, as the BBC, The Times and The Daily Telegraph reported, Turkey was "infuriated" by the fact that the UN has approved an Israeli-led investigation, given the widespread demand for an international probe. The BBC also mentioned that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's was not satisfied with the panel as 'the inquiry would not meet demands made by UN Security Council'. Instead, Israel has appointed two foreign observers, Lord David Trimble, from Britain and retired Canadian military prosecutor Ken Watkin to follow the proceedings, which according to Netanyahu will 'make it clear to the world that Israel is acting legally responsibly, and with complete transparency.' To continue reading, click here. Editorial comment warns against bombing Iran Last week the UN Security Council announced that it was imposing a fourth set of sanctions on Iran, intended to curb its nuclear programme. The possible implications of the sanctions were widely discussed, with three of the broadsheets publishing editorials on the subject. Two scenarios were discussed. The first, as described by Timothy Garton Ash in The Guardian, was that an Iranian bomb would trigger a destabilising nuclear arms race in the Middle East. The second, as outlined by Roula Khalaf in the Financial Times, was that the world would learn to live with a nuclear Iran, in much the same way it had learnt to live with a nuclear Pakistan. Despite several references to Israel, no mention was made of another scenario, one in which Iran's nuclear bomb poses an existential threat to Israel (as many there fear). The closest that any of the commentary came to discussing the topic was in a piece by Bronwen Maddox in The Times, where she wrote, '[Iran] retains close ties with Damascus, Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza, and is manoeuvring to increase Israel's sense of threat on those fronts.' To continue reading, click here.   For more information about Just Journalism, or to contact us, please visit www.justjournalism.com