Israel Renews Claim Flotilla Activists Linked to al-Qaeda

Anshel Pfeffer
Haaretz
June 7, 2010

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The Israel Defense Forces revealed on Sunday that five of the pro-Palestinian activists aboard the Turkish-flagged ship it intercepted last week en route to the Gaza Strip have links to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements.

The military did not specify whether these five activists took part in the violent clashes with the Israel Navy commandos that left nine people dead and several more wounded.

One of the activists exposed by the IDF was named as Iranian-born Fatima Mahmadi, a 31-year-old resident of the United States. According to the IDF, Mohammadi is a member of Viva Palestine, a movement that had tried bringing illegal electronic devices into the Gaza Strip.

Ken O’Keefe, a 41-year-old citizen of the United States and Britain, was another activist named by the IDF as having links to terrorist organizations. According to the IDF, O’Keefe is an extremist who hates Israel and whose “goal was to reach Gaza in order to help train and establish Hamas commando units.”

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This article was posted: Monday, June 7, 2010 at 10:29 am

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