Yuval Ron
Wouldn’t a concert uniting people of different faiths and promoting tolerance be a good idea?
For IHH, the Turkish Islamist charity, the answer is “no way!”
“I am very sorry, I had to cancel the concert because of the safety of my team members,” Oscar-winning musician Yuval Ron, the leader of an ensemble of Muslim, Jewish and Christian artists, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Friday.
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Ron had been scheduled to perform Thursday night in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet neighborhood. The organization committee said the concert was canceled due to threats from the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, the group that tried to send a flotilla of aid ships to break Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip.
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According to İHH executive board member Hüseyin Oruç, the Israeli Consulate was organizing the concert but decided to cancel it. “It is claimed in the Israeli press that the Turkish Foreign Ministry allowed for such a concert in order to soften relations with Israel. We were against it, this is why the concert was canceled,” he said.
The concert organisers have rejected the claims:
The Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP), which is part of the GYV, released a statement denying a number of claims made by the activists, including the claim that the band is from Israel. “Yuval Ron is of American origin, with members of different faiths,” it said. It also denied the activists’ claims that the concert was being organized by Israel, adding that the group was to perform a large repertoire reflecting various cultures and faiths, including Muslim Hymns and soundtrack titles. However, about half an hour after this statement, KADİP announced that the event had been canceled.
KADİP officials said they canceled the concert out of concerns for safety and in anticipation of a protest by İHH supporters.
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The Yuval Ron Ensemble a group of Arab, Israeli, Jewish and Christian artists, most recently gave an interview to Today’s Zaman about the “Coexistanbul Peace Concert,” which would have been performed at Sultanahmet Amphitheatre. The artists told Today’s Zaman that they shared a simple common endeavor: to alleviate national, racial, religious and cultural divides by fusing the music and dance of clashing cultures of the Middle East in a unique mystical and spiritual celebration.
This sorry tale is typical of IHH. It is about hatred and violence. This is why it funds and promotes Hamas. This is also what makes it so attractive to the far left and Islamist thugs, antisemites and idiots of Britain who work with it, from the Hamas UK network to Viva Palestina to the self-styled Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
(click to enlarge images in this post)
George Galloway with the head of IHH, Bulent Yildirim (centre)
Viva Palestina trustee Kevin Ovenden (centre) with Bulent Yildirim
Leading London-based Hamas operative Mohammed Sawalha (centre) with Bulent Yildirim
Here is some more evidence on how close IHH is to Hamas, and how grateful the terrorist group is for the support. This photo shows Mehmet Kaya, the head of IHH in Gaza, speaking at a Hamas ceremony in Gaza in April. Kaya is the man who has made it clear that IHH “only works through Hamas” in Gaza. It has provided assistance worth tens of millions of dollars to Hamas. Note the pride of place given to IHH on the banner.
The banner read:
Under the sponsorship of the state of the prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, the Ministry of Social Affairs organises the activities of Palestinian Orphan Day and honours the international organizations for the support of orphans.
Social work enables Hamas to enmesh itself in Palestinian society. Those who help it in this sector only strengthen it in its mission as a whole. Donations also free Hamas funds for arms purchases.
Hamas leader Ahmed Al-Kurd also spoke at the ceremony.
Al-Kurd and his Al-Salah Society have been individually designated as terrorists by the US.
This the kind of PR work Al-Kurd does for Hamas:
A UN spokesman said policemen raided a UN warehouse on Tuesday after officials refused to hand over the aid to a Hamas-controlled ministry.
The UN said it was the first time its aid had been confiscated by Hamas.
It condemned the action and demanded the goods be immediately returned. Hamas denied its men had taken any aid.
UN spokesman Christopher Gunness said Hamas police took 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels.
The Hamas Social Affairs Minister in Gaza, Ahmed al-Kurd, denied that members of the Islamist movement had removed aid from a UN building.
However, he said his ministry was in dispute with the UN relief agency about how aid should be distributed.
He accused the UN of giving aid to local groups with ties to Hamas opponents.
Perhaps readers will find his face familiar. They would be right. Here is Al-Kurd with George Galloway on one of the Viva Palestina Hamas support missions.
And here he is receiving keys to Viva Palestina / IHH convoy vehicles from Bulent Yildirim.
Who else was honoured at the Gaza ceremony? Oh look, it’s Interpal, the British charity that serves Hamas and is headed by Ibrahim Hewitt. Hewitt is also Daud Abdullah’s deputy at the the pro-Hamas hate publishing operation Middle East Monitor.
Interpal too has been designated by the US for funding Hamas.
Today Turkey votes. According to early reports, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party, who are good friends of IHH, are set to win.
If this is the outcome, it will be very good news for IHH and its partners abroad.
For supporters of religious tolerance and opponents of vicious hatred and terrorism, it will be a setback.
What IHH cannot bear:
