and a turkish-american), and dozens of activists and seven israeli commandos were wounded. on three other ships, activists showed passive resistance, which was suppressed by israeli forces without deaths or injuries, and two others were taken without incident. the activists were subsequently arrested and detained in israel before being deported. widespread international condemnation of the raid followed, israel-turkey relations were strained, israel subsequently eased its blockade of the gaza strip, and egypt lifted its blockade, opening its rafah border crossing with the gaza strip. on 18 june 2010, the israeli ministry of foreign affairs released video footage of a rally on board the mavi marmara the day before the raid in which the i̇hh president fehmi bülent yıldırım declared to dozens of activists: "and we say: 'if you send the commandos, we will throw you down from here to the sea and you will be humiliated in front of the whole world'", as participating passengers chant "millions of martyrs marching to gaza!" in september 2011, a united nations report, after analysis of both turkey and israeli national investigations, concluded that the israeli blockade was legal, but that israel army used excessive force in this incident. the report also mentioned "serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers, particularly ihh." i̇hh abstained from the 2011 flotilla, citing outstanding damage to the mavi marmara. in september 2011, istanbul deputy public prosecutor ates shasan sozen told the turkish daily today's zaman that the ihh identified and submitted a list of 174 idf soldiers to the prosecutor's office. post-flotilla perceptions of ihh's affiliations the flotilla event generated mixed perceptions of ihh. the group was described as a humanitarian group and as a charity following the flotilla event; however, the group was also challenged for alleged affiliations with organizations such as hamas. critics charged the allegations arose after the raid simply because of the scale of the political fallout from the raid. ihh maintained that the best way to judge it was its behavior and responded that "we collected us$1 million (dh3.7m) for victims of the haiti earthquake, and we delivered our aid in a church there." other ihh officials said the organisation is opposed to violence and relies on donations from the turkish public, up to 80 per cent of which come from poor families. some of the allegations included that ihh has been banned in germany, that ihh has raised funds for jihadi fighters in bosnia, chechnya, and afghanistan, that french intelligence has documented calls between the group and an al qaeda boarding house in milan, italy, as well as algerian militants in europe, and that ihh reportedly played an "important role" in the millennium bomb plot against lax airport, los angeles. that ihh was banned in germany later turned out to be a mixup between the turkish i̇nsan hak ve hürriyetleri and the banned german internationale humanitäre hilfsorganisation e.v. the u.s. government said it "cannot validate" any relationship or connection between i̇hh and al-qaida. turkish authorities made no further efforts after the raid regarding support for bosnian, chechen and afghan fighters and ihh replied that there was an acquittal in the court case and nothing ever came of the charges. testimony regarding ihh and the millennium bomb plot was thrown out in court by a judge because it would "necessarily be based upon hearsay". status in western nations european union – the european commission has said that "regarding the banning of ihh germany by the german ministry of interior, ihh turkey released a statement in which it claims not to have any links to the germany-based organisation ihh. this information is confirmed by the german embassy in ankara." in 2010 in the camera dei deputati, a group of deputies led by il popolo della libertà (pdl) member fiamma nirenstein sought for the turkish i̇hh to be added to the european union's list of terrorist entities. the group included four of nirenstein's pdl colleagues and one lega nord deputy, massimo polledri. however, the european commission has said "ihh is an independent ngo active in the field of humanitarian aid and operating in a wide number of countries" and that it "does not have any information concerning involvement of ihh in the occupied palestinian territory". israel – in 2008 israel became the first country to ban the organization, and on 16 june 2010, israel added i̇hh to its terror watch list. the christian science monitor noted israel was the only country to have banned the organization as of 2010. united states – although a bipartisan group of 87 us senators (out of 100) sent a letter to president barack obama calling on him to investigate the ihh and consider putting it on the list of foreign terrorist organizations, i̇hh is not designated as a terrorist group by the us state department. us state department spokesman mark toner has said "it's a long process to designate something a foreign terrorist organization and... there's nothing to announce on that." a us state department spokesman also has said the us government "cannot validate" any relationship or connection between i̇hh and al-qaida. michael werz, a senior fellow at the center for american progress said "the white house has been quiet on the issue and the state department has publicly noted that it has no plans to designate the group ." response from ihh an ihh board member responded in the los angeles times that ihh provides charity in more than 100 countries. he stated there was no proof that ihh has any connections to al qaeda or its affiliates, and also said that its involvement with bosnia and chechnya amounted to food, clothes and medicine. those who "accuse us of terrorism are the very people who kill innocent victims," said ali cihangir, an ihh board member, referring to the israeli raid on the mavi marmara that left nine turkish activists dead. "there are political reasons countries are saying this about us." involvement with muslim brotherhood and syria according to the times, a free syrian army commander said that a boat carrying weapons docked in syria in september 2012 and "was registered to members of the ihh, which has ties to the muslim brotherhood". samar srewel, an fsa activist who had helped to organize the consignment, told the times: "it was clear from that second what was happening. the muslim brotherhood, through its ties in turkey, was seizing control of this ship and the cargo. this is what they do. they buy influence with their money and guns." on 18 march 2016, russia's un ambassador vitaly churkin sent a letter to the un security council saying that three turkish humanitarian organizations (ngos) sent weapons and supplies to extremists in syria on behalf of turkey's mit intelligence agency during the syrian civil war. the three ngos were the besar foundation, the iyilikder foundation and the foundation for human rights and freedoms (ihh). at an interview with the investigative project on terrorism in 2018, former turkish national police official ahmet yayla said the national intelligence organization has used turkey's ihh as an intermediary to provide al-qaeda with weapons. recent court case in turkey 11.06.2021 in relation to the bombing that killed over 100 people in ankara october 2015, evidence and witness accounts showed isis affiliated groups were supported by ihh to give aid and more. turkish police raid anadolu agency reported that two employees of ihh, were detained for alleged links to al-qaida, in a turkish anti-terrorism police raids on 13 january 2014. ihh spokesman said that police searched its office in kilis, near the border with syria, and detained one of its employees. another ihh employee was detained in kayseri after a police raid at his home. political activities in turkey the ihh has repeatedly supported the reconversion of the hagia sophia, a former christian cathedral which was converted into a mosque after the ottoman conquest of istanbul and is now a museum and a unesco world heritage site, into a mosque, and in 2015 ihh organised and led political rallies in istanbul, in an effort to support its cause.