August 19, 2014 | Quote
State Dept. Defends Arms Sales to Turkey Despite Hamas Ties
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Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department, said there is no evidence that the Obama administration and its partners are expressing dismay with Turkey and attempting to address its support for Hamas.
“I am deeply concerned that NATO and the State Department have yet to raise this issue with Turkey,” Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told the Free Beacon.
“The fact remains that Turkey’s Hamas policy is a deeply troubling one,” he said. “It is not appropriate for a U.S. ally or a NATO ally to be providing Hamas operatives with safe haven.”
Schanzer further suggested that there may be more than one Hamas operative currently residing in Turkey at this time.
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“This is a guy that is not an unknown to the U.S. government,” Schanzer said. “His name came up as a person of interest after the kidnapping, was widely acknowledged to be the head of the Qassam Brigades in the West Bank, and has been identified as being part of several high level Hamas delegations and been in meetings with world leaders, including the Emir of Kuwait” as well as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“It’s obviously raising some very troubling questions about his activities in Turkey,” Schanzer said. “It appears he’s been running [Hamas’] West Bank operation out of Turkey for the past two years.”
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