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Yesterday we took a look at the way in which the Guardian’s report on the detention of British participants in the ‘flytilla’ airbrushed the extremist links of two of them – the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign chairman Mick Napier and deputy leader of the Welsh Green Party Pippa Bartolotti who flirted with the Nazi organisation known as the SSNP during her visit to Syria last autumn as part of the Hamas-supporting ‘Viva Palestina’ convoy.
That, however, was not the end of Pippa Bartolotti’s 2010 fascist-groupie road tour; once she arrived in Gaza, she was excited to meet some of the prominent Hamas officials there in person. Here is how she described her meeting with Ismail Haniyeh on her blog:
“I was fortunate to meet Ismail Haniyah, the Prime Minister of Gaza, his Vice President Mahmoud al Zahar, and Minister of Public Works and HousingYousef al-Mansi.The Hamas PM sadly did not speak English, so I was unable to form a full picture of his personality and political attitudes. What I do know is that everything I have so far heard or read on the subject has been plain wrong. He came across to me as a quiet and thoughtful man who was eager to meet us. He made a special effort to come and speak with the women – who had largely been pushed aside by the men earlier in the day and had therefore been denied a full chance to speak with him. He is pictured here in a simple white robe and cap.”
Mahmoud al Zahar is, of course, a man who has no compunction about stating publicly that he thinks it’s just fine to murder Jews anywhere in the world:
“They have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine,” Mahmoud Zahar said in a televised broadcast recorded at a secret location. “They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people.”
Pippa doesn’t appear to have much of a problem with that either:
“Mahmoud al Zahar was clearly a knowledgeable man, well educated and by the nature of his knowledge, anti Jew. It seemed to me that he no longer separated Zionism from the ordinary Jew, but living under siege as he did with warplanes and warships continually threatening his people, killing his children and destroying his homes one could hardly blame him.” [emphasis mine]
Pippa Bartolotti was, however, not the only failed Green Party parliamentary candidate to take part in the ‘flytilla’. Sixty-six year old retired academic and former member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign executive Anne Gray stood as the Green Party’s candidate in Tottenham, London in 2010 and has long been involved in local politics. She is also active in CAMPACC – the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities – and as may be expected, in signing anti-Israel letters.
Anne Gray
Another CAMPACC activist who took part in the ‘flytilla’ is 61 year-old Open University research fellow Les Levidow from Milton Keynes. Active in BRICUP, ‘Jews against Zionism‘ and ‘Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods’, Levidow also gives talks and writes essays, with ‘imperialist’ support for Israel as one of his main themes. However, he appears to have a particular affinity for the Khomenist faux human rights organisation which calls itself the Islamic Human Rights Commission and has spoken both at their annual conference and at their annual Al Quds day event. Here is part of his speech from his 2008 appearance there:
“When we say ‘end the occupation’ we should make clear the occupation IS the Israeli state itself, not simply its control of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel’s existence as a Zionist state poses a continuous threat to peace and democracy in the Middle East. Israeli colonisation has destroyed any basis for an independent Palestinian state. There are basically two possible futures – either Israel forces more and more Palestinians to leave or else Israel is de-zionised, de-colonised so that there are equal rights for all.”
Les Levidow at the 2006 IHRC conference
Another member of the English ‘flytilla’ contingent who, although professing to be a Quaker, has no qualms about employing his Jewish roots when it serves the purpose of attacking Israel, is 83 year-old retired lecturer and life member of the UCU John Lynes from St Leonards on Sea in East Sussex. Lynes is a member of the Christian CND, ‘Jews for Justice for Palestinians‘ and ‘Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine‘ and as such has a prolific record in the signing of anti-Israel public letters. He is also a member of the ‘Christian Peacemaker Teams’ and gives lectures in that capacity.
John Lynes
Another participant in the ‘flytilla’ with a record of having visited the region on Christian programmes is 77 year-old Audrey Gray, a retired nurse and social worker from West Chiltington in West Sussex, who also acts as a Methodist local preacher and gives lectures based on her experiences as a former Ecumenical Accompanier with the EAPPI project; established by the World Council of Churches and with links to Sabeel and the Alternative Information Centre.
Audrey Gray
The other English member of the British ‘flytilla’ contingent is Val Kitchen, aged 68 from Tonbridge in Kent. Scottish participants include Mick Napier as mentioned above, Ian Stewart-Hargreaves , apparently a silversmith from Carloway on the Isle of Lewis and retired statistician Frank Thomas aged 66 from Edinburgh who seems to have connections to the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Stop the War Coalition, and supports Scottish councillors in favor of boycotting Israel.
SPSC chair and 'Welcome to Palestine' coordinator Mick Napier
The female member of the Scottish contingent is former community worker and current council employee Joy Cherkaoui from Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway. She is the treasurer of the local SPSC branch, a member of Amnesty International, involved in the CND and a former candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party.
Joy Cherkaoui
Another former candidate for a far Left political party is to be found among the Welsh participants in the ‘flytilla’. Joyce Irene Giblin of Newport represented (unsuccessfully) the Socialist Labour Party in the 2011 elections to the Welsh Assembly. She is a member of ‘Swansea Action for Palestine’ and appears to support just about every anti-Israel outfit going, including ‘Jews against the Occupation’, ‘Viva Palestina‘, the ECESG and the ISM. Here she is with her fellow flag-loving Newport resident.
Also from Wales come the last two members of the British delegation to the ‘flytilla’: 46 year-old Swansea council worker Fiona Williams from Mumbles who is also involved in Swansea Action for Palestine and 56 year-old book-keeper Dee Murphy from Swansea who is a founder of the Swansea-Palestine Community Link.
Dee Murphy and Fiona Williams
Ms. Murphy seems to make quite a hobby out of getting herself arrested; she is half of what is apparently known as ‘the Tesco two’ and spent eight days in custody following a January 2009 incident in a local supermarket.
“The Tesco 2 are Dee Murphy and Greg Wilkinson who kicked off a campaign to boycott Israeli goods by going into their local Tesco store, filling a trolley with dates produced on illegal Zionist settlements on the West Bank, taking them out without paying, tipping the dates on the ground and spraying them with red dye, then waiting for the police to arrest them.”
Here is Dee Murphy explaining her actions at the time, prior to being arrested:
Less than a month before that incident, Dee Murphy had super-glued herself to the entrance barriers at BBC Wales in Cardiff. Her fellow ‘flytilla’ member Fiona Williams told the press at the time that the reason for the action was that the BBC’s coverage of Operation Cast Lead was “pro-Israeli”.
“Hamas is referred to as a militant organisation, rather than the democratically-elected government, having been elected by a huge majority.”
“The settlements in the West Bank should be referred to as illegal, the Israeli Defence Force as the Israeli Army, and the separation barrier as the apartheid wall.”
Here is Dee Murphy once again.
“So yes, they are shooting rockets into Israel, but these are an occupied people! And we all have the right to defend ourselves.”
The British contingent to the ‘flytilla’ represents a cameo appearance by members of almost the entire spectrum of anti-Israel campaigners in the United Kingdom. From Quakers and Methodists, through members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and similar bodies, Jewish anti-Zionist fringe groups, Islamist sympathisers and almost- off- the- radar extreme Left political parties, along with the increasingly bizarre Greens: they all had their representation in this publicity stunt.
Perplexed Israelis often ask me “What is going on in Britain?” This article is the answer to that question: a glimpse into the fringe world of political activism as a fashionable lifestyle choice. That world is, of course, nourished by the kind of one-sided reporting of the Middle East seen in so much of the mainstream media; not least the Guardian.
Related articles
- Guardian airbrushes extremist links of British ‘flytilla’ participants. (cifwatch.com)
- Comment is Free, Sam Bahour, Adam Shapiro and the malice of anti-Israel “activists” (cifwatch.com)
- On the Guardian’s continuing subservience to the racist BDS lobby (cifwatch.com)
- On CiF Watch and the fight against contemporary anti-Semitism (cifwatch.com)
- Next Hamas-supporting stunt by Western ‘activists’: the ‘Flytilla’ (cifwatch.com)
- The Guardian finds fresh new talent to whitewash terror connections of flotilla movement, and demonize Israel (cifwatch.com)
- Guardian quotes flotilla activist: Palestinians have been resisting occupation for “60 years” (cifwatch.com)
The UK news section of the Guardian’s website included on July 10th an article about the British ‘flytilla’ participants detained at Ben Gurion airport last Friday. In it, much is made of both the ages and ‘respectability’ of the arrested Britons, with their ages and professions meticulously listed, apparently according to information provided by the organisers of the British ‘flytilla’ contingent, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
There’s a retired statistician (66), a community worker, a retired university lecturer (83), a retired nurse (77) and an Open University research fellow (61), which all sounds terribly tame and benign until one takes note that the chairman of the SPSC, 64 year-old Mick Napier, is also described solely as a “university teacher”. Readers will no doubt remember Mr Napier’s name from the article we published with regard to the SPSC’s recent attempts to persuade Dundee council to implement a boycott of Israeli goods. It is worth viewing that video again in order to comprehend exactly what the Hizbollah-praising Mr Napier stands for.
Another name mentioned in the Guardian article is that of former Parliamentary candidate Pippa Bartolotti – deputy leader of the Wales Green Party and a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Ms Bartolotti initially managed to evade detention at the airport in Tel Aviv and was interviewed by RT – but was also later detained.
“How can we be a threat?” protests Ms. Bartolotti, making the most of her staid appearance and fluent English.
Oh dear, Pippa – you weren’t being entirely honest with that reporter, were you? No mention of your trip to Syria last October as part of George Galloway’s ‘Viva Palestina’ convoy. No reference to the fact that you had yourself photographed in Latakia, beaming away enthusiastically whilst sporting your ‘Viva Palestina’ badge and holding the flag of the Syrian Socialist National Party – a Nazi outfit.
Pippa Bartolotti
The SSNP flag’s similarity to the Nazi swastika is not coincidental and there is plenty of available information about them, both old and new.
“They greet their leaders with a Hitlerian salute; sing their Arabic anthem, “Greetings to You, Syria,” to the strains of “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”; and throng to the symbol of the red hurricane, a swastika in circular motion.”
“These are the hallmarks of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), the oldest terrorist organization in existence today and one of the most secret and deadly. Despite its long history of violence, Western security organs were recently taken by surprise when they learned that a well-camouflaged arm of the SSNP had succeeded in setting up a large terror network in Western Europe—complete with safe houses, weapons caches, and forged passports—and that it was the SSNP that had set off a series of deadly explosions in the heart of Paris, to gain the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. The United States, too, has felt the effects of the SSNP. The explosion aboard a TWA flight nearing Athens in April of 1986, which cost the lives of four passengers—one of them an infant—has been traced to May Mansur, of Tripoli, a veteran member of the SSNP, who debarked at a previous stopover after placing a bomb under her seat.”
The Green Party, of which Pippa Bartolotti is a prominent member, repeatedly insists that it deplores all forms of racism, including antisemitism, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to take such protestations at face value, and certainly one would expect any genuine anti-racist to run a mile in the opposite direction to a Nazi party embellished with blatant Nazi imagery. The involvement of the Green Party in the PSC is equally worrying, in particular in light of the PSC’s promotion of a Hamas website, its involvement in the invitation of Hamas-linked speakers and its silencing of any criticism of the terrorist group.
Pippa Bartolotti and her ‘flytilla’ friends may be so used to flirting with fascists as part of their radical chic hobby that they are no longer able to separate anti-racist wheat from Islamist and Nazi chaff. Here in Israel, however, we – out of necessity – have our eyes wide open on these subjects, which is why we do not take lightly the appearance of hundreds of supporters of such ideologies on our doorstep. We do also not fall into the kind of ageist stereotypes – of which this article and some of last Friday’s Tweets from various ‘flytilla’ supporters are prime examples – which assume that people are unable or incompetent just because they are ‘middle aged’ or ‘retired’.
Rather than this application of cosmetic surgery to the ‘flytilla’ activists, the Guardian would better serve its readers and the British public in general by explaining exactly what kinds of ideologies they stand for: an issue which is no less crucial to contemporary Britain than it is to Israel.
And a final question must go to Pippa Bartolotti, as well as her other PSC-supporting friends in the British Green party and indeed to the Guardian too, which prides itself on its ‘Green’ section: how exactly, from an ecological point of view, do they justify their involvement in and support for the creation of the hundreds of tons of harmful carbon emissions resulting from hundreds of people making totally unnecessary plane journeys purely for the purpose of political provocation?
Related articles
- ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ – Update 4 – ‘Brothers’ in Arms (cifwatch.com)
- Next Hamas-supporting stunt by Western ‘activists’: the ‘Flytilla’ (cifwatch.com)
- Amnesty International’s complicity in extremism: The NGO to host upcoming pro-Islamist event, which includes former Guardian editor (cifwatch.com)
- The Guardian helps Hamas hitch a ride on the ‘Arab Spring’ (cifwatch.com)
- Comment is Free, Sam Bahour, Adam Shapiro and the malice of anti-Israel “activists” (cifwatch.com)
- The hate and extremism at the heart of efforts to manipulate another Scottish council to boycott Israel (cifwatch.com)
- CiF Watch interview with the director of British Muslims for Israel, Hasan Afzal (cifwatch.com)
- Scottish anti-Israel forces defeated in Dundee Council (cifwatch.com)
Well, if you thought the flotilla (or should that be ‘floptilla’?) was an unnecessary provocation, meet the ‘flytilla’.
This coming Friday, July 8th, hundreds of foreign activists are apparently planning a pre-coordinated touch down on commercial flights at Ben Gurion airport as part of a ‘Return from Exile’ or ‘Flight of Return’.
Some will be high-profile Western sympathisers and some will be citizens of countries from which there is no need for a visa to come to Israel and who have Palestinian origins. They will supposedly be exercising their ‘right of return’ to Israel; in other words expressing their support for the dismantling of the Jewish state.
Once again, some familiar faces are behind this latest stunt. It was dreamed up by a co-founder of the ‘Free Gaza’ movement – one of the partners also behind the flotillas – Paul Larudee. Larudee – who also has a long history of involvement with the ISM and was deported from Israel in 2006 – now heads the California-based ‘Free Palestine’ movement which, despite his Hamas connections, is both UN accredited and a registered US ‘not for profit’ organisation with 501(c)(3) status.
This is a letter dating from 2007 on official Hamas notepaper inviting Larudee and the ‘Free Gaza’ movement to help breach the blockade on Gaza.
The year after that letter was sent, Larudee did indeed reach Gaza – and received an honorary Palestinian passport straight from the hands of Ismail Haniyeh for his pains. Here he is (second from the left), together with a few other familiar faces.
The other major partner behind this ‘flytilla’ is Al Awda – the ‘Palestine Right to Return Coalition’ – which campaigns for the replacement of Israel with a Palestinian majority state and promotes BDS. ‘Electronic Intifada’ co-founder and writer Ali Abunimah is also involved with Al Awda , which has clear Hamas links and helped George Galloway raise over one million dollars for his Hamas-enabling ‘Viva Palestina’ convoys.
Other partners in the organisation of the project include the ISM and, according to an interview given by Paul Larudee to Hizbollah’s ‘Al Manar’ TV, the London-based ‘Palestinian Return Centre’, which is banned in Israel because of its Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood links. The ‘flytilla’ is also being promoted by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign which was recently the focus of attention due to its attempts to introduce BDS into Scottish local councils.
Apparently, Scottish participants will be joined by Belgian and other European activists, as well as others from North America, South America, Asia and Africa.
So, here we go again: yet another pointless, publicity-seeking, money-wasting stunt designed to try to embarrass Israel is being initiated by Hamas-supporting activists and executed by Western ‘useful idiots’ in an attempt to advance the ‘no negotiations, no two-state solution’ agenda of Hamas.
Of course, if it is anything like the second flotilla, this escapade too could yet prove to be more media-orientated hype than anything else, but it could also potentially cause unnecessary delays at Ben Gurion airport on Friday. Not that any of these ‘activists’ would of course care in the least about deliberately causing inconvenience to other travellers rushing home for the weekend or legitimate tourists just trying to enjoy a well-earned holiday, because, as we already know, it’s all about them and their own personal smug self-gratification.
Related articles
- Great comment by Guardian reader in reply to Greenslade blog post about limits on journalists covering flotilla (cifwatch.com)
- Mya Guarnieri laments possible demise of flotilla stunt; Quotes activist who blames “Zionist tentacles” (cifwatch.com)
- All Dutch reporters have now quit the flotilla. Additional terrorist affiliations of flotilla organizers revealed) (cifwatch.com)
- ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ – Update 4 – ‘Brothers’ in Arms (cifwatch.com)
- Plagues of the Flotilla (cifwatch.com)
- The tangled web they weave – the eminence noir behind the “Freedom Flotilla 2″ (cifwatch.com)
- ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ – Update 5 – Dutch journalists jump ship. (cifwatch.com)
As is known, one of the reasons for the unplanned lethal outcome of last year’s flotilla was the fact that Israel’s armed forces and intelligence had based their plans upon the premise that the 2010 flotilla would, like its predecessors, be made up of Western ‘peace activists’ who were expected, at worst, to engage in sit down strikes and maybe a bit of name-calling.
Indeed, that premise proved to be correct with regard to all the other boats in the flotilla which were stopped and towed to port without incident. Things only went horribly wrong aboard one ship – the Mavi Marmara – because of the presence on board of members of the IHH and other extremist Islamist organisations. With that lesson in mind, two recent pieces of news demand particular attention.
The first is the announcement that a Jordanian ship may take part in the flotilla. According to the official flotilla website, the chairman of the Jordanian Lifeline Committee, Wa’el al Saqa, revealed on Sunday that a “small ship” has been purchased for a sum of 560,000 Euros and registered to a company called ‘Nour’ which was specially set up for the flotilla. Around 35 Jordanians are expected to sail on board that ship, together with 35 passengers from other Arab countries.
Wa'al al-Saqa, a passenger on the Mavi Marmara, at a press conference after his return to Jordan (Picture from bokra.net).
Mr. Wa’el Akram Assa’ad al Saqa is no stranger to the high seas. In fact he was aboard the Mavi Marmara as head of its Jordanian delegation when elements among its passengers viciously attacked the Israeli soldiers trying to prevent it from breaching the naval blockade. He was later deported back to Jordan, but the experience appears not to have deterred him from trying to reach Gaza again in October 2010 when he took part in the Jordanian contingent of George Galloway’s ‘Viva Palestina’ convoy. That attempt failed too: al Saqa – along with Galloway himself and some 15 others – was banned by the Egyptian authorities from entering their country. That could well have something to do with the fact that Mr. al Saqa is a known Islamist activist and a long-standing member of the Muslim Brotherhood, in addition to the involvement of members of a prior convoy in violent attacks on members of the Egyptian security forces.
The second news item worth considering is a report by Israeli intelligence which suggests that two other well-known figures may also be aboard the current flotilla. Dutch citizen Amin Abu Rashed (aka Abou Rashid, Abou Ibrahim) was also deported from Israel in June 2010 as he too took part in last year’s flotilla aboard the Sfendoni. Rashed has a rich history as a fundraiser for Hamas having been a member of the now defunct Al Aqsa Foundation in the Netherlands.
“ In the U.S. government’s prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based charity charged with funding HAMAS, an exhibit provided a description of the HAMAS support network in Europe. The writer of the document was Amin Abou Ibrahim of the Foundation al-Aqsa in Rotterdam. Since the de facto closure of Foundation al-Aqsa, Amin Abou Ibrahim, whose real name is Amin Rashid, moved on to the Foundation Palestinian Platform for Human Rights and Solidarity (PPMS).”
He is also a founder and prominent member of the ‘European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza’ – one of the organisations behind the whole flotilla project – which was established in 2007 by the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe; the Muslim Brotherhood’s European arm and accordingly has received funding from the Al Aqsa Foundation.
Amin Abu Rashed (right) and Gretta Duisenberg of ‘Free Gaza’ meeting the Dutch Ambassador in Cairo, 2009
The other possible passenger is Mohammed Ahmed Hanoun from Genoa in Italy. He is president of an organisation called the ABSPP – Associazone Benefica di Solidarieta con il Popolo Palestinese. He is also head of the API – the Association of Palestinians in Italy; in fact the two organisations are indistinguishable and both are members of the Union of Good. The Union of Good, or ‘Itilaf al Khair’ is an umbrella organisation of charities which was proscribed by Israel in 2002 and designated as a terrorist organisation by the USA in 2008 because of the fact that it provides financial and material support for Hamas. It is headed by the notorious Muslim Brotherhood hate preacher and endorser of Palestinian suicide bombings Yusuf al Qaradawi and the Turkish organisation known as the IHH whose members were responsible for the violence aboard the Mavi Marmara is also a member.
The British charity ‘Interpal’ was ordered by the Charity Commission in 2009 to sever its ties with the Union of Good if it wished to retain its charitable status. One man who has long-standing ties to Interpal – which also organised and carried out the recent ‘Miles of Smiles‘ convoy to Gaza – is Mohammed Sawalha. Sawalha was recently named as one of the organisers of the current flotilla and his well-known Hamas links once more brought to public attention. Of course long-time CiF Watch readers will doubtless remember that we reported on Sawalha’s organisational connections to the 2010 flotilla eight days before the violent events took place, including the fact that in January 2010 he had stated that “the confrontation will be directly with the Zionist enemy itself on the high seas”. Here is Sawalha speaking at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign event in London in January of this year.
Following the violent outcome of the last flotilla in 2010 some Western activists and journalists tried to continue to claim that the IHH members involved were innocent ’humanitarian aid workers’ but evidence gathered from the flotilla boats themselves shows that the violent actions of the Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood-linked activists were in fact pre-planned. Paul Larudee, a founder of one of the flotilla’s organising bodies – the ‘Free Gaza‘ movement – even went so far as to express his admiration for their violent actions into writing, invoking something akin to cultural relativism along the way.
“I practice nonviolence, so that is the way I resist, but it’s not necessarily for everyone. A number of passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara, who were from thirty-two different nations, responded with their hands, feet, and whatever objects were at hand. I admire them for doing so; they knew that Israel has a reputation for disproportionate response.”
The emerging picture of the ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ is of a repeat of last year’s scenario in which a minority of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islamist activists turned the flotilla organisers’ claims to being a ‘non-violent’ mission of transportation of humanitarian aid into a mockery. This should deeply worry those flotilla passengers who really do believe in ‘passive resistance’ and those members of the press currently writing and tweeting that line of defence on behalf of the flotilla. It is perfectly clear that the remaining two main organisations behind the flotilla – the ECESG and ‘Free Gaza’ - actually condone and support violent acts against Israeli soldiers.
The IDF has what it termed in a briefing this afternoon “solid intelligence” that some passengers aboard the flotilla may be carrying sulphuric acid with the aim of causing burns and other injuries to Israeli soldiers charged with halting the boats. It is the responsibility of any other passengers who do not condone such actions to ensure that they do not take place. If they fail to stop them, they will also be complicit – not only in criminal violence, but in knowingly allowing themselves to be used as ‘non-violent’ fig leaves for sympathisers and members of a terrorist organisation and its mentors.
Related articles
- ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ Publicity Stunt, Update 3: abusing the concept of ‘non-violence’ (cifwatch.com)
- Journalists on board Gaza-bound flotilla will be active participants in illegal act (cifwatch.com)
- ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ – Staying Pointless. (cifwatch.com)
- Flotilla ‘Publicity Stunt’ Update, 2 (cifwatch.com)
- Flotilla Publicity Stunt Update (cifwatch.com)
You see it all the time: a pretty girl stands on the roadside, hitching a lift. The minute a driver pulls up, a boyfriend appears as if from nowhere out of the bushes and gets in the car too. That’s exactly what’s happening in the latest CiF article by a senior terrorist – Musa Abumarzuq – which appeared on May 24th. The pretty girl is a once respectable British newspaper. The scruffy boyfriend is Hamas, and the vehicle is the so-called ‘Arab Spring’.
This is of course far from the first time that the Guardian has published opinion pieces by known and prominent terrorists. Abumarzuq himself has been published in the past, albeit under different spelling of his name, as well as Osama Hamdan and Khalid Misha’al. I have asked the following question before, but seeing as the Guardian has yet to provide an answer, readers will surely bear with me if I repeat it.
Does the Guardian commission and pay for these epistles of Hamas propaganda? If so, how do the financial transactions take place, seeing as not only is Hamas classed as a proscribed terror organisation in the UK and therefore the transfer of funds to it is illegal, but Hamdan, Misha’al and Abumarzuq are, in addition, all named individuals among those whose assets have been frozen by the Bank of England since 2004 because of terror activity or links.
“The Bank of England, as agent for Her Majesty’s Treasury, has today directed financial institutions that any funds which they hold for or on behalf of the individuals named below must be frozen. This is because the Treasury have reasonable grounds for suspecting that the individuals are or may be persons who facilitate or participate in the commission of acts of terrorism or (in the case of Rantisi) may be a person who commits, facilitates or participates in the commission of acts of terrorism.
Individuals:
2. HAMDAN, USAMA
DOB: 1964
Other Information: Senior HAMAS official. Based in Haret Hreik, Lebanon
3. MARZOUK, MUSA ABU
DOB: 09/02/1951
POB: Gaza, Egypt
A.K.A.: (1) ABU MARZOOK, Mousa Mohammed
(2) ABU-MARZUQ, Dr Musa
(3) ABU-MARZUQ, Sa’id
(4) ABU-’UMAR
(5) MARZOOK, Mousa Mohamed Abou
(6) MARZUK, Musa Abu. Passport Details: No 92/664 (Egypt)
Other Information: Senior HAMAS official
4. MISHAAL, KHALID
DOB: 1956
POB: Silwad, Ramallah, West Bank (Palestinian Authority)
Other Information: Senior HAMAS official. Based in Damascus, Syria”
It would appear, therefore, that there are one of two possibilities: either the Guardian is breaking the law by paying these men for the articles it commissions from them, or it does not pay for them at all, but chooses to act as a willing platform where they can promote their propaganda to a gullible audience, presumably as and when they desire. Either way, it is surely the public’s right – and interest – to know the nature of the financial arrangements, if any, between the Guardian and Hamas.
Abumarzuq, of course, has a long and prolific history in getting on the wrong side of the law, including being indicted in the US for Hamas racketeering charges and deported twice from Jordan. He is a founder of the ‘Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development’ – an organization whose assets were blocked by the United States government for funneling money to Hamas in what was dubbed “the largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history”.
It is therefore disturbing to say the least that any reputable editor should consider Abumarzuq’s opinions on American policy to be objective enough to warrant publication, but of course that small matter would not stop the Guardian from doing so. One has to wonder just how much that has to do with its associate editor Seumas Milne’s well-known penchant for both anti-Americanism (yes: if you tell the Americans that 9/11 was their own fault two days after the event, that’s anti) and radical-chic terrorist hugging. After all, besides hobnobbing with members of Hamas and Hizbollah himself at conferences in sumptuous Gulf hotels, Milne is a longtime very close friend of George Galloway of ‘Viva Palestina’ fame; they reportedly speak daily.
“……two or three” of his [Galloway's] five closest friends are journalists. He has spoken to Seumas Milne of the Guardian and John Boothman, editor of BBC Scotland’s Holyrood Live, every day for 20 years or more. BBC news correspondent Bob Wylie is another close friend, as is Ron McKay, the man who commissioned Tony Benn’s television interview with Saddam. They, not his fellow MPs, are his political sounding boards. ”
And surprise, surprise: here – courtesy of Harry’s Place just last October – is a touching snap of Seumas’ old friend and comrade George sitting right next to the (convicted in absentia) terrorist Abumarzuq at a ‘Viva Palestina’ bash in Syria.
However it found its way to the Guardian’s pages, Abumarzuq’s article contains some absolute corkers; text-book examples of the well-known Hamas tactic of repeating lies often enough until they become accepted truisms among its loyal groupies.
I especially liked this one:
“It never occurred to us that a time would come when we would turn against fellow Palestinians.”
So all that pushing political rivals off the top of tall buildings, kneecapping and spontaneous executions in the town square must have been done by Hamas’ evil twin?
Next, filed under ‘truth inversion’, we have this gem:
“The Israelis have reneged on every agreement signed with the Palestinian Authority.”
So remind me Musa – who instigated the second intifada and who, despite having committed themselves to the contrary under the terms of the first clause of the roadmap, is still promoting incitement in Palestinian schools, mosques and TV programs as well as naming public places and institutions after suicide bombers? Clue – it’s not the people with the blue and white flag.
Abumarzuq is especially annoyed that some might not be too keen on continuing to provide a steady flow of cash for the new Palestinian regime:
“Israel embarked on a diplomatic offensive to persuade European governments to withdraw economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority.”
Obviously, Abumarzuq’s comprehension of European laws concerning the funding of terror is as lacking as his well-documented longtime disdain for the American equivalents. And predictably – because it has become an essential mantra in any Guardian article on the Middle East of late – we see Abumarzuq trying to contort the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation into something to do with democracy and the ‘Arab Spring’.
“As western governments have, individually and collectively, welcomed the democratic changes taking place in the Middle East, they should support a similar transformation in Palestine.”
“President Obama called for democracy for the entire region except Palestine. Instead of welcoming our reconciliation agreement with Fatah, he pronounced America’s deep reservations and anxiety; in total disregard for the aspirations of the Palestinian people. Someone should remind him that Hamas gained the majority in the last fair democratic elections in Palestine.”
Given that we are only too aware of the fact that Hamas’ commitment to democracy swiftly evaporated the minute it got into power, with repeat elections being long overdue and repeatedly stalled by Hamas refusal to engage in the democratic process, severe deterioration in the rights of women and minorities since Hamas began its rule of the Gaza strip and the extra-judicial murders of many of its political opponents, we might justifiably reach the conclusion that the Hamas interpretation of democracy should serve as a cautionary tale when relating to the ‘Arab Spring’ issue.
That view is further consolidated by the messages Hamas itself communicates to its people through its own media.
H/T Jawa Report
One would not, of course, expect a die-hard Hamas member such as Abumarzuq to express any different opinions or distortions than those he parades in this article. One would, however, expect the editor of a Western newspaper to be capable of differentiating between ‘resistance bloc’ propaganda and the truth. The fact that the Guardian is not able – or willing – to do so indicates not only its complicity in normalising and mainstreaming terror, but suggests that it is in fact an active member of that ‘resistance bloc’, at least ideologically.
That fact was expressed beautifully a few weeks ago by Michael Weiss when he wrote the following words:
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult these days to determine where the al-Qassam Brigade’s unifying theory of world affairs ends and the Guardian‘s editorial line begins. This may be attributable a variety of causes including the cash-hemorraghing nature of journalism, changing British demographics, and the “radical winds” blowing in the Middle East that turn into smelly little zephyrs by the time they reach Europe. But not least among the causes is an easily fixed problem with personnel.”
Hear hear, and no amount of rapturous waffling about an ‘Arab Spring’ is going to conceal that.
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- Hamas calls for “end of Zionist project”: CiF’s Tareq Baconi promotes the group’s moderation (cifwatch.com)
- The Guardian’s Seumas Milne: Cowardly in Qatar (cifwatch.com)
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As noted by a colleague, this story from Ynet, unsurprisingly, hasn’t gotten much press in the international media yet. However, the Islamic Jihad website displays photos of recent flotilla’s Turkish passengers visiting Gaza and trying on the organization’s uniform.
The Viva Palestina 5 ship carrying “peace activists,” which docked at the al-Arish port recently, brought along not only humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, but also enthusiastic Turks who took advantage of the opportunity to visit local Islamic Jihad members.
In pictures obtained by Ynet, the Turks are seen holding weapons and rocket launchers. While their prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to blast Israel and demand an apology for “state terrorism,” two of the guests put on the uniform of the al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing.
The pictures from the Turkish delegation’s visit were put on the al-Quds Brigades website as part of the coverage of their visit. The guests’ face was blurred, but shortly afterwards the photos were removed from the site, most likely for fear that the Turks would be hurt.
Turkish activist holds weapon alongside Jihad gunmen
During their visit to Gaza, the Turkish delegation members visited several Islamic Jihad posts. One of the guests was quoted as telling the group’s gunmen that they are “a source of pride for all decent people in the Arab and Muslim world.” He defined them as “the forefront of the struggle against the Zionists.”
Turkish guests visit Jihad post in Strip
Research provided by a reliable source:
Viva Palestina, founded by former British MP George Galloway, is a British charity which has organized numerous convoys to Gaza. Many of its members openly support Hamas. The organization’s fifth convoy has spent the last few weeks traveling through Europe and Turkey, and is currently in Syria. It hopes to receive permission over the next few days to sail to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, and then to cross over into Gaza via Rafah.
Below is background information regarding several of the central figures in Viva Palestina.
- 1. George Galloway
- 2. Kevin Ovenden
- 3. Yvonne Ridley
- 4. Zaher Birawi
1) George Galloway- Former British MP, Viva Palestina founder
Hugging Haniyeh, March 2009
- Support for Hamas
“I personally am about to break the sanctions on the elected government of Palestine… By Allah, we carried a lot of cash here…But I, now, here, on behalf of myself, my sister Yvonne Ridley…are giving three cars and 25,000 pounds in cash to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Here is the money. This is not charity. This is politics.”- Al-Jazeera, March 9, 2009, Gaza
- Previous support for totalitarian regimes
Soviet Union- “if you are asking did I support the Soviet Union, yes I did. Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life.”- The Guardian, 16/9/2002
Syria- “Syrian troops in Lebanon maintain stability and protect the country from Israel”. -Lebanon Daily Star, 7/12/2004
Ahmadinejad- “We have to accept Ahmadinejad’s re-election, not least because all our best friends in that region don’t have any elections at all.” -Dailyrecord.co.uk, 15/6/09
- Refused entry into Canada and Egypt
Canada- On March 20, 2009 refused entry into Canada, after immigration authorities ruled that his involvement and direct financial support to the Viva Palestina movement constituted support for Hamas.
Egypt- on 8 January 2010, Galloway was deported from Egypt immediately upon entry from Gaza. He had been attempting to help take 200 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip. The previous day an Egyptian soldier had been killed during clashes at the border with Hamas loyalists. The Foreign Ministry of Egypt released a statement reading: “George Galloway is considered persona non grata and will not be allowed to enter into Egypt again”.
2) Kevin Ovenden- long-time Galloway assistant, leader of Viva Palestina 5 convoy
Shaking hands with Haniyeh (March 2009?)
- Ovenden’s description of his March 2009 meeting with Haniyeh-
“And some of us were fortunate enough, privileged enough to meet the democratically elected prime minister of Palestine, Ismail Haniyeh ..I would have liked everybody on the convoy to meet Ismail Haniyeh and the leadership of the government in Gaza..
We met at one of the greatest heroes, greatest leaders that Palestine has ever known, met at his house, Abdul Rantissi, who himself was assassinated.” (video of speech here)
Ovenden with IHH President Bulent Yildirim
“Gorgeous George” Galloway has taken his overblown ego on another trip to Gaza. Press TV on 24th December referred to him as a “British lawmaker” and made much of his appeal to the Egyptian government to help the latest Viva Palestina convoy to break the “months-long Israeli siege on Gaza.”
Viva Palestina’s own web page bemoans the fact that the Egyptian government will not let the convey enter Egypt and has given them the following choices:
- that they hand all the vehicles and aid over to UNRA [sic]
- that they drive 500 miles back to Syria, and take a 24 hour ferry through the Suez Canal
- that they have to ask Israel for permission to cross from Egypt to Gaza
All the conditions were rejected because they want to cross into Gaza and hand over the aid to the Palestinians themselves.
But is this the true reason for George’s rejection of all the above options? Could his pig-headedness have something to do with what happened when he met Khaled Meshaal in March 2009 with the monetary fruits of Viva Palestina’s labours then? We actually witness Galloway giving funds to Hamas terrorists, which is against British law and yet no legal action has been taken against him. Perhaps he plans to do the same again (he’d do almost anything for a photo opportunity) which is why he is somewhat nervous about negotiating with Israel. Some law maker!
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Hadar Sela
Bigotry & justifications for terror as ‘progressive’ politics: Air Flotilla 2′s York PSC contingent
April 12, 2012 in Comments which are off-topic, ad hominem, racist, vulgar or include threats of violence will be deleted | Tags: anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, BDS, Delegitimization, Flytilla 2, Jewish Chronicle, Neturei Karta, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Viva Palestina, Welcome to Palestine | by Hadar Sela | 18 comments
Along with the members from Greater Manchester, three members of the York branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign will also be taking part in the ‘Air Flotilla 2′ (or ‘Welcome to Palestine’) publicity stunt scheduled for Sunday, April 15th.
Carol Pearman (left) and Terry Gallogly (centre)
Ms. Pearman appears to consider herself something of an expert on Israeli security needs:
Ms. Watson, however, somewhat spoils the ‘kept like prisoners’ meme by admitting:
“We have visited Palestine before”
York PSC is rather infamous for its extremism. Before it was removed following complaints, the FAQ section of its website included the following: (emphasis added)
1. Do we condemn the suicide bombers?
Yes, we condemn ALL violence on all sides, but PSC seeks to understand causes and means of prevention. For example, Palestinians do not have the sophisticated weaponry of the occupying forces. Suicide bombing is their only weapon, it is a last resort of a desperate people who see no alternative way of defending their homeland. Extreme injustice breeds extreme responses.
2. Does PSC recognise the State of Israel?
Yes we recognize A State of Israel with the borders that existed before the 1967 six day war. The continuous extension of those borders by war and occupation have been condemned by numerous UN Security council resolutions (beginning with number 242 in November 1967). Individuals can comment on the right or otherwise of the land grab which created the state of Israel in the first place and its biblical justification, but we must emphasize that PSC, like Arafat, accepts the inevitable presence of the Israelis and that pushing them all in to the Mediterranean is now not an option.
York PSC members prior to their departure on a 'Viva Palestina' convoy in 2009.
Carol Pearman in the centre. http://tiny.cc/69dncw
Predictably, Ms. Pearman is keen to add her signature to campaigns against nefarious Zionist activities such as exhibiting Israeli scientific achievements in British museums. She also appears to have some business interests in the Middle East.
Terry Gallogly is a familiar name to many. Besides being Secretary (and former Chair) of the York PSC and a member of the Green Party, he is also an organizer of the ‘Stop the JNF’ campaign and accuses the JNF of attempting to “greenwash its ethnic cleansing”.
Gallogly also campaigned for a boycott by British unions of the Histadrut – Israel’s main labour union – describing it as “this appalling apparatus of the Zionist structure”. As a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s national executive committee, he was involved in 2007 in bringing a member of Neturei Karta to give a lecture entitled “Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism” at British universities during ‘Palestine Awareness Week’.
Gallogly’s main claim to fame, however, is his 2010 attempt to rig an online poll conducted by the Jewish Chronicle in order to create the impression that British Jews are racists.
Amazingly, the MP for York Central, Hugh Bayley, is backing Gallogly et al in this attempt to interfere with the right of another country to exercise control over its own borders. That may or may not be connected to Gallogly’s additional activity as regional coordinator for a lobbying group known as Coordin8.
Members of several other PSC branches in the north of England are planning to accompany the ‘Air Flotilla 2′ delegates to Manchester airport, already in ‘spontaneous demonstration’ mode.
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