8/9/2019 Coalition to Break the Blockade on Gaza endorses terrorism

1/224 April 23, 2010 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES

B Y S A M U E L S O K O L

ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

The Coalition to Break the Blockade

on Gaza has announced its support of ter-

rorism against the State of Israel.

According to a manifesto posted on the

website of the Greek branch of the Ship

to Gaza organization, which is a coalition

member, the coalition supports

Palestinian resistance in all its forms, a

euphemism frequently used by Arabs to

indicate armed violence.

According to international law, people

who are occupied have the right to resist

and even [use] violent resistance, said

Dror Feiler, spokesman for Ship to Gaza

of Sweden, when asked by theFive Towns

Jewish Timesabout the phrasing on the

Greek website.

The coalition comprises Turkish,

Greek, and Swedish organizations, in con-

junction with the European Campaign toEnd the Siege on Gaza and the Free Gaza

Movement. The Free Gaza Movement is

closely aligned with the International

Solidarity Movement, whose members

have served as human shields for terror-

ists in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

The coalition is planning to arrive with

a convoy of eight boats in mid-May. There

will be four cargo ships and four ships

carrying passengers. The activists goal is

to break through the Israeli blockade of

Gaza, which has been described by a

coalition spokesman as an act of piracy.

Two further flotillas are scheduled to

arrive in June.

Feiler expressed his opposition to mis-

sile fire against targets in the western

Negev, saying that it is not moral and

that it is not good for the resistance.

However, he did endorse violence against

Israelis beyond the Green Line, saying

that he has nothing against resistance

against the illegal occupation and the ille-

gal settlements [and] developments in

the West Bank.

Israel withdrew all Israeli residents

and soldiers from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

The Israel-born activist has a history of

making inflammatory statements. In

2004, Feiler produced the art installation

Snow White and the Madness of Truth,

which glorified Hanadi Jaradat, a suicide

bomber who murdered 21 people in the

Maxim restaurant in Haifa. After the

Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel,

caused a diplomatic incident by pulling

the plug powering the pieces lighting and

music, Feiler told him that Israel was an

apartheid country.

The Greek branch of Ship to Gaza

expressed a similar opinion to that of

Feiler regarding resistance. Some

forms of resistance should not be used,

said spokesman Vangelis Pissias, but

its not up to me to tell them how they

will resist.

Pissias accused Israel of killing 1,500

people, primarily women and children,

during the IDFs 2009 counter-terror

incursion into Gaza, and he compared

Palestinian terrorism to resistance

against the Nazis during the Second

World War.

Another staffer of the Greek branch of

Ship to Gaza concurred, saying that they

see the Palestinian people being

attacked by a war machine that is very,

very brutal and hard and I am guessing

that they must have a way to resist.

Pissias also minimized the importance

of weekly Israeli shipments to the Gaza

Strip. During the week of April 12, Israeli

authorities transferred nearly 12,000 tons

of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as

well as almost 200,000 gallons of diesel.

Israel also allowed three truckloads of

carnations to be exported to Europe.

Links With Hamas

And Turkish Group

According to Feiler, his movement has

nothing to do with the authorities of

Gaza, nothing to do with the people who

rule Gaza. However, according to the

Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism

Information Center (Malam), the mem-

bers of the coalition have associated

themselves with the Hamas administra-

tion, which is involved in organizing

the flotilla. One of the primary planners

of the previous aid flotilla was

Muhammad Sawalha, the senior Hamas

operative in Britain.

The flotillas plans for avoiding the

Israeli navy were recently announced by

Jamal al-Khudari, a Hamas operative who

heads the Popular Committee Against

the Siege. The ships are to leave from dif-ferent locations and will only ren-

dezvous outside Gaza, where they will

attempt to enter together. One hundred

local boats, some carrying children, will

be on hand to accompany the foreign

ships into the strip.

The flotilla, which Hamas has

termed the ship intifada, will be

bringing financial assistance for the

Hamas administration as well as such

dual-use materials as cement and iron,

Gaza Boat OrganizersEndorse Terrorism

The flotilla, which Hamas has termed the

ship intifada, will be bringing financial

assistance for the Hamas administration.

8/9/2019 Coalition to Break the Blockade on Gaza endorses terrorism

2/25 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES April 23, 2010 25

Malam claims.

Hamas hopes that Turkish participa-

tion in the flotilla will further damage

already strained relations between

Jerusalem and Ankara.

Representatives of the Turkish Insani

Yardim Vakfi (IHH) organization, a mem-ber of the Coalition to Break the Blockade

on Gaza, have previously met with

Hamas Prime Minister Ismaiil Haniyeh

and have donated supplies and motor

vehicles directly to the terror group. IHHs

president, Bulent Yildirim, has previously

visited Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in

Damascus.

A spokesperson for the IHH told the

Five Towns Jewish Times that the current

situation in Gaza is a silent genocide.

The IHH stressed that if the siege would

be on Jews, we would [also] try our best

to end the siege.

However, this is questionable, as the

spokesperson admitted that IHH is in

touch with Sawalha, who is a former

commander of Hamass terrorist opera-tive infrastructure in Judea and Samaria

and is wanted by Israeli authorities. He

has also been accused of funneling

money from Europe to Hamass armed

wing, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades.

Israeli Response

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had

harsh words for the organizers of the

flotilla. These people are not support-

ing the Palestinians and they are not

even supporting humanitarian causes,

said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal

Palmor. They are engaged in only one

thing, and that is to create provoca-

tions and to collaborate with Hamas

propaganda.

When they were apprehended [pre- viously] it turned out that their boats

were not carrying any sort of humani-

tarian assistance to Gaza, he charged,

calling Hamas the illegal occupier of

the Gaza Strip.

Many Israelis maintain that control of

Gazas coast is necessary in order to stop

shipments of Iranian weapons, including

missiles, from reaching Hamas. Islamic

terrorist groups have been attacking

Jewish targets by missile and rocket for

almost a decade. In February, three bar-

rels laden with explosives were found

floating just off Israeli beaches. The IDF

believes that they were launched from

fishing boats from Gaza.

The Foreign Ministry did not disclose

its plans regarding the ships or whatactions, if any, it would take regarding

foreign-government representatives

attempting to enter Gaza by sea. Feiler

claims that five Swedish MPs will be

accompanying the flotilla. He also indi-

cated that several other Israeli citizens are

planning on joining the flotilla. If Israeli

citizens are found to be on the boats after

all is over and done with, they will be

dealt with according to Israeli law,

Palmor stated.O

Members of the Turkish Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) organization alongside the Mavi Marmara,a passenger ship purchased by the group for its upcoming attempt to bring aid to the Hamas

terror organization.

PhotoByInsaniYardim

Vakfi(IHH)

Representatives of Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) handing over the keys to 145 vehicles to theHamas terrorist group in a ceremony attended by IHHs president, Turkish MPs, a Hamas

minister, and British MP George Galloway.

PhotoByInsaniYardinVakfi(IHH)