Free Gaza: "We are against humanitarian aid"

From the Free Gaza mailing list:

On November 7 and 8, The Free Gaza interim board of directors met in London to plan our strategy for 2010 as well as to schedule the next mission to Gaza.

...Israel’s use of force to stop our last 3 voyages has made it imperative to revise our strategy. Instead of sending one vessel to Gaza, we are working on a flotilla, or mini fleet with more boats, including at least one cargo ship, more people, more supplies, and more media on the high seas. And around the world, tens of thousands of people engaged in the mission. Our intention is to build a truly international fleet that will reach Gaza, or, if stopped, be politically costly for Israel.

...The former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed established a Free Gaza fund and secured the money for us to obtain a cargo ship. On this cargo ship, we will take construction supplies to Gaza. We had wanted to travel in October / November so that at least some people in Gaza could start rebuilding their homes before the cold weather hit. Unfortunately we could not meet this deadline.

We have the funds for one cargo ship, and one passenger vessel. However, we need at least one more passenger vessel plus the operating expenses before we can go. In financial terms, we need about €300,000, or someone to donate a passenger vessel and €100,000 in operating expenses (fuel, port fees, crew wages, etc.)

The efforts of the Free Gaza Movement are vitally important; we need to end the blockade, not just deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. While many potential funders recognize the significance of our work, for various reasons they have not come through with funding. Most prefer their financial contributions go toward to humanitarian aid for Palestine. But Palestine is not a charity case! There are hundreds of millions being pumped into Palestine by aid agencies that are unable or unwilling to address the political issues, or by donor countries that shirk their political, legal, and moral obligations, by throwing money at Palestine.

This aid is paying for Israel’s occupation by alleviating Israel of the responsibility to care for the people it occupies. We firmly believe that activists and people who care about Palestine should not be raising money for humanitarian aid but should focus on direct action to confront the Israeli policies that leave Palestinians in need of this aid.

FGM is saying explicitly that "this aid" by the donor countries and aid agencies mentioned in the previous sentence "is paying for Israel's occupation."

It is very clear: FGM says that money should be spent on pressuring Israel instead of feeding Gazans and that the aid itself is part of the evil that is the nonexistent "occupation" of Gaza.

And, to FGM fanatics, if Gazans do actually starve to death in order to make that greater good happen, all the better. They just won't quite say that part out loud.

They are also very frustrated that money that could go to their vanity boats is going instead to feeding Gazans. They are a very sick class of people.

Something to keep in mind the next time your newspaper refers to Free Gaza as a "humanitarian" or "aid" group. It is nothing of the sort - it is an extremist political organization that is against the UN, Red Cross, Jordan, Qatar and Egypt giving aid to Gazans!

Notice also that these progressive people have no qualms accepting money from an anti-semite.

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"Free Gaza" admits it supports terrorism

In a long, rambling article on the Free Gaza website, Ramzi Kysia (one of Free Gaza's leaders) shows that he and his movement really do support Palestinian Arab terror. He is careful to say that not all terror is good, but he all but says that some suicide bombings are.

Here are some excerpts:

On the Right of Resistance

We are often told that resistance is either unwarranted or impossible. Liberal apologists for Israel, such as Thomas Friedman, are constantly demanding that Palestinians lay down their arms, all the while exhorting Israelis to pick them up in ever increasing acts of violence and degradation.

...But even mainstream “peace” movements in the West try to delegitimize resistance by calling on both Palestinians and Israelis to renounce overt acts of violence, equating Palestinians who commit suicide bombings with Israelis who send F-16s, D9 military bulldozers, and Apache attack helicopters to level entire neighborhoods.

The problem is that the usually random and individual acts of violence by Palestinians against Israelis are not equal to the myriad structural oppressions and cruelties imposed on Palestinians through Israeli government policies. No Palestinian fighter jets bomb Israeli cities - because Palestine has no fighter jets....

Even immoral and self-defeating acts of violence against Israeli civilians (such as some suicide bombings are) cannot be equated with the daily humiliations, terror, and death that Israel inflicts on Palestinians by deliberate policy.

This is not to say that any and all acts of resistance are acceptable. Clearly they are not. But it grows tedious to continually hear well-meaning, but otherwise clueless, Westerners try to equate the two sides of this conflict. I am past tired of hearing white people passively whine, or shrilly demand, “Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?”

With respect, just because some people have chosen to remain ignorant of the long and deep history of Palestinian nonviolent resistance - from the 1936 Boycott to Bil’in today - does not mean that it does not exist.

The "non-violent" 1936 boycott was a three-year reign of terror killing many hundreds of people - mostly Arabs killing other Arabs, although they killed many Jews in that timeframe as well. In Bil'in today, some of the "nonviolent" protests include slinging large rocks at the heads of Israelis at high speed. This is what Kysia considers "non-violent."

But far worse is the fact that he is legitimizing "some" suicide bombings, probably every single rocket attack and a myriad of other deliberate attacks by Arabs against Israelis as being a "right." The Free Gaza movement is now explicitly condoning terrorism by Palestinian Arabs, using the logic that what Israel does is worse and therefore killing Israeli civilians is (sometimes) a praiseworthy endeavor. And he is upset that some people want both sides to stop violence.

There are of course multiple layers of illogic, absurdities and lies in this article, but the important point is that now we can say that Free Gaza, like the ISM that spawned it, is in no way, shape or form a "peace" movement. While it might not support its own members using violence, it welcomes Arabs to do all the violence against Israeli civilians that they think is needed. Additionally, Kysia has proven that when Free Gaza talks about "resistance," it is referring to violence no less than it is referring to non-violence.

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"Free Gaza" loses its Dignity

An "urgent email" to the Free Gaza mailing list:

It's with heavy hearts that we have to inform you that the Free Gaza ship, the DIGNITY, has been lost outside Larnaca port in Cyprus. Fortunately, no one was injured in the accident.

On 30 December 2008 the DIGNITY was rammed by the Israeli navy while on a mission of mercy to deliver critically needed medical supplies and doctors to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. Thanks to the heroic efforts of its captain and crew, the DIGNITY was able to find safe harbor in Lebanon, later making its way to Cyprus for repairs. Early this morning we received a call from the Harbor Master in Larnaca, informing us that the ship was taking on water. While attempting to tow her to safety, the ship went down. An inquiry has begun into the circumstances surrounding her demise, possibly due to storm damage suffered during the night.

Maybe we should send this fake "humanitarian" organization some toothpicks to help rebuild the boat.

Their last boat had essentially no aid whatsoever.

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Gaza "fishing boat" explodes in botched attack

From YNet:

A Palestinian fishing boat exploded as it neared the Israeli coast from the direction of Gaza.

IDF sources estimated that the booby-trapped boat was activated by remote control and meant to explode near an Israeli Navy vessel or a coastal community.

A naval patrol followed the boat for about an hour and spotted no people on board. As it was several hundred meters off the Gaza shore and heading north the boat exploded.

None of the soldiers was injured and no damage was reported.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi said that the boat was loaded with a large amount of explosives.

The "Free Gaza" movement has been obsessing over Israel's patrols off the Gaza shore to ensure no weapons being smuggled into Gaza as well as to stop "fishing boats" like these from steering into Israeli ports. Not surprisingly, they have been silent about this incident.

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Let's talk about morality

The best thing I've seen yet about IDF morality doesn't talk about it at all. From Ami Isseroff:

Palestinian public opinion was in an uproar following revelations of possible war crimes committed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa Martys Brigades and the Hamas.

At a spiritual debriefing retreat for operators of rocket launchers and planners of suicide attacks, terrorists, Militants, resistance fighters revealed that not all targets hit by rocket attacks and suicide bombings involve only death and injury to Israeli military personnel. Furthermore, it was revealed that leaflets distributed by the organizations to their members, and signed by the prominent Imam, Nasrab Dam al Yahoud, did not caution the resistance fighters to take proper Islamic precautions to ensure the safety of women, children and other booty, as is prescribed in the Quran.

One rocket launch operator testified, "I was shocked. I thought that Sderot were Zionist terrorists. Who would have suspected that this evil looking soldier was actually a Zionist civilian?"

"Who could have imagined," exclaimed activist Jihad abu Idbach al Yahoud, "that buildings like the ones below, destroyed by resistance rockets, were not military installations!? They are not marked as civilian homes on the maps of course."

Resistance soldiers also related that they heard rumors that suicide bombing targets such as the Sbarro Pizzeria, the Jerusalem Super Market, and the Dolphinarium Discotheque may not have been frequented only by Zionist soldiers.

The sensational revelations were brought to light by a report of the crusading Palestinian journalist, Amus Arafat, in the newspaper, "Al-Ard" ("the land"). They were leaked to him by Nasr al Zamir, who had previously met with denials and coverup attempts by the heads of resistance organizations.

Said Ahmed ibn Khaybar of the Popular Resistance Committees, "Of course, we are going to investigate these allegations. We had no idea that our boys could commit such atrocities. We are sure that these are only false rumors."

UN Special Raporteur Richard Falk declared, "It is certain that the war criminals of the Hamas and other organizations committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The war crimes of the Palestinian war criminals are precisely like those of the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. I call for an immediate investigation by the UN, the ICC and the World Courts. The guilty must be punished."

A Belgian court issued an arrest warrant for Palestinian officials including Ismail Hanniyeh and Khaled Meshaal. In Teheran, angry members of the Muslims for Peace organization and the Not in My Name organizations demonstrated against government support for Hamas. "Hamas = Nazism" and "Free Gaza" were among the posters carried by demonstrators. Reform presidency candidate Moussavi noted, "It is outrageous that our government provides one-sided support for the Hamas. The rockets and suicide belts were paid for by the Iranian tax payer, and were meant only for defense of the Palestinians. My government will institute a policy of tough love for the Palestinians."

"It is possibly true," admitted moderate Palestinian leader of the moderate Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, "that there have been deviations from the impeccable moral code of the Palestine resistance. Harming of civilians is a violation of Muslim religious law and must be punished."

A spokesman for the European Union, which provides extensive financing for the Gaza government, refused to comment.

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Hamas hates Gazans

In a region filled with ironies, one that flies under the radar of the Western world is the fact that Hamas treats the people of Gaza horribly, and often sacrifices their interests for its own political or military advantage.

From hiding among the people to draw Israeli fire, to diverting needed aid towards Hamas members away from the population, to its utter indifference towards building or maintaining basic infrastructure (most of which is done by PA members nowadays, not Hamas,) to its decision to turn abandoned Jewish communities into terror training camps instead of moving Gazans into real homes, it is clear that Hamas only makes decisions based on what is best for Hamas, not what is best for Gaza.

The latest in this long line of examples happened just in the past few hours.

Ma'an reports:

Egypt reportedly stopped two Hamas officials from returning to the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Tuesday with night-vision goggles and some $900,000 in cash, the Reuters news agency reported.

The report quotes anonymous security officials, and also does not name the Hamas officials involved. Customs agents reportedly [found] 500,000 euros and 250,000 US dollars while searching the officials bags.

The Hamas members were returning from the Egyptian-brokered Palestinian unity talks in Cairo.

As in the past, the items they were trying to smuggle were not meant for Palestinian Arabs but for Hamas itself. Hamas' reaction is even more blatantly anti-Gazan:

The de facto Palestinian government in Gaza refused to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Wednesday in protest of what it called “humiliating regulations” on Palestinian travelers.

The Interior Ministry in the Hamas-led government issued this decision as Egypt said it would open the Rafah border on Wednesday and Thursday. The de facto government however denied that it had received official notification of this.

Egypt planned to open Rafah today for Gazans to cross - and Hamas is stopping them, because of the "humiliation" it suffered by Egypt's seizure of banned items. Hamas has made yet another decision to make Gazans suffer for its own gain.

The irony continues with the hundreds of rallies for "Gaza" that are really demonstrations for Hamas rule - which is anti-Gaza! People who claim to be pro-Gaza must necessarily be anti-Hamas, but the reverse is true. The "Free Gaza" movement members and the George Galloways of the world happily shake hands with Gaza officials and take pictures with a group that is not only anti-Israel and anti-semitic, but anti Gazan.

How many protests have there been for Gazans themselves and against Hamas? What percentage of human rights workers are openly anti-Hamas? How many UN resolutions have been passed against Hamas' treatment of Gazans?

People who advocate boosting Hamas politically are, by definition, against the people of Gaza.

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Today's PalArab media roundup

Hamas police made a drug bust of methamphetamines and hashish smuggled in Gaza tunnels.

A Russian analyst is quoted in Palestine Today as saying that by 2011, the United States would break up into six separate nations and that a new world currency will emerge to replace the dollar as Russia and China will be the new superpowers. All media, not just Arab, like to quote "experts" that confirm their own wishful thinking no matter how nutty. (Here's the original article from Russia in English. The Arabs believe it more than the Russians themselves do.)

PalToday also has a photo essay from the funeral of the Islamic Jihad terrorist turned to worm food by the IDF.

A new English-language publication is supposed to start in Gaza any day now. Called the Palestine Telegraph, the Free Gaza people are already salivating over it.

The Palestine Telegraph editing team seeks the following types of articles:

1- Articles that tackle daring ideas and are controversial or unconventional; as long as they are supported by factual and logical evidence and do not violate general Arab cultural norms or common decency.

2- Articles that present unprecedented ideas.

3- Articles on current events and an analytical perspective that transcends the obvious and rises above superficial reasoning.

4- Dramatic or satirical articles with an interesting and entertaining style.

Hey, maybe I'll submit things to it when/if it appears! Oh, wait - I think my articles might violate general Arab cultural norms, because I do not support terrorism.

By the way, the "professional" who is starting this is a 23-year old Gazan with a bachelor's degree in English. If that doesn't scream "professional," I don't know what does.

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The latest "aid" ship had no aid

Last night, Israel intercepted a freighter that was supposedly filled with 60 tons of aid for Gaza, that originated in Tripoli.

Predictably, the moonbats have been hysterical over this, saying that Israel was shooting at the people on the ship and then beating them.

Free Gaza's update on the ship last night was telling: its 8 PM (Central European Time) report said

The Israelis said the boat can not go to Gaza, and it appears they will try to force it to Arish, but the captain intends to push forward. (And having been aboard the TALI I think it will take more than a ramming to sink it)

In other words, the "peace activists" were really hoping for a fight.

From the times of the reports, it is clear that Israel warned the ship for several hours before boarding it.

The only reporter who is saying that Israel beat and threatened them is the embedded Al Jazeera reporter.

Israel took the ship to Ashdod to examine the contents and question the passengers. According to Haaretz, the "60 tons" of aid was imaginary:

The Israel Defense Forces said that troops found about 150 bottles of mineral water and a few dozen kilograms of food and medicine on board, despite earlier claims that it was carrying dozens of tons of humanitarian aid.

The Tali, a cargo vessel flying the flag of the West African state of Togo, was sent by the Palestinian National Committee Against the Siege in cooperation with the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement. Its cargo was claimed to have included about 60 tons of medicine, food and toys, plus 10,000 units of human blood plasma which requires constant refrigeration.

So these pro-terror "peace activists" are caught lying. Again.

And one of the "human rights" activists on the ship has a bit of a checkered history:

Military sources said that on board the vessel - dubbed the "Brotherhood Ship" - were nine people, including Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who was arrested in 1974 after being caught smuggling weapons from Lebanon to activists in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Which is exactly what one would expect a "peace activist" to do, right?

For context, here are the amounts of aid that Israel shipped into Gaza over the past few days:

February 1 - 4,656 tons of supplies
February 2 - 5,354 tons of supplies
February 3 - 6,106 tons of supplies
February 4 - 5,367 tons of supplies

So even though they were lying about the "60 tons," it is about what three trucks carry. This is hardly an efficient way to get aid to Gazans. (I have not heard about any shortage of blood plasma in Gaza, either.)

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Today's PalArab media roundup

Egypt decided to close the Rafah crossings on Thursday, only to be opened for emergencies. The UN has yet to issue a statement accusing Egypt of imposing a "siege."

Egypt also blew up some 13 tunnels under Rafah yesterday.

The PRC, which has close ties with Hamas, threatened Israel to fully open the crossings or else the "truce is finished." They helpfully add that they will turn Israeli sites into hell. (These same people took responsibility for over a dozen mortars and rockets yesterday.)

A "Free Gaza" style boat has left Tripoli to go to Gaza via Cyprus.

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PalArab news roundup 1-30-09

The Fatah-linked Palestine Press Agency details some $400 million of fraud, money laundering and illegally redirecting government contracts to private companies run by Hamas members in Gaza. One example was that the late Siad Siam who apparently founded front companies in Turkey and Egypt to funnel goods to Gaza through tunnels he controlled.

Hamas has been denying the house arrests, tortures, shootings and killings of Fatah members, although Ma'an reports that the evidence is "overwhelming." Hamas placed Fatah members in Gaza under curfew, forcing them to shut their shops and stay home after 6 PM.

A previously unknown group took credit for launching a "projectile" at Israel this morning. No mention of this in the Israeli media.

A competitor to Free Gaza? A ship called the "Brotherhood" is due to leave Beirut for Gaza on Sunday.

Egypt is banning people from visiting injured Gazans in Egyptian hospitals after the Muslim Brotherhood started turning these visits into political events.

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Iran's plans to re-arm Hamas

The Times of London buries some very good investigative journalism on the bottom of an article about US attempts to limit arms smuggling to Hamas:

A document circulated to ministers by Israeli military intelligence last week suggested that despite the bombardment, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is well advanced with a huge programme of arms resupply for Gaza.

According to the document, the Iranians are attempting to smuggle munitions from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, where the arms shipments are loaded onto commercial vessels.

In recent weeks at least two Iranian destroyers have been sent to the Gulf of Aden on the pretext of fighting piracy. The Israelis suspect that the destroyers, which are currently in port in Aseb in Eritrea, may have had some role in the shipments.

In January 2002, Israeli naval commandos stormed the Iranian cargo ship Karine A in the Red Sea. They found 50 tons of arms, long-range rockets and explosives being shipped to Yasser Arafat, then the Palestinian leader. Israeli defence sources believe the same route and methods are being used again.

According to the sources, once in the Red Sea the cargo is taken on one of two routes. The first is to dock in Somalia and Sudan, where professional smugglers carry the cargo overland to Sinai. In Sinai, Bedouin specialists smuggle the shipment into Gaza through the notorious border tunnels.

Despite intensive Israeli bombing, some tunnels remain open. Palestinian sources in Rafah, the Gaza Strip’s southern town, estimate that 100 tunnels are still in action, about 20% of the pre-war total.

A second arms smuggling route into Gaza has also been used by Tehran, according to well briefed sources. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has sent shipments through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean to anchor off the Gaza coast, inside Egyptian territorial waters, where the Israeli navy is barred.

After dark, Iranian frogmen transfer weapons in sealed containers to Palestinian fishing boats. This can prove dangerous as the Israeli navy may open fire without warning, but according to the sources it has worked well in the past.

The intelligence report suggested that Iran plans to ship Fajr rockets with a 50-mile range to Gaza. This would bring Tel Aviv, its international airport and the Dimona nuclear reactor within reach for the first time.

Maariv adds a couple of details on the Iranian frogman operation (via Daily Alert:)

According to an Israeli security source, the IDF has encountered Iranian-leased weapons ships anchored ten miles out to sea opposite Rafiah in Egyptian waters.

The weapons are packed in waterproof containers which travel under the surface. During the night, Iranian frogmen transport the containers and tie them to Palestinian fishing vessels located closer to shore.

The Palestinian vessels return to Gaza, towing the containers underwater to avoid detection.

Which means that the Free Gaza terror supporters are very possibly a part of a weapons smuggling ring when they board "fishing boats" to "protect the poor fishermen."

The Times also adds another tidbit, showing that Iran is repeating what it did in Lebanon after the 2006 war- trying to make Hamas into heroes by paying off the population:

Tehran has also promised to rebuild Gaza. Last week Hamas announced that every home-owner whose house had been destroyed would receive €4,000 (£3,820). The families of those who died will receive €1,000 and the wounded will receive €500.

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"Free Gaza" turns around, starts lying campaign

Last time the Free Gaza freaks tried to reach Gaza in their worldwide publicity tour, they claimed that they were surrounded by a half-dozen Zionist warships who opened fire at them and then deliberately rammed their boat three times. None of those claims were ever verified by any of the journalists on board and no video was ever produced that corroborated the stories. Their public statements started backing off from the claims of being shot at with machine guns but they never admitted lying.

This time, they took repeated Israeli warnings that they will be stopped by "any means possible" as a threat to kill them. From their website:

The Israeli navy today threatened to kill unarmed civilians aboard a mercy ship on its way to deliver medical supplies and doctors to besieged Gaza.

As before, we can be sure that there will be no audio of these supposed threats ever released by the 17 journalists on board the boat, and that this lie will be quickly spread through the moonbat media outlets.

One more lie: in a recent newsletter, they said:

Once we set sail, we do not plan on turning back. We will stay at sea, insisting on access to Gaza, until we succeed or Israel gravely attacks or arrests us.

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Free Gaza Movement allows dozens to die!

The FG moonbats have fixed their generator and started sailing again towards Gaza, where the Israeli navy will probably stop them sometime tomorrow.

According to their press release, they are bringing in "essential parts for ventilators, which will allow the only burn center in the Gaza Strip, at Shifa Hospital, to double its capacity."

Let's assume that the Free Gaza hypocrites really did uniquely identify a pressing need for Shifa Hospital, that the Red Cross and WHO and UNRWA are somehow not aware of or are ignoring.

Let's further assume that the doubling of Shifa's capacity will save tens of lives, especially since we must also assume that certain Norwegian and Arab doctors are accurate in stating categorically that Israel is burning Gazans with white phosphorus munitions, something that the Red Cross says is not happening.

If all these things are true, then the Free Gaza terror-supporters are purposefully putting Gazans in danger, because instead of coordinating with any number of NGOs, or Jordan, or Tunisia, or Brazil or Greece or Qatar or Egypt to bring these much-needed parts into Gaza as quickly as possible, they have consciously decided to deprive Gazans of these ventilators in order to have a showdown at sea with the Israeli navy instead.

How many Gazans will be permanently disfigured or will die because of this decision by the Free Gaza to delay the delivery of these "essential" parts?

Of course, all this is true only if you assume that the Free Gaza movement is telling the truth.

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Persian version of Free Gaza stopped

I mentioned in this morning's roundup that an Iranian "aid" boat was trying to get to Gaza.

This morning, Reuters quotes Iranian sources that the boat was stopped:

"An Iranian ship that was carrying foodstuff and medicine was stopped by the Zionist regime's navy 20 miles off the coast of Gaza," the Iranian radio station reported, adding that the ship had left the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas 13 days earlier.

I wonder whether this ship existed at all, or was just an Iranian PR stunt. I could find no mention of the ship on the PressTV site this morning, although Ma'an quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman about the ship. One would think that at the very least the Iranians would try to publicize this more in order to embarrass Israel.

The supposed Iranian boat and Free Gaza have lots in common, though. They both pretend to be helping Gazans when they in fact do nothing of the sort, they both support Hamas and they both want to see Israel destroyed.

UPDATE: The IDF denied that they stopped any Iranian boat.

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This morning's PalArabic news

Besides the "Free Gaza" ship, Iran is claiming to be sending an "aid" ship to Gaza as well from Egypt. It should have arrived by now, but there are no updates. I couldn't find anything in the Iranian press about this.

The Palestinian Arab press is mentioning Israeli reports that Hamas is hijacking humanitarian aid trucks, confiscating aid and selling it for a profit. One commenter (if I am translating correctly) jokes that Hamas is using the diapers in the shipments for themselves as they are hiding in their tunnels.

It is interesting that neither the UNRWA nor the Red Cross has commented on these reports to confirm or deny them, as far as I can find.

A Saudi citizen, who joined Hamas, has been killed. This article mentions in passing that Palestinian Arabs and Hamas in particular have been very reluctant to mention the names of their dead terrorists.

At least two newspapers are reporting on a supposed Peace Now survey that "nine out of ten Israelis are in favor of the Israeli massacres against children and elderly people in Gaza." Needless to say, no such survey is on the Peace Now site, although they are idiotically calling for a "political" solution with a group of terrorists.

The Islamic Jihad mouthpiece "Palestine Today" calls on the Fatah-leaning PalArabic press to stop reporting on Israeli "rumors" , such as a report that Hamas leaders have fled to hide among Bedouins in the Sinai, with veiled threats: "History will not have mercy on all those who played on the wounds and suffering of our people."

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"Free Gaza" boat didn't make it

From the Cyprus Mail:

THE LATEST effort by human rights activists to breach the blockade of Gaza by sea got off to a faulty start yesterday when the boat suffered mechanical failure at sea.

The Free Gaza Movement (FGM) launched the SS Spirit of Humanity from Larnaca port yesterday, carrying boxes of medical aid for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza. With 36 passengers and crew from 17 countries on board, including five MPs, six doctors and 16 journalists, the boat encountered mechanical failure three nautical miles off the coast of Cyprus.

According to reports, the planned mercy mission to Gaza had to be postponed and the boat returned to port for repairs.

Considering the 16 (I counted 17) journalists on board, and the fact that Free Gaza sends out press releases and "alert" emails at the drop of a hat, this is a surprisingly hard story to find this morning. FGM's webpage doesn't say a thing, even though this happened nearly a day ago.

It appears that their planned dramatic televised confrontation with the evil IDF will have to be postponed.

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"Free Gaza"'s latest snow job begins

The Free Gaza terror supporters just put out a new press release:

The Free Gaza Movement ship, "SPIRIT OF HUMANITY," left Larnaca Port at 3:00 pm, Monday, 12 January, on an emergency mission to besieged Gaza. It is expected to arrive in Gaza at approximately 11am (UST) Tuesday morning. Aboard the ship are 36 passengers and crew, representing 17 different nations. They are doctors, journalists, human rights workers, and five European parliamentarians representing Belgium, Greece, Italy, and Spain (see below for a complete passenger list). The mercy ship also carries desperately needed medical supplies meant for hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Gullible editors will read this and think that Free Gaza is trying to help deliver medical aid to Gazans that is being blocked by Israel.

The truth is the exact opposite. Free Gaza is a group of people dedicated to destroying Israel. Free Gaza is against nations delivering humanitarian aid to Gazans! They have written in their own emails:

Although humanitarian aid is very much needed, especially now in Gaza, focusing on humanitarian efforts alone is a form of complicity in Israel's malevolent quest to destroy the Palestinian people.

And this:

Free Gaza is neither a "protest group" nor an aid agency. Our mission and our work are political. We are a Palestinian and international effort dedicated to the principle of non-violent direct action. We are engaged in active, civil resistance against the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the violence this occupation uses to sustain itself.

And just in case you think that they only define "resistance" as non-violent, here is how they describe Qassam rockets aimed at Israeli kindergartens:

Do you know my dear reader how many Israelis were killed by Palestinians resistance rockets?

Israel has so far delivered 230 tons of medical equipment plus ambulances via the Red Cross in Gaza and about 300 more tons via the World Health Organization and UNICEF, not to mention many hundreds of tons of food and medical supplies donated by Turkey, Jordan, Greece and Egypt. If the Free Gaza people cared about delivering medicine, they could have sent it through Israel yesterday.

The Free Gaza boat is not meant to make a dent in the medical situation in Gaza, it is meant purely to make Israel look bad. To that end, they write in their email:

Once we set sail, we do not plan on turning back. We will stay at sea, insisting on access to Gaza, until we succeed or Israel gravely attacks or arrests us.

Since Israel has already informed them that they will not be allowed to dock in Gaza, they are deliberately putting on a theatre to force a showdown and gain more press.

And have no doubt, the press is complicit in making Free Gaza look like a humanitarian organization rather than a PR wing of Hamas that tells its members that now is the time for a "third intifada."

In fact, this so-called "mercy ship" has 6 doctors, 7 "human rights workers" - and 17 journalists, including reporters from CNN, Sky TV, the BBC, the Sunday Herald (UK), Mega TV and France's Channel 2. The reporters know that Israel will not allow the boat through and that makes a good, manufactured story.

Not that the presence of reporters will stop the Free Gaza terror-supporters from lying even more egregiously, as they falsely claimed last time that a half dozen Israeli ships fired upon them with live ammunition and still cannot produce a single video that verifies their claim that Israeli boats rammed them three times "without warning."

The media should not allow these clowns to manufacture "news" and to brazenly lie about this so called "mercy ship."

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Knock, knock - another example of Free Gaza/Hamas propaganda

The Free Gaza Movement is trying hard to be the premier place to go to get unfettered pro-terrorist propaganda. Here is part of a recent email meant to stir up rage against Israel:

1. Israel has begun a new policy in Gaza in the past two days called the "roof knock". This is when a "small" rocket is fired from Israeli military aircraft that is strong enough to blast open the roof of a targeted building. It is sent as a "warning message" to the building's inhabitants giving them between 2 and 3 minutes to evacuate before the building is completely destroyed. A number of cases of this new technique have been reported recently.

And what is the truth? From the New York Times:

A new Israeli weapon, meanwhile, is tailored to the Hamas tactic of asking civilians to stand on the roofs of buildings so Israeli pilots will not bomb. The Israelis are countering with a missile designed, paradoxically, not to explode. They aim the missiles at empty areas of the roofs to frighten residents into leaving the buildings, a tactic called “a knock on the roof.”

The evil-sounding IDF method is, yet again, a way to save the lives of Gazans that Hamas is purposefully putting into danger. And the FGM just happens to leave out the part about Hamas using human shields.

This shows yet again that Israel spends time, effort and thought into how to save Gazans' lives while going after terrorists, and Hamas spends time and effort on how to endanger Gazans' lives in order to save their own. Hamas' and Islamic Jihad's tactics of purposefully hiding behind civilians is the evil here, and no amount of pro-terrorist "human rights' spin can make it otherwise.

Plus, we once again see that Free Gaza is simply a Hamas PR front organization who cares little about real Palestinian Arab lives and much about whitewashing Hamas' crimes against the people they pretend to care about. Just like many of the "pro-Palestinian" protesters.

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Free Gaza calls for a "third intifada"

At the end of a long email detailing in horrific detail every death and injury in Gaza that she could detail, Free Gaza member Ewa Jasieiwcz ends off with this:

The third Intifada being urged now has to be our intifada too. As Israel
steps up its destruction of the Palestinian people, we need to step up our
reconstruction of our resistance, our movements, of our communities in our
own counties, where so many of us live in alienation and isolation. We
need to be the third intifada – people here need more and say repeatedly
that they need more than the demonstrations, because they are not stopping
the killing here. Demonstrations alone, are not stopping the killing here.

There are concrete steps that people can take, learning from the lessons
of the first Intifada and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign
to dismantle the South African Apartheid regime. Strategies of popular
resistance, strikes, occupations, direct actions. From the streets into
the offices, factories and headquarters is where we need to take this
fight, to the heart of decision-makers that are supposedly making
decisions on our behalf and the companies making a killing out of the
occupation. The third intifada needs to be a global intifada.

I suppose that she can argue that she is speaking purely about a non-violent "intifada", but when she uses that word is it clear what she means - a return to the types of terror attacks that started this whole problem.

What is notable about her advice is that she doesn't even consider the advice that many of her fellow Arabs are espousing, even after two weeks. From The National (UAE):

Regardless of the outcome of the barbaric Israeli Operation Cast Lead, one thing is certain; it is high time for Hamas to step down as the keeper of Gaza. This is where people will object and remind us that they were democratically elected. My answer to that is: Yes, but they are incompetent.

Ewa would never suggest that Hamas stop firing rockets, or that it should re-unify with the PA. No, her advice is to do everything possible to hurt Israel rather than stop terror.

Just going to show yet again what a bunch of hypocrites the "Free Gaza" movement is.

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The Zionist Collaborator Hierarchy

So far during this operation, we have seen:

Hamas accuse Fatah members of being Zionist collaborators
Yemeni parliamentarians accusing Al Arabiya of being Zionist
Hezbollah accusing Egypt of being collaborators with the Zionists
Hamas and others accusing the PA of being collaborators
Jordanian journalists accusing Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera of being collaborators
Free Gaza accusing anyone who focuses on sending aid to Gazans as being "complicit"
The Islamic Brotherhood accusing any Western-friendly Arab countries as "collaborators"

Which means that the current hierarchy of people who hate Israel and love terrorism looks something like this:

1. Free Gaza Movement and Iran
2. The Islamic Brotherhood and assorted jihadist organizations
3. Jordanian journalists and Hezbollah
4. Al Jazeerah and Yemeni parliamentarians
5. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf countries
6. Jordan
7. Egypt
8. Mahmoud Abbas and the PA

Rankings subject to change based on new invective and vitriol.

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