Lee Kaplan
Jam 14, 2009
A Criminal website incites the killing of volunteers in Gaza. Vittorio Arrigoni is also in their sights. There should be investigation against Lee Kaplan.
The criminal website http://stoptheism.com/ invites people to kill the few volunteers who are providing health treatment in Gaza under Israeli bombs.
They are Americans, Spaniards, Australians, Italians and other volunteers who report us what news they can about the real impact of the Israeli aggression in Gaza. Amongst them there is Vittorio Arrigoni, human rights activist.
What we have here is pure incitement to killing, furnished also with the photos of those "wanted". It’s really unconceivable that the site is still online. We demand that the Italian Government and Foreign Office take steps right now to call for it to be immediately closed and to bring those responsible to court.
http://www.megachip.info/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=8532
by Pino Cabras – Megachip
The call is clear: to kill a group of people, with their first and last name, habits and ideas, political affiliations and pictures easily identifiable. They also demand informers’ cooperation so as to complete the list with addresses. The dossiers are openly addressed to the Israeli military so as to help them eliminate "dangerous" targets physically, unless others see to it first: the foes to be hit are western activists—health assistants and other volunteers—who work and are witnesses to what is unfolding in the Occupied Territories.
You may read all this on a website, run by a group of extremists, a sort of American-Jewish Ku Klux Klan: Stop the ISM. It may be worth noting that an Italian, Vittorio Arrigoni, whose touching reports from Gaza we have read, is amongst those targeted.
 The person who runs the site is Lee Kaplan. He’s one of the many quasi-fascist instigators of the American far right underbelly, a medley that has recently taken root both amongst the Christian movements and the fringes of Jewish fundamentalism, now joined by an unusual anti-Islamic extremism. In the US, this linking between these two milieus has strengthened to the extent that Kaplan often hangs around the wannabe high society circles of the TV talk shows famous for their foaming at the mouth, on Fox News channel.
But, above all, this phenomenon is getting stronger in the Holy Land. The Jewish fundamentalists control the most extremist settlements in the territories (as it was already possible to learn by reading Israel Shahak’s and Norton Mezvinsky’s Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, London, Pluto Press 1999). The Christian fundamentalists help them hasten the coming of Armageddon, the final battle between Good and Evil, that is supposed to take place precisely there. Maybe in order to get ahead with his work, Mr Kaplan gives free rein to the site in order to call for Arrigoni and others to be eliminated. Moreover, without expecting any concern from the Italian government, in case someone should see to our fellow countryman’s wished-for "permanent removal". We shall repeat: these criminal hopes haven’t turned up on a semi-underground web forum, but on a site open to everyone and run by a public figure.
Now, since also the Israeli armed forces don’t want witnesses to Gaza’s havoc, and our mainstream media has immediately and sycophantically complied with this ban, and since the only voice from there comes from Arrigoni, then "two and two makes four" and we get wind of a huge danger. We have seen that a heavy hand is being used there, if even hospitals, ambulances, schools are bombed and any aid is targeted.
While the body count in Gaza is now reaching one thousand, an oddity is taking place.
Neither can the heap of corpses be swept any longer under the rug of a leading article by Bernard Henry Levy, nor the use of horrible weapons—that in future you will see prohibited. Our papers are shyly starting to talk about it. Yes, not in the front page, like we did some days ago here, but at page ten, with low profile articles.
Concealing is no longer possible. Yet, it’s possible to water things down. And our great media knows well how to do it. Awaiting who knows what, a political military success, a chimera, the end of Hamas. At what price?
The most subtle censorship is ongoing, but this subtlety doesn’t save it from being associated to more violent and threatening censorship, the kind that intends to hit those who want to rescue the Palestinian people from their own destruction.
You know, when the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger. Similarly, many Italian intellectuals are horrified while pointing out to us the blood-stained finger of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) but they fail to look at the gloomy moon where the other fundamentalisms are increasingly holding sway over the Israeli leadership
The idea according to which the IAF are defending the Enlightenment against the uncivilized is an ideology heralding tragedies, and we had better get rid of it by operating an honest historical and political review of the Middle-eastern record. The account of what is happening is now at a crucial point, with all the witnesses to be respected.
Translated by Diego Traversa and revised by Mary Rizzo for www.tlaxcala.es
so you don't need to go to his trash site, see the criminal calls to assassination that he has right on his site. AND HIS SITE IS STILL RUNNING??
From Stop the ISM website
ISMer Ewa Jasiewicz in house of former DFLP commander killed by IDF claims she is just picking up "civilian" casualties. Jaseiwicz, in Abu Rabo's house, works with the terrorists. Rabo's house no doubt held weapons cache with children inside as human shields. Abu Rabo was the deputy of Naif Hawatma, the head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Ewa Jasiewicz needs to be a target of IDF forces as well as she has shown she is in Gaza to work for Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups like DFLP. A picture of Ewa is below. If you know of her exact location, please email us at info@StoptheISM.com so we can target and take her out once and for all.
As with any good subversive, Ewa changes her haircolor frequently:
  
Want to bring a permanent peace to the Middle East? Help the IDF find and target her to be eliminated permanently like her Hamas buddies. Ewa was previously a human shield for Iraqi insurgents. She is no peace activist, she is a Hamas enabler. She claims to be helping civilians, but all her "civilians" are in the homes of Hamas and other terrorist group operatives such as Abu-Rabo of the DFLP. She is aiding terrorists with homes that have weapons caches, not innocent Palestinians. It is people like her who will roil this conflict forever and once they are eliminated, only then can there potentially be a just peace for Arabs and Israelis alike.
ALERT THE IDF MILITARY TO TARGET ISM
Number to call if you can pinpoint the locations of Hamas with their ISM members with them. From the US call 011-972-2-5839749. From other countries drop the 011. Help us neutralize the ISM that is now definitely a part of Hamas since the war began.
#1 ISM TARGET FOR THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE AND IDF GROUND TROOPS:
VITTORIO ARRIGONI (PICTURED BELOW) IS CURRENTLY IN GAZA ASSISTING HAMAS
ARRIGONI HAS BEEN DEPORTED REPEATEDLY BY ISRAEL AND WAS DEPORTED NOT ONLY IN 2005 BUT JUST LAST MONTH AFTER ENTERING GAZA ILEGALLY WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA. HE WAS CAPTURED BY THE IDF NAVY AND DEPORTED ONLY TO SHOW UP AGAIN IN GAZA WITH THE ISM HAVING REENTERED JUST DAYS LATER WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA.
ARRIGONI WAS AWARDED A MEDAL FROM HAMAS AND IS CURRENTLY DOING HUMAN SHIELD WORK FOR HAMAS IN GAZA. WE PROVIDE THIS PHOTO SO THE IDF CAN HOPEFULLY FIND HIM AND GET RID OF HIM PERMANENTLY. THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT BEHAVFED DISGRACEFULLY DURING THE ACHILLE LAURO AFFAIR AND ENABLED MACHMOUD ABBAS TO ESCAPE AFTER HIS CAPTURE BY THE US MILITARY. WE DOUBT THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT WOULD BE OVERLY CONCERNED BY THIS RECIDIVIST ANARCHIST FOR HAMAS AND THE ISM AND HOPE HE BECOMES A TARGET FOR PERMANENT REMOVAL:
 (A more cleaned up Arrigoni, left, during a deportation hearing in Tel Aviv in 2005). Arrigoni has his left eyebrow pierced and sports at least one tattoo, a design on his left shoulder. The IDF should regard him as an operative of Hamas and treat him no differently.
TARGET #2 JENNY LINNELL
 Jenny Linnel also received a medal from Hamas and has attempted to encourage the opening the sea lanes for the smuggling of weapons from Iran. She claims she's a human rights activist but is in fact another anarchist from the UK.
Jenny has appeared on Iranian TV in the English language to promote Hamas. See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyokcGD9U9E
Of course, we all know the Iranians only have the best of motives. Hamas is an Iranian proxy and she is appearing on Iranian TV. She is not a human rights activist, she is an anarchist supporting Hamas and ultimately Iran.
Target #3 Ewa Jasiewicz
 
Ewa has also been awarded a medal from Hamas and works to support the Hamas terrorist groups while claiming she is a human rights worker. Also from the UK via Poland, she has been active in assisting Hamas during the Israeli incursion. She is skilled at promoting propaganda for Hamas and retelling incidents to hide her activity in support of Hamas. Currently she fabricates tales about houses of Hamas operatives destroyed because they were weapons caches by spinning the events as attacks on innocent civilians.
All three of these people should be regarded as enemy combattants who help with logisitcs, propaganda and God only knows what else. They were all deported and came immediately back in and should be targeted by the IDF with the rest of Hamas to remove them for good.
Target #4  Alberto Arce is from Spain, he fancies himself a film director  Arce creates propaganda scenes for Hamas. He is accompanying Hamas operatives as a human shield while enhancing his filmmaker prospects for the future.
Target #5 Eva Bartlett from Australia Eva Bartlett is aiding the Hamas during the war campaign. No photo yet.
Target #6 Sharon Lock of Australia (no photo but a poor picture on Russian TV at:
http://www.youtube.com/v/uzxRGvVH8qQ&hl=en&fs=1) . A note about Lock's comments on the video:
She doesn't know anything about international law because the term "collective punishment" refers to taking hostages in a war zone and executing innocent people to force collaboration. It does not refer to civilian casualties that occur because the goddamned Hamas shoot their missiles from population centers and schoolyards. The fact is Sharon doesn't care when Hamas shoots missiles at Israeli schoolkids, she wants to distract when Israel fights back by calling collateral casualties (small, given Israel's attempt to avoid such) "collective punishment." She is now serving in ambulances used by Hamas to transport terrorists and weapons.
All of these Marxist anarchists above are responsible for proliferation of weapons smuggling tunnels in Rafah through the publicity campaign using the death of Rachel Corrie as an excuse to put pressure on Israel to stop destroying those tunnels. Today, the IDF has to go back in and destroy them. Up until now, with ISM help, those tunnels have provided weapons that killed even children in Sderot. The above people are on record as having gone into the tunnels and knowing where they are. Time to treat them as enemy combattants. In coming days, we'll tell you how to STOP THEM for good. Right now, these people are riding in ambulances used by Hamas to transport weapons and terrorists to provide human shield work for the killers.
By the way, here's a photo of Paul LaRudee of Norcal ISM, one their leaders meeting with his Hamas allies:
 We're wondering if LaRudee (left) is asking Haniyeh if he has a suicide bomber's bed he can sleep in as he did in the past. LaRudee is earning big bucks now as an organizer for Hamas and also received a medal from the terrorist group. He also has been working with Hizballah.
NEW!!! CAIOHME BUTTERFLY IS TARGET #7 OF ISM IN GAZA
CAIOHME HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY DEPORTED FROM ISRAEL AND IS NOW IN GAZA DOING HER HUMAN SHIELD WORK FOR HAMAS. AN IRISH NATIONAL. HER PASSION IS TO DESTROY ISRAEL AND AID ALL TERRORIST GROPS THAT SEEK TO DO SO. HER HAIR COLOR MAY BE DIFFERENT AS IN THIS PHOTO:
 SUPPORTING HAMAS TERRORISTS IN THE EMERALD ISLE IN THE PHOTO AT LEFT, CAIOHME IS NOW IN GAZA WORKING FOR HAMAS.
Listen to Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan about the ISM on the Tovia Singer Show, Israel National Radio by clicking this link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/455
IDF NAVY STOPS ISM BOAT!!!
The IDF Navy finally stopped the IDF Flotilla boat Dignity today. As usual the ISM claims their boat was in international waters (like they never lie).
The Israeli Defense Ministry needs to do three things:
1) Sink the boat.
2) Sink the boat.
3) Sink the boat.
Arrest Huwaida Arraf and Neta Golan if on board and this time prosecute them. Golan, a former mental patient is a co-founder of the ISM with Huwaida Arraf.
Intercepted ISM email:
From: "Ramzi Kysia" <ramzi@riseup.net>
URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship! TAKE ACTION
IMMEDIATELY!
The Dignity, a Free Gaza boat on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, is
being attacked by the Israeli Navy in international waters. The Dignity
has been surrounded by at least half-a-dozen Israeli warships. They are
firing live ammunition around the Dignity, and one of the warships has
rammed the civilian craft causing an unknown amount of damage. Contrary to
international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the
Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or
Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to
Cyprus - despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do
so. Fortunately, no one aboard the ship has yet been seriously injured.
There are 15 civilian passengers representing 11 different countries (see
below for a complete list). At approximately 5am (UST), well out in
international waters, Israeli warships began surrounding the Dignity,
threatening the ship. At 6:45am (UST) we were able to establish brief
contact with the crew and were told that the ship had been rammed by the
Israeli Navy in international waters, and that the Israelis were
preventing the ship from finding safe harbor. We heard heavy gunfire in
the background before all contact was lost with the Dignity.
It is urgent that you TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!
CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking
the Dignity and endangering the lives of its passengers! (
DO CALL BUT TELL TEHM TO SINK THE SHIP!!!)
CALL Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5062 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il
CALL Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 33697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29
December, bound for war-devastated Gaza with a cargo of over 3 tons of
desperately needed medical supplies donated by the people of Cyprus. At
our request, the ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to
departure, to certify that there was nothing "threatening" aboard - only
emergency medical supplies.
TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY TO STOP THE ISRAELI NAVY FROM ENDANGERING THE
DIGNITY AND ITS PASSENGERS!
Civilians aboard the Dignity being threatened by the Israeli military:
(UK) Denis Healey, Captain
Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years,
beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while
ats chool and has been part of the sea ever since. He's a certified
yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to
large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza. (He needs to be prosecuted by Israel and the US for violating US Neutrality Act).
(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate
Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist (bullshit artist). He has served as
a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in
August.
This guy needs to be prosecuted by Israel for repeat offenses.
(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah
Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in
Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught. (Objective? Al Jazeera calls Hamas terrorist martyrs)
(Australia) Renee Bowyer
Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist (bullshit artist). She will remain in
Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly–ISM MANIAC FROM WAY BACK
Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the
Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights
monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development
with Free Gaza.
(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou
Ekaterini is a well-known and respected (by whom?) freelance journalist in Cyprus.
She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.
(Sudan) Sami El-Haj - AN Al QAEDA MAN!
Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights
section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the
ongoing military onslaught.
(UK) Dr. David Halpin-WOULD NEVER VOLUNTEER FOR JEWISH VICTIMS IN SDEROT
Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and
ship's captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on
several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to
volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa
Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to
volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi
Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain
in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(USA) Cynthia McKinney-KNOWN VIRULENT ANTI-SEMITE WANTED TO ACCEPT SAUDI MONEY AFTER 9/11.
Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green
Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the
ongoing conflict.
(Cyprus) Martha Paisi
Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist (bulshit artist). She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with
humanitarian relief efforts.
(UK) Karl Penhaul
Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogot?,
Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking
news around the world utilizing CNN's new laptop-based 'Digital
Newsgathering' system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing
conflict.
(Iraq) Thaer Shaker
Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to
report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP
Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is
traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian
relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.
###
To: <gazafriends@lists.riseup.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:26 AM
Subject: [GazaFriends] URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship!
TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY!
| ISRAEL IS ON THE MARCH IN GAZA. WE CAN ONLY HOPE THE ISM ACTS AS REAL HUMAN SHIELDS THIS TIME SO THEY CAN GET SHOT.An old Arab ditty but with new lyrics:
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Bomb the shit out the the Gaza savages!
Let's have some smell of napalm in the morning over Rafiach.
Avenge Sderot!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Die die die Hamas dogs!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Zion gonna win!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Killing the Jihad bastards is the answer!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
End the illegal Hamas occupation of Jewish land in Gaza!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan can salso be heard on the Tovia Singer Show (Israel National News Radio) on Thursday, December18th at 1 PM Pacific Time US to discuss Stop the ISM's involvement in the arrest and deportation of ISM activist Darlene Wallach by the Israeli Navy. If there is time, he will also discuss the newest ISM vile tactics of If American's Knew's head, Alsion Weir who is producing a film with the ISM's newest lie claiming Israel routinely sexcually abuses Arab women at Ben Gurion airport. For more on Alison Weir, visit the Rogues Section of Stop the ISM. The Tovia Singer Show can be heard at www.israelnationalnews.com and clicking on Radio Shows. The show also will be archived.
IDF Exercises Sovereignty off Gaza, Arrests Pro-Arab Activists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) The IDF arrested 15 Arab fishermen and three International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists Monday after their fishing boats veered into Israeli territorial waters. It was the first time the foreigners have been arrested since the pro-Arab "Free Gaza" movement began testing Israeli sovereignty in August.
They have broken Israeli sovereignty four times by landing at Gaza without authorization and without interference from Israeli authorities before Tuesday's arrests.
The Foreign Ministry originally said it did not want to create a media circus over arrests on the high seas. Further sailings were allowed by the office of the Prime Minister and the IDF, possibly out of fear of injuries to the activists, who have included European legislators.
The detained activists were identified as Andrew Muncie from Scotland, Darlene Wallach from the United States and Victor Arrigoni from Italy, all of whom were turned over to immigration authorities at Ben Gurion Airport for deportation. One of them is staging a hunger strike, and pro-Arab leaders from the Free Gaza movement charged Israel with "kidnapping them."
An IDF spokeswoman explained that the fishing boats wandered into prohibited territory and ignored orders to halt. "They interfered with security patrols," the spokeswoman explained. "The ISM activists are provocateurs, and the IDF allows fishing in permitted waters."
The activists accompany the fishermen to encourage them to sail beyond the allowed limit and claim that Israel's exercised sovereignty over the Gaza Coast violates the Oslo Agreements. The government has stated in the past that it will control the air and sea so long as the Palestinian Authority, which has been replaced by Hamas in Gaza, does not control terror.
The activists previously have charged the Navy with chemical warfare by spraying water cannons that drenched them with "a chemical substance." IDF spokesmen laughed off the allegations as ridiculous and said that "routine and acceptable" measures are taken when boats stray beyond legal limits.
The IDF also denied allegations that machine gunfire has been used to ward off the boats. Radio Netherlands reported that the fishing boats bear bullet holes, and it quoted an unnamed Arab's claim that fishermen come under fire on a daily basis.
Muncie, one of the activists who was arrested, accused the Navy of throwing explosives into the sea in order to destabilize the boats. Radio Netherlands also reported claims that two fishermen have been killed and at least four others wounded. The IDF denied the claims.
ISM activist prosecuted for aiding Hamas and passport fraud:
Pennsylvania Leftist useful idiot guilty of aiding Hamas
A member of the International Solidarity Movement. Left/Jihad Nexus Update: "York County native gets 31/2 years for helping Hamas," by Nichole Dobo for The Evening Sun, August 23:
A 33-year-old York County native was sentenced Thursday morning to prison for aiding a group the United States designated as a terrorist organization. Richard David Hupper, originally from York Township, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison for aiding Hamas, a Palestinian military and political organization.
Hupper faced up to 15 years in prison. He admitted to giving about $20,000 to Hamas while working in Israel with the International Solidarity Movement, a non-governmental organization….
Hupper, a Dallastown Area High School graduate, became involved with the conflict in the Middle East after watching international newscasts. The machinist watched the TV shows while recovering from a work-related injury at his Alabama home, his lawyer has said.
Hupper traveled to the Gaza Strip, where he worked with the International Solidarity Movement to aid Palestinians, according to court documents. He was eventually deported by Israeli authorities, according to court documents.
To return to Israel, Hupper applied for a passport in Florida using false information, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to passport fraud charges more than two years ago. He is finishing his 24-month federal prison sentence for those charges.
Where does an unemployed machinist get $20K for Hamas? Through ISM fundraising as with the Gaza Flotilla. See below and tune in to learn how to go after ISM -Hamas fundraising:
Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan will be on the Tovia Singer Show on Israel National News Radio on Thrusday night , August 28th at 9 pm (Friday at midnight e.s.t. or 7 am Friday in Israel) to discuss the Gaza Flotilla and what you can do to have the ISM activists arrested involved in the event. Tune in to see what you can do at www.israelnationalnews.com click on radio and listen live or listen to the archived show.
Slow Boat to Gaza
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By David Bedein
Nicosia, Cyprus - On Monday, a movement known as FreeGaza.org held a press conference in Nicosia, Cyprus, in which a group of 40 people from around the world announced that they would board two small boats to travel by sea to Gaza to "break the siege" that Israel has placed upon Gaza.
There was no acknowledgement that in June of 2007, the Hamas regime took over Gaza and formalized a total state of war against Israel with the aim of liberating all of Palestine and using Gaza as a stepping stone to recoup any and all land ruled by the Jewish state.
With increasing boatloads of Iranian military hardware landing on the Gaza coastline, the Israeli navy was forced to impose an embargo of goods coming into Gaza. Israel offered to oversee goods and services for humanitarian needs in Gaza, by allowing specified supervised land crossings for supply to Gaza.
The press conference, held at "Journalist House" in Nicosia, was launched with an opening statement by an Israeli American Jerusalem resident, Jeff Halper, who alleged that Israel was behaving in defiance of international law by closing shipping lanes to Gaza. He also claimed that the people of Gaza faced a severe shortage of milk and medical supplies.
Mr. Monir Deeb, a native Gazan who has lived in Los Angeles since 1979, explained to the media that he was boarding these boats to reunite with his siblings in Gaza. Mr. Deeb described Gaza as a "peaceful community under Israeli military siege" and said that this small convoy was meant to deliver a message to Israel to stop the siege of Gaza.
This reporter asked Mr. Deeb about the armed Gaza militias who have fired thousands of missiles over the past eight years against Israeli civilian communities that surround Gaza. I also asked for his comment on how the Hamas government is using the current cease fire period to regroup and train for the next attack on Israel. Mr. Deeb said that he "could not relate to this question," since it was "political" and his concern was "only humanitarian" in nature.
The convener of the FreeGaza.org press conference, Ms. Greta Berlin, an American woman formerly married to a Palestinian whose family was dislocated from Safed in Northern Israel during the 1948 war, gave examples of the humanitarian mission on which they were embarking. "One of her missions," she said, "was to supply 9,000 hearing aids for Palestinian children who suffer hearing loss at a young age, due to Israeli missile attacks on Gaza."
I asked Ms. Berlin if it were not the case that the missile attacks that she had claimed had been fired at Palestinians in Gaza by Israelis were actually fired by Palestinians towards the Western Negev, as they screech over Palestinian villages en route to hit Israeli civilian targets.
Ms. Berlin would not comment, saying repeatedly that the purpose of the voyage to Gaza was not political, even though the press statement issued by FreeGaza.org touched every raw political nerve possible.
FreeGaza.org also clearly stated that it strongly condemns Israel for not allowing "refugees and their descendants the right to return home" to the villages that have since been resettled by Israel after the 1948 war. Meanwhile, the "FreeGaza.org" press statement also decried "Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine," laying aside any pretensions that the group only favored Israel's full withdrawal from Gaza.
Ms. Berlin reported that the operation to bring two boats into Gaza was independent of any foreign entities. She mentioned that FreeGaza.org had already raised $210,000 of the total budget needed, more than $300,000 for the boats. However, on July 31st, the Palestine Information Center issued a press release in which it stated that a member of the Lebanese Parliament had confirmed to Hamas leader Abu Marzook in Cairo that the boats had been provided by Palestinian popular committees by the Hamas. That would mean, in effect, that FreeGaza.org received two sources of support for its work - from American Jewish groups and from the Palestinian popular committees which are run by Hamas.
Nothing like the profit motive to move things along the high seas.
The boats are timed to arrive in Gaza this coming Saturday night, which this year marks Tisha 'av, the ninth of Av on the Jewish calendar, a fast day which marks disasters which have befallen the Jewish people.
By coincidence or not, pro-Palestinian movements around the world have designated this Friday and Saturday as a time of solidarity with their cause.
Indeed, an international Palestinian solidarity conference will convene this coming weekend at Wyndam Ohare Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, where a coalition of fifty Arab groups will gather under the umbrella of the first "Palestinian Popular Conference in North America." The theme of the conference, promoted in all of their publicity, leaves no room for the imagination: "Ending Zionist occupation and colonization of Palestine.
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