A Union of Good website is reporting that the International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza (ICBSG) is attempting to launch a media campagn aimed at influencing world opinion to lift the Israeli blockade of Gaza. According to the report:
The International Campaign to Break the Siege of Gaza and Advocacy with Palestine is seeking ,Within the framework of its activities, to a lunch a media campaign under the motto “ A Story of Persistence” to mobilize international support to lift the blockade of Gaza. The campaign also aims at alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people in the besieged coastal enclave and to raise necessary funds to provide the inhabitants of Gaza with their basic needs under the oppressive Israeli siege since more than four years. According to the organizers of the campaign, a number of media institutions expressed readiness , in principle, to participate like TV channels : Al-Resala, Al-Quds , Al-Hiwar, Hayatuna, Al-Shorooq, and Suhail TV, besides broadcasting stations of Hayat FM, and Al-Fajr, while some other institutions are expected to join the campaign during the few next days. A number of prominent figures representing various categories of the society, will be hosted by those channels, from different countries and will include famous preachers, Muslim scholars, chanters, football players, beside some prominent persons in charitable activities and well-known political figures. Also a some activists in previous campaigns, specially with Freedom Flotilla, will be hosted, as well ,by those TV channels, besides a number of media specialists. The TV episodes will include photo essays to illustrate the Palestinians suffering in different domains of health care, education, infrastructure, rebuilding , poverty and unemployment, the Egyptian Steel Wall, the crossings, childhood, previous convoys, freedom vessels, children suffering, the injured, the disabled, and about the preparations for the holy month of Ramadan. Besides the campaign that will be covered by TV channels and broadcasting stations, the international campaign will implement an electronic campaign that includes designing a website in network to include a number of statistic reports about the situation in Gaza Strip. The campaign will also send SMS via mobile phones to the subscribers in some communication companies, beside sending emails,in addition of using facebook ,twitter, and y-tube , as well as implementing announcements in the most viewed news-websites, in particular about the Palestinian cause.
The media outlets identified in the report are known to be Islamist broadcast operations. For example, Al-Resala (aka Al-Resalah) is led by Tareq Al-Suwaidan the head of the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood and financed by Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a major supporter of the Global Muslim Brotherhood.
The Union of Good report describes the ICBSG as:
….a world coalition presided by former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Al-Hoss,that includes a number of prominent figures, parties, institutions, and human rights organizations supporting the Palestinian people to lift the Gaza siege.
In reality, the ICBSG is a Hamas front organization led by Mohammad Sawalha, its Vice-President. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) has published a profile of Hamas activist and U.K. Muslim Brotherhood leader Muhammad Kazem Sawalha, describing him as follows:
Muhammad Kazem Sawalha is a senior Hamas activist who publicly supports jihad and was formerly involved in both political and operational Hamas activities in Judea and Samaria, including running the terrorist operative infrastructure. He was wanted by the Israeli security services but in October 1990 used forced documents to escape to Jordan, and from there went to Britain. In Britain he has been involved in intensive anti-Israeli activities within the Islamic community, with the Muslim Brotherhood and with British organizations providing support for the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip.
The ITIC report goes on to discuss Mr. Sawalha’s numerous ties to the Global Muslim Brotherhood.
A previous post discussed the role of Mr. Sawalha and the ICBSG as one of the organizers of the recent Gaza flotilla involved in a violent altercation with Israeli naval forces.