Hamas Flotilla Front Group Media Campaign Described

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A Union of Good website is reporting details on the media campaign launched by the International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza (ICBSG) that was discussed in an earlier post. According to the report:

Reports that illustrate the sad situation of everyday life in the Gaza Strip..guests, prominent figures, Muslim scholars, Muslim chanters have all unified their efforts to lift the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza. Children, women, elderly people all announced their solidarity with the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their readiness to donate whatever amounts, even if too little ..this was the scene during the last two days of the media campaign “ With Gaza , we have a story of persistence”, launched by the International Committee to Break Gaza Siege. In the first day of the campaign, and through a live broadcasting by a group of Satellite channels, the campaign hosted the public relations director of the campaign Mohammad Hamdan, together with a number of advocacy scholars who all reaffirmed the importance to enhance the role of international solidarity campaigns with Gaza. Hamdan highlighted the role played by the International Committee to Break Gaza Siege in organizing the solidarity campaigns , besides organizing a big number of convoys and projects, in cooperation and participation of humanitarian and international institutions representing different nations and religions. Hamdan also emphasized the importance of mobilizing and unifying efforts in order to have a unified stance of solidarity regarding what is happening in Gaza, and the necessity of exerting all efforts to completely lift the siege of Gaza. The advocacy scholars , who participated in the live TV broadcasting, underlined the importance of the legitimate duty of solidarity with Gaza, and the importance of supporting Gaza people in facing the occupation’s schemes.In the second day of the campaign, like the first day, a 2-hours episode was screened through a unified TV broadcasting of by a group of satellite channels. The episode hosted the Iraqi chanter Mohammad Al-Azzawi, besides a number of charity representatives , advocacy scholars from Lebanon and Kuwait, besides other solidarity activists who participated in other campaigns like The Freedom Flotilla. The campaign episode also covered live broadcasting from Gaza that included meeting and talking with some Gaza families through visiting them at their homes and looking at their deteriorating economic situation, with electricity outages and incapability to feed their children. Some visual report were also screened documenting the destroyed homes and infrastructure services that still prevailing in the Gaza Strip, as result of Israeli prevention to allow the entry of rebuilding material to Gaza.

The report goes on to discuss the broadcast radio aspect of the campaign and identifies Dr. Issam Yousef (aka Essam Youssef) as the most prominent participant. Dr. Youssef is the former executive manager of the Union of Good and currently a trustee of INTERPAL, perhaps the most important of the Union member organizations and based in the UK. The Union of Good is known to be a Hamas-rundraising operation led by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi. The report also mentions says that “The first two days of the campaign were distinguished by a big popular participation through telephones , and many persons , from different countries, have expressed their solidarity with Gaza Strip ,while others announced their financial contributions to support the Palestinian people.”

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.

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