Jul 2, 2011
Joseph Dana
+972 Blog
Source: Institute for Middle East Understanding
The Greek Coast Guard intercepted the Gaza flotilla’s American ship this afternoon, less than one hour after it had set sail from the Athens port. The Greek authorities demanded the boat return to the port, resulting in a protracted standoff at sea, with the captain of the U.S. boat in talks with the authorities over their demands. After a couple hours, and under the threat of an armed takeover by the Greek authorities, the boat agreed to be escorted back to land. It arrived at the Athens coast guard port at roughly 8.:30 PM local time. As the time of writing, most reporters have left the boat, but the passengers remained on it.
It emerged that just before the boat had set sail, Greece issued a blanket ban on ships sailing to Gaza from its ports. According to the decision, approved by Minister for Citizen Protection Christos Papoutsis, the “broader maritime area of eastern Mediterranean will be continuously monitored by electronic means for tracking, where applicable, the movements of the ships allegedly participating in such campaign” [to sail to Gaza].
The boat, named the Audacity of Hope, left the Athens port at 4:30 PM en route to the Gaza Strip, carrying 35 passengers, five crew members and 11 journalists. It departed without permission from the Greek authorities to sail.
Former U.S. Army colonel Anne Wright, leader of mission, told +972 soon after the ship set sail that it is “defiant in going to Gaza. Israeli and Greek won’t pressure won’t stop us.” Along with its 51 passengers, the ship is carrying letters for the people of Gaza. Israel’s Channel 1 TV looked though the entire boat before its departure.
Around the time the American boat was stopped by the Greek Coast Guard, the organizers of the Canadian ship said in a Twitter message that they are being held at port by the Greek authorities:
ALERT: Greek authorities preventing Canadian Boat and #Flotilla2 from sailing. Israeli blockade of Gaza reaches shores of Greece.
On Friday evening, Haaretz reported that Greece had promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that it would stop the flotilla. Israel, the report said, used its influence in recent months to help the Greeks in their negotiations with the European Union regarding the country’s financial crisis. The two governments had also tightened their military cooperation. “The flotilla organizers’ didn’t understand that this year’s Greece is not last year’s, and they paid a price for it,” an Israeli source told Haaretz. Also on Thursday, Netanyahu, speaking at an Israel Air Force academy ceremony, singled out the Greek prime minister in thanking world leaders assisting Israel in working to stop the flotilla.
Earlier this week, organizers said that they have complied with all requests to inspect their vessel and its "seaworthiness," claiming the boat is seaworthy and that the pressure from the Greeks is politically motivated. In order to prove this, they have decided to sail and test the Greeks authorities’ reaction. The captain told me in an interview from the wheelhouse that he expects to be arrested and personally fined for his actions, despite the fact that he claims to have done nothing wrong legally.
For more live updates please check out my twitter feed: @ibnezra.
Joseph Dana is in Greece reporting for The Nation from the American ship to Gaza.
Showing posts with label freedom flotilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom flotilla. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Israel to cope with 'hardcore terror activists' on flotilla
29/06/2011
Source: Ma'an News Agency
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel will be able to handle any violence from "hardcore activists" on board a new Gaza-bound flotilla, the foreign minister said Tuesday, amid claims some were planning attacks with chemicals.
"The moderate elements who were planning to join the flotilla... know that for everyone who wants to help people in Gaza, that there is a legal way to do it," Avigdor Lieberman told public radio in a telephone interview from Zagreb.
"It is clear that those who are still participating in the flotilla are the hardcore terror activists," he said.
"No one doubts the intention of those people... they will be on board several boats. But I am sure we will cope with them."
Israel is gearing up to block the arrival of a new international aid flotilla which is planning to set sail from Greece later this week in a bid to break the five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.
A similar attempt by a six-ship convoy to reach Gaza in May last year ended in bloodshed when Israeli troops stormed the lead vessel, leaving nine Turkish activists dead and sparking a diplomatic crisis with Ankara.
Following two days of deliberations, Israel's security cabinet on Monday ordered the navy to stop the second flotilla from reaching Gaza, but urged it to do so with "minimal confrontation" with the passengers.
Some 350 pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries including Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain are set to join "Freedom Flotilla II" -- among them a good number of middle-aged and even elderly Americans and Europeans.
Security officials and foreign ministry representatives had initially told the cabinet that Israel had no information that anyone linked to a terror group was planning to take part in the flotilla, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday.
But by nightfall, the assessment had changed dramatically, with a military spokeswoman telling reporters they had information about "radical elements" who were planning to join the flotilla in order to murder Israeli soldiers.
"There are radical elements on board the American boat who have said they want to kill Israeli soldiers," said Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovitz.
"We also know that one of the boats is carrying dangerous incendiary chemicals that these human rights militants want to use against Israeli soldiers," she said, warning that if the troops' lives were endangered, they would react.
Lieberman said it was clear those who were participating in the flotilla were "hardcore" activists bent on violence.
"There are all sorts of groups and factions who, despite the dangers, will take part. Those who are left... are the hardcore activists, the terror activists who don't want to help -- humanitarian aid doesn't interest them," he said.
"They want to purposely create a provocation, they are looking for a confrontation, they are looking for blood, they are looking for many images on the TV screens," he said.
Around seven of the boats are currently docked at ports in Greece, with organizers saying one of them was seriously damaged on Monday night in what they described as "sabotage".
"The propeller and the transmission shaft of the Greek-Swedish boat were cut," Dimitris Plionis told AFP.
Organizers say they are planning to meet up with the other three boats off the Greek island of Crete on Thursday or Friday before making the voyage to Gaza.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other leaders have urged the flotilla not to set sail, and Washington has warned US nationals not to join the attempt to break the Israeli embargo.
Israel placed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas took control of the coastal enclave.
Rights agencies say that the blockade amounts to a form of collective punishment of the 1.6 million people of Gaza.
Print
Source: Ma'an News Agency
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel will be able to handle any violence from "hardcore activists" on board a new Gaza-bound flotilla, the foreign minister said Tuesday, amid claims some were planning attacks with chemicals.
"The moderate elements who were planning to join the flotilla... know that for everyone who wants to help people in Gaza, that there is a legal way to do it," Avigdor Lieberman told public radio in a telephone interview from Zagreb.
"It is clear that those who are still participating in the flotilla are the hardcore terror activists," he said.
"No one doubts the intention of those people... they will be on board several boats. But I am sure we will cope with them."
Israel is gearing up to block the arrival of a new international aid flotilla which is planning to set sail from Greece later this week in a bid to break the five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.
A similar attempt by a six-ship convoy to reach Gaza in May last year ended in bloodshed when Israeli troops stormed the lead vessel, leaving nine Turkish activists dead and sparking a diplomatic crisis with Ankara.
Following two days of deliberations, Israel's security cabinet on Monday ordered the navy to stop the second flotilla from reaching Gaza, but urged it to do so with "minimal confrontation" with the passengers.
Some 350 pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries including Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain are set to join "Freedom Flotilla II" -- among them a good number of middle-aged and even elderly Americans and Europeans.
Security officials and foreign ministry representatives had initially told the cabinet that Israel had no information that anyone linked to a terror group was planning to take part in the flotilla, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday.
But by nightfall, the assessment had changed dramatically, with a military spokeswoman telling reporters they had information about "radical elements" who were planning to join the flotilla in order to murder Israeli soldiers.
"There are radical elements on board the American boat who have said they want to kill Israeli soldiers," said Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovitz.
"We also know that one of the boats is carrying dangerous incendiary chemicals that these human rights militants want to use against Israeli soldiers," she said, warning that if the troops' lives were endangered, they would react.
Lieberman said it was clear those who were participating in the flotilla were "hardcore" activists bent on violence.
"There are all sorts of groups and factions who, despite the dangers, will take part. Those who are left... are the hardcore activists, the terror activists who don't want to help -- humanitarian aid doesn't interest them," he said.
"They want to purposely create a provocation, they are looking for a confrontation, they are looking for blood, they are looking for many images on the TV screens," he said.
Around seven of the boats are currently docked at ports in Greece, with organizers saying one of them was seriously damaged on Monday night in what they described as "sabotage".
"The propeller and the transmission shaft of the Greek-Swedish boat were cut," Dimitris Plionis told AFP.
Organizers say they are planning to meet up with the other three boats off the Greek island of Crete on Thursday or Friday before making the voyage to Gaza.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other leaders have urged the flotilla not to set sail, and Washington has warned US nationals not to join the attempt to break the Israeli embargo.
Israel placed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas took control of the coastal enclave.
Rights agencies say that the blockade amounts to a form of collective punishment of the 1.6 million people of Gaza.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Gaza Cruise: On the Scene with Canadian Activists En Route to the Gaza Strip
June 23, 2011
By Jesse Rosenfeld
Source: Alternet
For flotilla activists, the struggle is as much about forcing a local debate on alternatives to Mideast policy as confronting Israel’s continued oppression of Palestinians.
THENS—“Oh my god Jesse, you’ve got to come, it’s a Mediterranean cruise to Gaza,” filmmaker and social justice activist John Greyson said to me, tongue partly in cheek, a while back.
He was trying to convince me that I should get on board a boat of Canadian activists and report on their voyage to Gaza as part of a flotilla of ships bringing supplies and running Israel’s blockade.
Ten days later I find myself on a cramped flight to Athens, sandwiched between Toronto’s contingent on the Canadian boat. After watching the latest rendition of Gullivers Travels starring Jack Black, Greyson chats with me about how his involvement in the struggle against South African apartheid, desire to tackle tough issues in the Queer community and the influence of his progressive Jewish friends has put him on a collision course with Israel’s siege.
He, along with the other Toronto activists flying out had received a less than warm send off by members of the far right nationalist, Jewish Defense League (JDL), who protested their planned voyage at the airport, accusing them of supporting terrorism. Most notable at the protest was a biker with sunglasses and beard rivaling Santa Clause, pacing back and forth with a yellow and black sign that poorly attempted to combine “Hamas,” and “assholes” into one word.
For the flotilla activists, the struggle is as much about forcing a local debate on alternatives to Harper’s mideast policy as confronting Israel’s continued oppression of Palestinians.
“Our government is not going do anything so we have to make some changes,” says Kate Wilson, a member of the feminist organization Code Pink (a group planning the flotilla).
Activism is not new to Wilson. Like Greyson, she is a veteran of the South African struggle, living in Botswana for three years during white rule in South Africa and supporting the liberation struggle there and in Canada.
There is a strong culture of security upon arriving at the hotel in Athens, and information is given on a need to know basis. Departure dates, locations and contingency plans are kept strictly under wraps.
Most of the flotilla organizing happens inside two hotels where chatter about the extent of covert Israeli diplomatic pressure is everywhere. People are apprehensive about the mossad (Israel’s spy agency) sabotaging boats before they depart, as was suspected to have happened to two boats before the first flotilla last year, that resulted in Israel commandeering six ships and the death of nine Turkish activists.
Meanwhile, outside the hotel, Athens is in a state of semi organized chaos as rolling, general strikes continue to loom. Most public squares and plazas in the downtown are occupied with protest tents and banners and public assemblies held nightly for the communities to gather and discuss alternative to the austerity measures gripping Greece.
In the public square across from Parliament a whole tent city, independent media office and activist community operates around the clock. I’m told by local activists that this is where the largest assemblies happen, often in the thousands.
Alongside the large and ruckus protests that have gained international attention, everywhere in the city there are signs of resistance to austerity measures. It’s common to hear people tell you that the entire Parliament are the cronies of the IMF and must go.
Even walking though the shopping district to get a local cell phone I can’t ignore the political posters that almost outstrip adds, and while the corporate cell phone stores are operating normally, the shop front logos have been trashed or spray painted.
And that’s just it; while Palestinian solidarity activists meet in Greece to plan and prepare to confront Israel’s occupation by sea, supporting the spreading of an Arab Spring in Palestine, the Greek students, workers and unemployed are bringing the spirit of the uprisings across the Mediterranean to change politics at home.
In many ways it’s the same idea of the Canadian’s calling their boat to Gaza "The Tahrir" after the Arabic name of Cairo’s liberation square. Or as Quaker nonviolence activist and code pink member Lyn Adamson says to me before the plane lands “We have an Arab Spring, but we need a global spring.”
Jesse Rosenfeld is a journalist who was based in Ramallah and Tel Aviv from 2007 to March 2011 and is currently in Toronto. He has written for The Nation, Al Jazeera English, the Guardian, and Foreign Policy among others.
By Jesse Rosenfeld
Source: Alternet
For flotilla activists, the struggle is as much about forcing a local debate on alternatives to Mideast policy as confronting Israel’s continued oppression of Palestinians.
THENS—“Oh my god Jesse, you’ve got to come, it’s a Mediterranean cruise to Gaza,” filmmaker and social justice activist John Greyson said to me, tongue partly in cheek, a while back.
He was trying to convince me that I should get on board a boat of Canadian activists and report on their voyage to Gaza as part of a flotilla of ships bringing supplies and running Israel’s blockade.
Ten days later I find myself on a cramped flight to Athens, sandwiched between Toronto’s contingent on the Canadian boat. After watching the latest rendition of Gullivers Travels starring Jack Black, Greyson chats with me about how his involvement in the struggle against South African apartheid, desire to tackle tough issues in the Queer community and the influence of his progressive Jewish friends has put him on a collision course with Israel’s siege.
He, along with the other Toronto activists flying out had received a less than warm send off by members of the far right nationalist, Jewish Defense League (JDL), who protested their planned voyage at the airport, accusing them of supporting terrorism. Most notable at the protest was a biker with sunglasses and beard rivaling Santa Clause, pacing back and forth with a yellow and black sign that poorly attempted to combine “Hamas,” and “assholes” into one word.
For the flotilla activists, the struggle is as much about forcing a local debate on alternatives to Harper’s mideast policy as confronting Israel’s continued oppression of Palestinians.
“Our government is not going do anything so we have to make some changes,” says Kate Wilson, a member of the feminist organization Code Pink (a group planning the flotilla).
Activism is not new to Wilson. Like Greyson, she is a veteran of the South African struggle, living in Botswana for three years during white rule in South Africa and supporting the liberation struggle there and in Canada.
There is a strong culture of security upon arriving at the hotel in Athens, and information is given on a need to know basis. Departure dates, locations and contingency plans are kept strictly under wraps.
Most of the flotilla organizing happens inside two hotels where chatter about the extent of covert Israeli diplomatic pressure is everywhere. People are apprehensive about the mossad (Israel’s spy agency) sabotaging boats before they depart, as was suspected to have happened to two boats before the first flotilla last year, that resulted in Israel commandeering six ships and the death of nine Turkish activists.
Meanwhile, outside the hotel, Athens is in a state of semi organized chaos as rolling, general strikes continue to loom. Most public squares and plazas in the downtown are occupied with protest tents and banners and public assemblies held nightly for the communities to gather and discuss alternative to the austerity measures gripping Greece.
In the public square across from Parliament a whole tent city, independent media office and activist community operates around the clock. I’m told by local activists that this is where the largest assemblies happen, often in the thousands.
Alongside the large and ruckus protests that have gained international attention, everywhere in the city there are signs of resistance to austerity measures. It’s common to hear people tell you that the entire Parliament are the cronies of the IMF and must go.
Even walking though the shopping district to get a local cell phone I can’t ignore the political posters that almost outstrip adds, and while the corporate cell phone stores are operating normally, the shop front logos have been trashed or spray painted.
And that’s just it; while Palestinian solidarity activists meet in Greece to plan and prepare to confront Israel’s occupation by sea, supporting the spreading of an Arab Spring in Palestine, the Greek students, workers and unemployed are bringing the spirit of the uprisings across the Mediterranean to change politics at home.
In many ways it’s the same idea of the Canadian’s calling their boat to Gaza "The Tahrir" after the Arabic name of Cairo’s liberation square. Or as Quaker nonviolence activist and code pink member Lyn Adamson says to me before the plane lands “We have an Arab Spring, but we need a global spring.”
Jesse Rosenfeld is a journalist who was based in Ramallah and Tel Aviv from 2007 to March 2011 and is currently in Toronto. He has written for The Nation, Al Jazeera English, the Guardian, and Foreign Policy among others.
Flotilla organizers shake off threats
28/06/2011
By Mya Guarnieri
Source: Ma'an News Agency
ATHENS, Greece (Ma'an) -- Organizers and participants of the second Freedom Flotilla announced in Athens Monday that recent events have not weakened their resolve to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
At a spirited news conference, they also called into question American foreign policy.
While organizers remain reluctant to give an exact exit date -- saying only that the flotilla will set sail for Gaza in the next few days -- a departure seems imminent.
Members of European Parliament and a number of European politicians were present. The nine organizers and participants who spoke sat before a white, red, black, and green banner that read: “We are breaking the blockade” in Greek.
Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, a French writer and the author of “La Flotille,” pointed out that the flotilla has already set sail as the French ship left its port in France on Saturday. He praised the French government for allowing the ship to leave and criticized both the Americans and Israelis for allegedly meddling in Greek affairs.
“The US or Israel should not be able to tell the Greek government which boat can leave from its own port,” he said.
Ann Wright, a retired US army colonel and former diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war, remarked that the 22 national delegations of the flotilla sought “to challenge the policies of Israel and the United States.”
“We are challenging President Obama’s policies and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who has called our actions provocative. We say there is nothing provocative about carrying our cargo, which is letters, letters to the people of Gaza that say that we love them.”
Wright asked the Greek government to “let us sail.”
US Boat to Gaza passengers cheered and chanted “Let us sail! Let us sail!”
Some held signs reading, “Free Gaza” and “Let freedom ring,” a reference to a famous speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. during the African-American civil rights movement.
“We call on the government of Israel to end the blockade,” Wright continued, closing with the words, “We say to the people of Gaza: we are coming!”
Several hundred people will partake in the flotilla, which consists of 10 passenger boats and two cargo ships. Wright is one of the 36 Americans who will be on the US Boat to Gaza, the Audacity of Hope. A majority of the passengers are women. Many are middle-aged or elderly. Approximately 30 percent of the activists are Jewish.
In addition to Wright, there will be several other high-profile passengers on the US boat: Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “The Color Purple”; Medea Benjamin, founder of the anti-war movement Code Pink; Ray McGovern, a retired CIA analyst and a critic of US foreign policy; and Hedy Epstein, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
Dror Feiler is an Israeli who lives in Sweden. The chairperson of European Jews for a Just Peace, Feiler will be on the Swedish ship. He commented that if Israel tried to stop them or "physically stop us, they know that we will come again and again and again until the siege is lifted completely and permanently … This is the purpose of our missions to open the traffic of people and goods to make the relation between Gaza and the world normal again.”
Feiler said that the Holocaust created two kinds of Jews -- those that felt the need to protect only the Jewish people from another catastrophe and those who say, “We will not let it happen to anybody again.”
As the crowd cheered, Feiler added that there are many Israelis that fall into the second group.
His remarks reflected the sentiment that organizers have stressed -- that the flotilla is not against Israel or her citizens. The flotilla is only intended to challenge the Israeli blockade of the enclave.
Referring to Israeli diplomatic maneuverings against the flotilla, Feiler criticized Israel for “trying to outsource” the blockade to the United States and Greece.
Huwaida Arraf, founder of the Free Gaza Movement, said, “Because I’m a lawyer, let me start with the legal. There is no question that Israel’s closure of Gaza is illegal.”
“A blockade is an act of war,” she continued. “Israel is occupying Gaza. You don’t declare war on a territory you occupy. Second, Israel’s policy is one of collective punishment, punishing an entire civilian population for something they did not do …”
Arraf added that the blockade’s disproportionate impact on the people of Gaza is enough to make it unlawful.
“So there’s no question that Israel’s policy is illegal,” she said. “The question is why does the international community allow Israel to continue violating international law and the rights of the Palestinian people with impunity? That is the only question.”
Her voice rose and shook with emotion as she remarked, “Now I will speak as a Palestinian. Israel’s policy to undermine the flotilla by saying that aid is getting into Gaza will not work. The flotilla is not about aid and Palestinians do not want humanitarian aid. We yearn for, we demand liberation.”
“So to [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton, [UN] secretary Ban Ki Moon, and others that call on flotilla organizers to use established channels to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, we say, ‘Shame on you.’”
Famed writer Alice Walker remarked, “I am going to Gaza because my government has failed, it has failed us, it has failed to understand or care about the Gazan people. But, worse than that, our government is ignorant of our own history in the Unites States.”
“When black people were slaves for 300 years,” Walker, an African-American, continued, “it took a lot of people from outside of our communities to come to help free us. Also, during the period of the civil rights movement, which was in the 1960s, again, it took people from outside our own communities to come and help us free ourselves.
She added, “This is a fine condition of going to people who need us wherever they exist on the planet. This is our responsibility. This is what we are here for as human beings.”
Walker called the blockade of Gaza and the decades of occupation “insufferable.”
“We will not accept it,” Walker said. “We will not, as Americans with our history of enslavement of people, of segregation, of apartheid … of lynching. We will not accept this, we will not. So Gazans, especially the children, we are on our way. We are coming.”
Print
By Mya Guarnieri
Source: Ma'an News Agency
ATHENS, Greece (Ma'an) -- Organizers and participants of the second Freedom Flotilla announced in Athens Monday that recent events have not weakened their resolve to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
At a spirited news conference, they also called into question American foreign policy.
While organizers remain reluctant to give an exact exit date -- saying only that the flotilla will set sail for Gaza in the next few days -- a departure seems imminent.
Members of European Parliament and a number of European politicians were present. The nine organizers and participants who spoke sat before a white, red, black, and green banner that read: “We are breaking the blockade” in Greek.
Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, a French writer and the author of “La Flotille,” pointed out that the flotilla has already set sail as the French ship left its port in France on Saturday. He praised the French government for allowing the ship to leave and criticized both the Americans and Israelis for allegedly meddling in Greek affairs.
“The US or Israel should not be able to tell the Greek government which boat can leave from its own port,” he said.
Ann Wright, a retired US army colonel and former diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war, remarked that the 22 national delegations of the flotilla sought “to challenge the policies of Israel and the United States.”
“We are challenging President Obama’s policies and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who has called our actions provocative. We say there is nothing provocative about carrying our cargo, which is letters, letters to the people of Gaza that say that we love them.”
Wright asked the Greek government to “let us sail.”
US Boat to Gaza passengers cheered and chanted “Let us sail! Let us sail!”
Some held signs reading, “Free Gaza” and “Let freedom ring,” a reference to a famous speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. during the African-American civil rights movement.
“We call on the government of Israel to end the blockade,” Wright continued, closing with the words, “We say to the people of Gaza: we are coming!”
Several hundred people will partake in the flotilla, which consists of 10 passenger boats and two cargo ships. Wright is one of the 36 Americans who will be on the US Boat to Gaza, the Audacity of Hope. A majority of the passengers are women. Many are middle-aged or elderly. Approximately 30 percent of the activists are Jewish.
In addition to Wright, there will be several other high-profile passengers on the US boat: Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “The Color Purple”; Medea Benjamin, founder of the anti-war movement Code Pink; Ray McGovern, a retired CIA analyst and a critic of US foreign policy; and Hedy Epstein, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
Dror Feiler is an Israeli who lives in Sweden. The chairperson of European Jews for a Just Peace, Feiler will be on the Swedish ship. He commented that if Israel tried to stop them or "physically stop us, they know that we will come again and again and again until the siege is lifted completely and permanently … This is the purpose of our missions to open the traffic of people and goods to make the relation between Gaza and the world normal again.”
Feiler said that the Holocaust created two kinds of Jews -- those that felt the need to protect only the Jewish people from another catastrophe and those who say, “We will not let it happen to anybody again.”
As the crowd cheered, Feiler added that there are many Israelis that fall into the second group.
His remarks reflected the sentiment that organizers have stressed -- that the flotilla is not against Israel or her citizens. The flotilla is only intended to challenge the Israeli blockade of the enclave.
Referring to Israeli diplomatic maneuverings against the flotilla, Feiler criticized Israel for “trying to outsource” the blockade to the United States and Greece.
Huwaida Arraf, founder of the Free Gaza Movement, said, “Because I’m a lawyer, let me start with the legal. There is no question that Israel’s closure of Gaza is illegal.”
“A blockade is an act of war,” she continued. “Israel is occupying Gaza. You don’t declare war on a territory you occupy. Second, Israel’s policy is one of collective punishment, punishing an entire civilian population for something they did not do …”
Arraf added that the blockade’s disproportionate impact on the people of Gaza is enough to make it unlawful.
“So there’s no question that Israel’s policy is illegal,” she said. “The question is why does the international community allow Israel to continue violating international law and the rights of the Palestinian people with impunity? That is the only question.”
Her voice rose and shook with emotion as she remarked, “Now I will speak as a Palestinian. Israel’s policy to undermine the flotilla by saying that aid is getting into Gaza will not work. The flotilla is not about aid and Palestinians do not want humanitarian aid. We yearn for, we demand liberation.”
“So to [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton, [UN] secretary Ban Ki Moon, and others that call on flotilla organizers to use established channels to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, we say, ‘Shame on you.’”
Famed writer Alice Walker remarked, “I am going to Gaza because my government has failed, it has failed us, it has failed to understand or care about the Gazan people. But, worse than that, our government is ignorant of our own history in the Unites States.”
“When black people were slaves for 300 years,” Walker, an African-American, continued, “it took a lot of people from outside of our communities to come to help free us. Also, during the period of the civil rights movement, which was in the 1960s, again, it took people from outside our own communities to come and help us free ourselves.
She added, “This is a fine condition of going to people who need us wherever they exist on the planet. This is our responsibility. This is what we are here for as human beings.”
Walker called the blockade of Gaza and the decades of occupation “insufferable.”
“We will not accept it,” Walker said. “We will not, as Americans with our history of enslavement of people, of segregation, of apartheid … of lynching. We will not accept this, we will not. So Gazans, especially the children, we are on our way. We are coming.”
Gaza-bound ship "Juliano" found sabotaged in Greek port
06/27/2011
by Ali Abunimah
Source: Electronic Intifada
A ship due to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was sabotaged in the Greek port of Piraeus today according to organizers. A Swedish-language statement issued by Ship to Gaza described damage to the ship’s propeller shaft. Here is a rapid translation of the statement by The Electronic Intifada:
At 5.30 pm Swedish time on Monday it was discovered that Ship to Gaza’s passenger boat “Juliano” was the victim of sabotage in the port of Piraeus [Greece]. Hostile divers the destroyed the propeller house and cut the propeller shaft. No one was injured in the attack.
Ship to Gaza has documented the sabotage with its own camera equipped divers. A first inspection was carried out to repair the damage before the planned departure at the end of this week.
Passenger boat “Juliano” (named after Juliano Meir Khamis, the murdered actor and director at Freedom Theatre in Jenin) is owned jointly by the Ship to Gaza organizations in Sweden, Norway and Greece.
In a first comment Ship to Gaza spokesperson Mattias Gardell said:
“It’s one thing for a foreign power to press the Greek government to delay our voyage with red tape. It is quite another thing for enemy agents to operate on Greek territory. It is high time for the international community to put their foot down and say: Enough!”
by Ali Abunimah
Source: Electronic Intifada
A ship due to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was sabotaged in the Greek port of Piraeus today according to organizers. A Swedish-language statement issued by Ship to Gaza described damage to the ship’s propeller shaft. Here is a rapid translation of the statement by The Electronic Intifada:
At 5.30 pm Swedish time on Monday it was discovered that Ship to Gaza’s passenger boat “Juliano” was the victim of sabotage in the port of Piraeus [Greece]. Hostile divers the destroyed the propeller house and cut the propeller shaft. No one was injured in the attack.
Ship to Gaza has documented the sabotage with its own camera equipped divers. A first inspection was carried out to repair the damage before the planned departure at the end of this week.
Passenger boat “Juliano” (named after Juliano Meir Khamis, the murdered actor and director at Freedom Theatre in Jenin) is owned jointly by the Ship to Gaza organizations in Sweden, Norway and Greece.
In a first comment Ship to Gaza spokesperson Mattias Gardell said:
“It’s one thing for a foreign power to press the Greek government to delay our voyage with red tape. It is quite another thing for enemy agents to operate on Greek territory. It is high time for the international community to put their foot down and say: Enough!”
Monday, June 27, 2011
Greece: Israeli assault on the Flotilla is well underway
June 24 2011
Joseph Dana
Friday, June 24 2011|Joseph Dana
Greece: Israeli assault on the Flotilla is well underway
ATHENS: Israeli diplomatic and economic pressure is looming large over preparations of the second Gaza aid flotilla, set to sail from a number Greek ports at the end of the month. Israel has clearly stated that it will use every diplomatic and military avenue to maintain its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. The events of the past few days in Athens confirm that Israel is making good on its claim. Learning from last year’s botched military operation against the flotilla– which left eight Turkish civilians and one Turkish-American civilian dead– Israel is seemingly applying pressure directly on the Greek government to stop the flotilla boats from setting sail.
Early this morning, I discovered that a ‘private complaint’ had been filed against the US boat to Gaza. The complaint, it is still unclear who filed it, stated that the US boat to Gaza is not ’sea worthy’ and requires a detailed inspection.The harbor master where the boat is in port has declared that until the complaint is resolved the boat is not permitted to leave. Currently, lawyers representing the US boat are looking into the origins of the complaint and whether it was filed as a result of Israeli economic or diplomatic pressure on the Greek government. The boat is US flagged and registered in the United States.
The government of Greece has been on the edge of collapse due to expected European Union austerity measures which are overwhelmingly unpopular among the majority of the population. Demonstrations and riots have been rocking Athens for the past two weeks. Greek officials have confirmed that Israel and Greece have met in recent days to discuss various issues including the flotilla.
Given the fact that the Greek government is fighting for its political survival, it is unlikely that Greece would bend to Israeli diplomatic pressure. However, it is more probable that Greece would bend to direct Israeli economic pressure. Israel and Greece have a strong economic relationship which includes a joint gas pipeline project in the Eastern Mediterranean.
If substantiated, rumors that Israel is threatening the Israeli-Greek trade relationship could have profound effects on the economy of Greece which, in turn, would make implementing upcoming austerity measure much more difficult. Right now, these sentiments are merely rumors and the Greek government is maintaining silence on economic relations with Israel in connection with the Flotilla. What is clear is that Flotilla ships are being targeted in Greek ports and might not sail.
10 ships are expected to sail as part of the Gaza aid flotilla. Currently three ships, including the US boat, have had complaints levied against them. US boat organizers believe that Greece will attempt to delay the ships indefinitely by using a serious of bureaucratic measures such as endless safety checks and cargo inspections. Despite the setbacks, organizers are continuing with their nonviolence and safety training. They are hopeful that the Greek government will allow the ships to sail next week as initially planned.
Joseph Dana
Friday, June 24 2011|Joseph Dana
Greece: Israeli assault on the Flotilla is well underway
ATHENS: Israeli diplomatic and economic pressure is looming large over preparations of the second Gaza aid flotilla, set to sail from a number Greek ports at the end of the month. Israel has clearly stated that it will use every diplomatic and military avenue to maintain its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. The events of the past few days in Athens confirm that Israel is making good on its claim. Learning from last year’s botched military operation against the flotilla– which left eight Turkish civilians and one Turkish-American civilian dead– Israel is seemingly applying pressure directly on the Greek government to stop the flotilla boats from setting sail.
Early this morning, I discovered that a ‘private complaint’ had been filed against the US boat to Gaza. The complaint, it is still unclear who filed it, stated that the US boat to Gaza is not ’sea worthy’ and requires a detailed inspection.The harbor master where the boat is in port has declared that until the complaint is resolved the boat is not permitted to leave. Currently, lawyers representing the US boat are looking into the origins of the complaint and whether it was filed as a result of Israeli economic or diplomatic pressure on the Greek government. The boat is US flagged and registered in the United States.
The government of Greece has been on the edge of collapse due to expected European Union austerity measures which are overwhelmingly unpopular among the majority of the population. Demonstrations and riots have been rocking Athens for the past two weeks. Greek officials have confirmed that Israel and Greece have met in recent days to discuss various issues including the flotilla.
Given the fact that the Greek government is fighting for its political survival, it is unlikely that Greece would bend to Israeli diplomatic pressure. However, it is more probable that Greece would bend to direct Israeli economic pressure. Israel and Greece have a strong economic relationship which includes a joint gas pipeline project in the Eastern Mediterranean.
If substantiated, rumors that Israel is threatening the Israeli-Greek trade relationship could have profound effects on the economy of Greece which, in turn, would make implementing upcoming austerity measure much more difficult. Right now, these sentiments are merely rumors and the Greek government is maintaining silence on economic relations with Israel in connection with the Flotilla. What is clear is that Flotilla ships are being targeted in Greek ports and might not sail.
10 ships are expected to sail as part of the Gaza aid flotilla. Currently three ships, including the US boat, have had complaints levied against them. US boat organizers believe that Greece will attempt to delay the ships indefinitely by using a serious of bureaucratic measures such as endless safety checks and cargo inspections. Despite the setbacks, organizers are continuing with their nonviolence and safety training. They are hopeful that the Greek government will allow the ships to sail next week as initially planned.
Of Course The Flotilla Is A Political Provocation
25. Jun, 2011
by Joe Catron
As the launch of the Freedom Flotilla – Stay Human approaches, increasing numbers of Zionist officials and commentators illuminate the depths of their moral and intellectual bankruptcy by arguing that it is a political – not humanitarian – project.
Ran Curiel, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, offers an example as good as any other. On May 10, he actually went to the trouble of calling a press conference in Strasbourg to offer this conclusion. “In our view, the flotilla is clearly a political provocation … since there’s no need for a flotilla to aid Gaza,” he said. “You can pass whatever you want to Gaza through normal channels.”
Curiel’s reasoning leaves much to be desired. Nobody seems entirely clear on what can enter Gaza through his “normal channels,” namely the Erez Crossing, and a large majority of its necessities continue to arrive at a high premium via tunnels from Egypt. And humanitarian opposition to the siege has always had more to do with its crippling effect on Gaza’s economy than its obstruction of aid. Due to the impossibility of legally importing most goods, or exporting nearly anything, unemployment now reaches 45%, and 300,000 people survive on a dollar a day.
Nevertheless, his conclusion is sound, if self-evident. The Freedom Flotilla is indeed “a political provocation.” Why shouldn’t it be? And when has it pretended to be anything else?
Like its predecessors, from the successful Free Gaza boats of 2008 to the Freedom Flotilla that suffered lethal violence by Israeli commandos in international waters last year, this Flotilla is an unabashed act of solidarity with a people fighting colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.
The Flotilla targets the denial of Palestinian self-determination, not a humanitarian crisis. It aims to break the siege, not only because the siege causes hardship for Palestinians, but also because it obstructs their inherent rights to determine their collective destiny, and that of their historic homeland. The goal is not a reliable flow of international charity, or even a functional economy, but rather Palestinians’ sovereignty over their own coasts and territory.
Efforts to obscure these obvious truths, by holding the Flotilla to some other standard that it has never aspired to meet, are part of a Zionist “big lie,” a myth that its tellers hope will carry the weight of truth because its listeners believe it.
Zionists would have us accept that any effort not loyal to their regime must be apolitical and rooted only in charitable impulses. In the narrative they hope to spread through their frequent observations of the obvious, theirs is the only acceptable side, and strict neutrality the only possible alternative. Nothing else may exist within the strict parameters of thought and action they seek to impose.
But let there be no mistake: All of us who are part of the Flotilla effort, in ways great and small, have chosen a side, and it is not theirs. We stand with the people of Palestine in their struggle for equality and self-determination. And unlike architects of Operation Cast Lead and apologists for the Nakba, we have nothing to hide.
Flotilla organizers have hardly kept this a secret. In a June 24 statement, the Free Gaza Movement “reiterate[d] that our effort is not simply about delivering humanitarian aid. The goal of the Flotilla is not aid; it is freedom for Palestinians in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. As such, there are no ‘established channels’ for freedom – there is only one – an end to the Israeli occupation.”
In more ways than one, Zionists criticizing the Flotilla as a “political provocation” share the mentalities of those who condemned the Salt Satyagraha or the Montgomery Bus Boycott for similar reasons. These efforts were also indisputably political and provocative; salt marchers could have simply paid the British tax, while Rosa Parks would actually have reached her destination more quickly by moving to the back of the bus. That these, too, were “political provocations” is equally obvious, and no less beside the point.
And the point, for the Freedom Flotilla, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and countless related efforts to rally support for embattled Palestinians, is one of solidarity with a liberation struggle, not charity for helpless victims. As the late Juliano Mer-Khamis told The Electronic Intifada about his own Jenin Freedom Theatre:
We are joining, by all means, the struggle for liberation of the Palestinian people, which is our liberation struggle. Everybody who is connected to this project says that he feels that he is also occupied by the Zionist movement, by the military regime of Israel, and by its policy. Either he lives in Jenin, or in Haifa, or in Tel Aviv. Nobody joined this project to heal. We’re not healers … We are freedom fighters.
His words also describe Flotilla participants, and growing millions of supporters of the Palestinian cause. Yes, out solidarity is political. Yes, it is provocative. And unlike the racism and oppression of Zionism and its enablers, there is nothing shameful about it.
Joe Catron is a resident of Brooklyn, New York and a current member of the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip. He writes in a personal capacity.
by Joe Catron
As the launch of the Freedom Flotilla – Stay Human approaches, increasing numbers of Zionist officials and commentators illuminate the depths of their moral and intellectual bankruptcy by arguing that it is a political – not humanitarian – project.
Ran Curiel, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, offers an example as good as any other. On May 10, he actually went to the trouble of calling a press conference in Strasbourg to offer this conclusion. “In our view, the flotilla is clearly a political provocation … since there’s no need for a flotilla to aid Gaza,” he said. “You can pass whatever you want to Gaza through normal channels.”
Curiel’s reasoning leaves much to be desired. Nobody seems entirely clear on what can enter Gaza through his “normal channels,” namely the Erez Crossing, and a large majority of its necessities continue to arrive at a high premium via tunnels from Egypt. And humanitarian opposition to the siege has always had more to do with its crippling effect on Gaza’s economy than its obstruction of aid. Due to the impossibility of legally importing most goods, or exporting nearly anything, unemployment now reaches 45%, and 300,000 people survive on a dollar a day.
Nevertheless, his conclusion is sound, if self-evident. The Freedom Flotilla is indeed “a political provocation.” Why shouldn’t it be? And when has it pretended to be anything else?
Like its predecessors, from the successful Free Gaza boats of 2008 to the Freedom Flotilla that suffered lethal violence by Israeli commandos in international waters last year, this Flotilla is an unabashed act of solidarity with a people fighting colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.
The Flotilla targets the denial of Palestinian self-determination, not a humanitarian crisis. It aims to break the siege, not only because the siege causes hardship for Palestinians, but also because it obstructs their inherent rights to determine their collective destiny, and that of their historic homeland. The goal is not a reliable flow of international charity, or even a functional economy, but rather Palestinians’ sovereignty over their own coasts and territory.
Efforts to obscure these obvious truths, by holding the Flotilla to some other standard that it has never aspired to meet, are part of a Zionist “big lie,” a myth that its tellers hope will carry the weight of truth because its listeners believe it.
Zionists would have us accept that any effort not loyal to their regime must be apolitical and rooted only in charitable impulses. In the narrative they hope to spread through their frequent observations of the obvious, theirs is the only acceptable side, and strict neutrality the only possible alternative. Nothing else may exist within the strict parameters of thought and action they seek to impose.
But let there be no mistake: All of us who are part of the Flotilla effort, in ways great and small, have chosen a side, and it is not theirs. We stand with the people of Palestine in their struggle for equality and self-determination. And unlike architects of Operation Cast Lead and apologists for the Nakba, we have nothing to hide.
Flotilla organizers have hardly kept this a secret. In a June 24 statement, the Free Gaza Movement “reiterate[d] that our effort is not simply about delivering humanitarian aid. The goal of the Flotilla is not aid; it is freedom for Palestinians in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. As such, there are no ‘established channels’ for freedom – there is only one – an end to the Israeli occupation.”
In more ways than one, Zionists criticizing the Flotilla as a “political provocation” share the mentalities of those who condemned the Salt Satyagraha or the Montgomery Bus Boycott for similar reasons. These efforts were also indisputably political and provocative; salt marchers could have simply paid the British tax, while Rosa Parks would actually have reached her destination more quickly by moving to the back of the bus. That these, too, were “political provocations” is equally obvious, and no less beside the point.
And the point, for the Freedom Flotilla, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and countless related efforts to rally support for embattled Palestinians, is one of solidarity with a liberation struggle, not charity for helpless victims. As the late Juliano Mer-Khamis told The Electronic Intifada about his own Jenin Freedom Theatre:
We are joining, by all means, the struggle for liberation of the Palestinian people, which is our liberation struggle. Everybody who is connected to this project says that he feels that he is also occupied by the Zionist movement, by the military regime of Israel, and by its policy. Either he lives in Jenin, or in Haifa, or in Tel Aviv. Nobody joined this project to heal. We’re not healers … We are freedom fighters.
His words also describe Flotilla participants, and growing millions of supporters of the Palestinian cause. Yes, out solidarity is political. Yes, it is provocative. And unlike the racism and oppression of Zionism and its enablers, there is nothing shameful about it.
Joe Catron is a resident of Brooklyn, New York and a current member of the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip. He writes in a personal capacity.
Hillary Clinton Gives Green Light For Israeli Attack On Gaza Flotilla
25. Jun, 2011
by Ali Abunimah
Electronic Intifada
In comments yesterday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to lay the ground – indeed almost provide a green light – for an Israeli military attack on the upcoming Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which will include the US Boat to Gaza.
Among the passengers aboard the American boat will be 87-year old Kindertransport survivor Hedy Epstein, and author and poet Alice Walker. In all it is expected that about 10 ships, carrying 1000 people from over 20 countries will take part.
Here’s what Clinton said in remarks at the State Department on 23 June:
Well, we do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza. Just this week, the Israeli Government approved a significant commitment to housing in Gaza. There will be construction materials entering Gaza and we think that it’s not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.
Clinton must know that Gaza is not part of what any country recognizes as “sovereign” Israeli territory, and therefore neither are Gaza’s territorial waters. Any boats entering Gaza’s waters would not in fact be entering “Israeli waters” as Clinton claimed. Clinton also, presuming she is properly briefed rather than misled, must also know that last year Israel attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla when it was in international waters and GPS data showed that it was actually heading away from Israel.
By invoking Israel’s supposed “right to self-defense” against civilian boats trying to reach Gaza, we must understand that Clinton is telling Israel the United States will not stand in the way of another military attack.
And by citing Israel allowing construction materials into Gaza to make the case that the flotilla is “unnecessary” because “aid” can reach the Palestinian people in Gaza, Clinton is engaging in the ultimate obfuscation.
People in Gaza have been reduced to penury and rendered dependent on aid by decades of Israeli occupation, siege and military attacks. The issue is not the delivery of aid but freeing the people by lifting the siege. It is an abhorrent position to suggest – as Clinton seems to – that if people in Gaza receive enough calories or a few building supplies then we should not be concerned about Israel’s siege. The Palestinian people of Gaza are not caged animals for whom sufficient care consists of shoving rations through the bars of their prison.
Israel’s siege is intended as a form of collective punishment and has been declared illegal by the ICRC.
Israel, as The Electronic Intifada reported, is engaging in military drills to intercept this unarmed civilian flotilla. In light of Clinton’s statements, if any blood is spilled it will not only be on Israeli, but also American hands.
Prosecuting Flotilla Passengers Under “Material Support” Laws
Not content with tacitly encouraging Israeli violence, in another alarming development, the State Department has apparently threatened that Americans who board boats to Gaza could be jailed or fined for supporting terrorism. Haaretz reports:
The U.S. State Department said Friday that attempts to break the blockade are “irresponsible and provocative” and that Israel has well-established means of delivering assistance to the Palestinian residents of Gaza. It noted that the territory is run by the militant Hamas group, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, and that Americans providing support to it are subject to fines and jail.
In effect, the US now seems to be defining any support for any Palestinians, including a besieged civilian population, as support for Hamas, and therefore support for “terrorism.”
This mirrors its use of such “material support” laws as a pretext to investigate and persecute Palestine solidarity, antiwar, and labor activists exercising their First Amendment rights at home.
by Ali Abunimah
Electronic Intifada
In comments yesterday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to lay the ground – indeed almost provide a green light – for an Israeli military attack on the upcoming Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which will include the US Boat to Gaza.
Among the passengers aboard the American boat will be 87-year old Kindertransport survivor Hedy Epstein, and author and poet Alice Walker. In all it is expected that about 10 ships, carrying 1000 people from over 20 countries will take part.
Here’s what Clinton said in remarks at the State Department on 23 June:
Well, we do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza. Just this week, the Israeli Government approved a significant commitment to housing in Gaza. There will be construction materials entering Gaza and we think that it’s not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.
Clinton must know that Gaza is not part of what any country recognizes as “sovereign” Israeli territory, and therefore neither are Gaza’s territorial waters. Any boats entering Gaza’s waters would not in fact be entering “Israeli waters” as Clinton claimed. Clinton also, presuming she is properly briefed rather than misled, must also know that last year Israel attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla when it was in international waters and GPS data showed that it was actually heading away from Israel.
By invoking Israel’s supposed “right to self-defense” against civilian boats trying to reach Gaza, we must understand that Clinton is telling Israel the United States will not stand in the way of another military attack.
And by citing Israel allowing construction materials into Gaza to make the case that the flotilla is “unnecessary” because “aid” can reach the Palestinian people in Gaza, Clinton is engaging in the ultimate obfuscation.
People in Gaza have been reduced to penury and rendered dependent on aid by decades of Israeli occupation, siege and military attacks. The issue is not the delivery of aid but freeing the people by lifting the siege. It is an abhorrent position to suggest – as Clinton seems to – that if people in Gaza receive enough calories or a few building supplies then we should not be concerned about Israel’s siege. The Palestinian people of Gaza are not caged animals for whom sufficient care consists of shoving rations through the bars of their prison.
Israel’s siege is intended as a form of collective punishment and has been declared illegal by the ICRC.
Israel, as The Electronic Intifada reported, is engaging in military drills to intercept this unarmed civilian flotilla. In light of Clinton’s statements, if any blood is spilled it will not only be on Israeli, but also American hands.
Prosecuting Flotilla Passengers Under “Material Support” Laws
Not content with tacitly encouraging Israeli violence, in another alarming development, the State Department has apparently threatened that Americans who board boats to Gaza could be jailed or fined for supporting terrorism. Haaretz reports:
The U.S. State Department said Friday that attempts to break the blockade are “irresponsible and provocative” and that Israel has well-established means of delivering assistance to the Palestinian residents of Gaza. It noted that the territory is run by the militant Hamas group, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, and that Americans providing support to it are subject to fines and jail.
In effect, the US now seems to be defining any support for any Palestinians, including a besieged civilian population, as support for Hamas, and therefore support for “terrorism.”
This mirrors its use of such “material support” laws as a pretext to investigate and persecute Palestine solidarity, antiwar, and labor activists exercising their First Amendment rights at home.
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