 |
No real handcuffs on their wrists but what the hey; they're not actual peace activists either [Source] |
That's partly why we're trying not to devote too much space to the 'humanitarians' of the Gaza-bound flotilla. We find it tasteless and offensive that they're being depicted far and wide as peace activists who cry, literally cry, for the suffering of the Gazan Palestinian Arab population.
But when you take a look at who they are, dig into who's behind them and what they are really doing as opposed to what they claim to be doing, you get to quite different conclusions, and it's enraging.
Take for instance Amin Abou Rashed. Not a household name unless you're focused (as we are) on the ways in which Hamas manipulates pretensions to charity and good deeds to mask the nasty reality of its deep devotion to terrorism. Abou Rashed took an active role in the 2010 flotilla that ended with the violence on the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara.
Abou Rashed, like most of the people behind the 2011 edition of Gaza or Bust, comes with some history. A front-organization called Holy Land Foundation was prosecuted by law enforcement officials in the US government starting in 2007. Far from a mere side show, this was America's largest Islamic charity. It was based in Richardson, Texas and originally operated under the name The Occupied Land Fund before its operators got smart to how Americans think. But not smart enough because its assets ended up being frozen by the European Union and U.S. governments. Determining that it was a front for channeling money into the huge maw of the terrorists of Hamas, the authorities outlawed it. AFP at the time (2008) called this the "largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history"[source]. The Foundation's founders were sentenced to life imprisonment [source].
During the Holy Land trial, the authorities produced a letter from Mr Abou Rashed to one of the directors of Holy Land Foundation, Akram Mishaal, a clansman of the current head of Hamas, the Damascus-resident Khalid Mashaal. In his letter, Abou Rashed - today's Flotilla promoter - states names, addresses and bank numbers of what are euphemistically termed “charitable organizations working for Palestine in Europe”. Abou Rashed wrote as a representative of Al-Aqsa Foundation. The American government, via its Department of Treasury, lifted the mask of this "Foundation" revealing it to be a channel for the financing of terror and calling it “a critical part of Hamas’ terrorist support infrastructure.” The allegedly “charitable organizations” cited in Abou Rashed’s document were found by Treasury to be funding terrorism, principally Hamas terrorism, and and permanent court orders were issued to freeze their assets.
The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf this past Thursday termed Abou Rashed "the brains behind the Gaza flotilla". The article makes clear that even if he lacks brains, he certainly provided the funding, causing several Dutch journalists and activists to walk off the Dutch flotilla ship citing a betrayal of their non-violent principles. A year earlier, the same paper called Abou Rashed the head of Hamas activities in the Netherlands, so surprised the 'activists' cannot plausibly claim to have been.
That it's incontrovertibly connected to the overt terrorism [source] and intentional child-murderers of Hamas ought to have been a showstopper for the humanitarians giving their support to the Flotilla. But it's plainly not. We find the chorus of highly public support for this faux humanitarianism nauseating. Whatever they may claim to stand for, knowing who is organizing this means the participants in this fleet of fools are revealed as hypocrites who ought to bear full criminal responsibility for the consequences of their vanity.
