Viva Palestina, a registered British charity, is George Galloway’s Hamas support operation.
As Galloway said in Gaza in March 2009:
By Allah, we carried a lot of cash here. You thought we were all fat. We are not fat. This is money that we have around our waists.
They gave sweets and cigarettes to the inspectors, and when the inspectors’ backs were turned, they put back on the vehicles that which the inspectors had taken off the vehicles. And some of the inspectors were happy to turn their backs.
We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of the contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say: we are giving them to the elected government of Palestine. To the prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. Here is the money. This is not charity. This is not charity. This is not charity, this is politics.
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas in Gaza, has shown his gratitude for the efforts of Galloway and his fellows, even giving them Palestinian passports to prove it.
Viva Palestina currently has two trustees. They are Kevin Ovenden, a member of the Respect party’s national council who works for Galloway in Parliament, and Ayesha Bajwa, listed in the past as a member of the national council.
Here is Ovenden meeting Haniyeh in Gaza, with the Jewish fig leaves of the Neturei Karta sect – yes, the tiny and nasty group that sent representatives to Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial conference in Tehran – conveniently in place.
Sabah al Mukhtar, George Galloway’s “right hand man” in Viva Palestina’s UK convoy to Gaza – literally in the picture below, taken in Rafah – is no longer a trustee.
Perhaps he was disappeared as knowledge spread of his extended rant with Daryl Bradford Smith, an antisemitic lunatic, where readers may remember he endorsed The Elders of the Protocols of Zion, a foul antisemitic hoax.
At one time or another there was this talk of the Protocol of Zion and everybody said that it was a put-up job, it’s not true, it is not factual, all sorts of accusations of this book. But at the end of the day, let’s assume they are all correct, that this is really not a real book and it was not the Protocols of Zion. This is an incredible insight, some hundred years ago, to show what the position nowadays. The control over the media, the education, the law, the medicine.
You can listen to the interview here. The Protocols endorsement is at 7:50.
Or maybe Mukhtar wasn’t disappeared for gleefully leaping into a racist pit with Daryl Bradford Smith. For here is some news from Ovenden:
From other countries we are working with major organisations such as the IHH charity in Turkey and Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s foundation in Malaysia.
Evidently Viva Palestina is prepared to work openly with one of the world’s most prominent antisemites. Mahathir was at it again just six weeks ago at a conference in Malaysia, this time with a spot of antisemitic 9/11 troofery:
Dr Mahathir said that the odd thing about 9/11 was that all 3 buildings collapsed rapidly straight down, as if they had explosives already inserted in certain places, and not from the effect of the aircraft hitting them, but due to a demolition method. He wondered why the 3rd building collapsed in the same way (WTC7) although it was not hit by any aircraft. The collapse of this building had been admitted by its jewish owner, as a controlled demolition when he said “we pulled it.”
Actually, Kevin Ovenden seems quite proud of Viva Palestina’s allies, as you will see here in a segment from Holocaust denial publisher Press TV with Yvonne “vote for Hamas” Ridley:
Turning to IHH, it is indeed keen on Viva Palestina – it has added a banner on its website.
IHH is an Islamist charity that is very close to Hamas. In fact, it has been banned by Israel for that very reason.
Here is IHH’s president, Bülent Yildirim, visiting Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus.
Hamas is grateful for IHH’s support, as Meshaal noted in January 2009:
Regarding the financial support Meshaal thanking the Turkish people said these aids help them stay strong against Israel.
In the name of the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation congratulating all the charities in Turkey, Meshaal said, “In the war that we are in there are winners and losers. Those who resist in Palestine and the Turkish people are among the winners. And the losers are whatever weapons and military powers they have Zionist Israel and the supporters of it.”
Here is Yildirim in Gaza, attending the ceremonial opening of IHH’s Gaza office in the company of Hamas officials. And here he is addressing a rally in Gaza shortly after the Gaza war.
Some of his lines:
Congratulations on the victory
Four years ago there were those who said that Hamas was terrorist and today we say to you that Israel is terrorist, that America is terrorist, and occupation is terrorist!
When the Jews were killing your woman and children they were saying that Mohammed died and that [only] girls remain.
Oh sons of heaven! You are not on your own in the (battle) field! We love you and are with you every moment.
I am addressing all the people, all of those who do not stand by the Palestinian people they will meet their end and destruction.
In the world, everything changed and everything is moving towards Islam. And all the Islamic people will demand that their leaders become like Rajab Tayyab Erdogan.
Back in Turkey, Yildirim leads angry demonstrations against Israel and for terrorists. For example, here he is framed by pictures of Hamas leaders Yassin and Meshaal with a Hezbollah flag behind him.
That was an occasion for entirely ludicrous yet dangerously incendiary rhetoric about the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem:
“Over 60 Palestinians wounded in Jerusalem. One million Jews are called to attaced to Al- Aqsa by Zionist Israel. The decision to occupy Al-Aqsa until the end of 2009 has been made. The aim is conversion of Aqsa to a synagog.”
IHH has a rather interesting history. This is from a paper (pdf) published by the Danish Institute for International Studies:
Turkish authorities began their own domestic criminal investigation of IHH as early as December 1997, when sources revealed that leaders of IHH were purchasing automatic weapons from other regional Islamic militant groups. IHH’s bureau in Istanbul was thoroughly searched, and its local officers were arrested. Security forces uncovered an array of disturbing items, including firearms, explosives, bomb-making instructions, and a “jihad flag.” After analyzing seized IHH documents, Turkish authorities concluded that “detained members of IHH were going to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya.”
According to a French intelligence report, the terrorist infiltration of IHH extended to its most senior ranks. The report, written by famed counterterrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere, revealed that IHH President Bulent Yildrim had directly conspired in the mid-1990s to “recruit veteran soldiers in anticipation of the coming holy war [jihad]. In particular, some men were sent into war zones in Muslim countries in order to acquire combat experience.” Furthermore, in the hopes of “obtaining political support from these countries, financial aid was transferred [on behalf of IHH], as well as caches of firearms, knives, and pre-fabricated explosives.” An examination of IHH’s phone records in Istanbul showed repeated telephone calls in 1996 to an Al-Qaida guesthouse in Milan and various Algerian terrorist operatives active elsewhere in Europe – including the notorious Abu el-Ma`ali, who has been subsequently termed by U.S. officials as a “junior Osama Bin Laden.”
During the later Seattle trial of would-be Al-Qaida Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressam, federal prosecutors called French magistrate Bruguiere to the stand as an expert witness. Bruguiere testified that IHH had played “[a]n important role” in the Al-Qaida Millenium bomb plot targeting LAX. Under repeated questioning, Bruguiere insisted that “[t]here’s a rather close relation”:
The IHH is an NGO, but it was kind of a type of cover-up… in order to obtain forged documents and also to obtain different forms of infiltration for Mujahideen in combat. And also to go and gather[recruit] these Mujahideens. And finally, one of the last responsibilities that they had was also to be implicated or involved in weapons trafficking.
What a great partner for Viva Palestina.
There is quite a pattern here. Galloway and Viva Palestina have repeatedly aligned with racist haters. On top of Hamas and Messrs Mahathir, al Mukhtar and Yildirim, let’s not forget his first US partner for Viva Palestina, Katherine Delia LaBarre of New Orleans, who is another 9/11 troofer.
Viva Palestina is a movement of the streets, of the people, born out of the abandonment of Gazans by Western and Arab governments in favor of Israel. Viva Palestina Nola is a sister site of Viva Palestina Lifeline from Britain to Gaza, led by George Galloway MP, with the purpose of raising support for the humanitarian aid convoy which left from London for Gaza on February 14; and to provide a lifeline by arming readers with information to recognize Israel’s psyops against the American people through its occupation of the dominant media in the U.S. and Congress.
Or the kind of people who show up on the convoys. Like this brave spotter of devious Jews, for example, on the US convoy this summer:
The next stop on the tour was a reception with the Prime Minister of Gaza Ismail Haniyeh at an extremely secured location. The convoy to the location was led by an escort of armed guards and police on motorcycles with sirens blaring. On the tour bus to the reception was one suspicious loud-mouth and ill mannered American Jew making obnoxious remarks about the Prime Minister. One statement he made in the presence of other delegates was, ‘Ismail Haniyeh must be feeling safe since he will have a group of Americans as human shields.’ This s [sic] one remark made one Palestinian-American uneasy and he made sure that the delegate of Jewish descent was not carrying a GPS device or anything else that would harm the Prime Minister. The incident makes clear the need for the careful screening of delegates in future aid missions to Gaza.
Mr Galloway and Co should be treated like the BNP.
