Hamas Leader in the U.K. Identified as Gaza Flotilla Coordinator

 

Mohammed Sawalha.

 

Iranian media has identified a Hamas/U.K Muslim Brotherhood leader as the coordinator of the current Gaza flotilla. According to a report by Iranian Press TV:

 

Press TV talks to Mohammed Sawalha, Gaza aid flotilla coordinator, to ask him about the aims and plans of the flotilla.

 

Press TV: Welcome to the show sir. Where are we now with the flotilla plans?

 

Sawalha: We are now in the last stage of preparations. We have now around 12 ships ready to sail and we already have hundreds of activists in the area there in Greece and other countries and we are just waiting till the end of the month to leave.

 

Press TV: What have you been preparing for this year’s flotilla in light of what happened last year?

 

Sawalha: We know how the Israelis behave and we are putting it in our minds that the Israelis can do anything and all the activists are really ready to face the Israelis policies.

 

We understand that the Palestinians are paying the price everyday inside Palestine because of the crimes of the Israelis to keep the siege, you know, by killing the Palestinians and not allowing even medicine and food to cross to Gaza.

 

Read the rest here.

 

 

The man third from left is Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas in Gaza, and on the right in a beige suit is Mohammed Sawalha.

 

The Israeli 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 profiles also details Sawalha’s ties to the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood.

 

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) has recently published an almost hundred page report titled “Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla” which provides extensive background on the years leading up to the 1st Gaza Flotilla. The JCPA report abstract states:

 

There is strong evidence for Turkish governmental involvement in the Gaza flotilla incident, with Turkish government support channeled through the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood network. Since 2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood. The IHH was not acting alone but rather was an integral part of a Turkish Muslim Brotherhood network.

 

With respect to the Global Muslim Brotherhood, the report’s second conclusion states:

 

The Gaza flotilla incident brought into sharp focus an even more significant long- term development: the growing relationship between the Erdogan government and the Global Muslim Brotherhood, which has given rise to some of the most notorious Islamist terrorist groups – from al-Qaeda to Hamas. Since 2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood, while the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip acted as the main axis for this activity.

 

The second flotilla appears to have been organized largely by the European Campaign To End The Siege On Gaza (ECESG) which has operated in the past from the same address and has the same telephone as the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) which has strong ties to Hamas and the Global Muslim Brotherhood.

 

Related posts:

 

1. IHH Spokesman Says 2nd Gaza Flotilla To Reach Gaza By End Of May
2. 2nd Gaza Flotilla Scheduled For May
3. RECOMMENDED READING: “Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla”
4. Turkish Government Report Omits Its Role In Gaza Flotilla
5. 2nd Gaza Flotilla Posponed; Organizers Plan Larger Contingent

Reproduced with permission from the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report.

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: According to John Ware of the BBC, in his documentary Faith Hope and Charity, Mohammed Sawalha had reputedly been a Hamas fundraiser, known as “Abu Abada.”

 

WARE: In London, Sawalha is alleged to have directed funds, both for Hamas' armed wing, and for spreading its missionary dawah. Then, in January 1993, an operation Sawalha was involved in went badly wrong. Hamas would be forced to reorganise its funding arrangements. Reconstruction WARE: A senior Hamas man from America flew into London for instructions from Sawalha. Sawalha's visitor was en route to the Palestinian territories. The two men travelled to Sawalha's home. His visitor's name was Mohammed Salah. Salah's mission was to distribute funds. Sawalha told him who to meet in the Palestinian territories. [Dr. Reuven] PAZ: Mohammed Sawalha told Mohammed Salah to look as a respectable businessman, where to hide thesuitcase, to take not to fancy hotel, etc, etc, and to be very cautious. WARE: With Sawalha's agreement Salah began distributing about a quarter of a million dollars to local Hamas operatives. Some was ear marked for military activities. Some for missionary dawah. More money was in the pipe line from his bank in Chicago. But the Israeli's had been tracking him. Stopped at a check point as he left Gaza, Salah was arrested. March 1993 WARE: Salah ended up doing nearly 5 years in an Israeli jail, where the Israeli's got a lot out of him about Mohammed Sawalha in London, and Hamas' funding operation. During one interrogation, Salah was taped without his knowledge.Audio recording of Salah's interrogation WARE: Salah refers to Sawalha as Abu Abada. [Reconstruction] SALAH: I made a stop in London to meet with Abu Abada, who is more knowledge about the West Bank's operational activities. See, the operational and the dawah. INTERROGATOR: I didn't understand. One more time. Do you mean that Abu Abada is to be in charge of the dawah and of the movement. SALAH: Yes. WARE: Although Abu Abada, Mohammed Sawalha, was known to MI5, the authorities let him operate freely here. PAZ: Maybe even in London, I would say, he became more important for Hamas than during the period he was in the territories.

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