{"id":4749,"date":"2019-12-12T18:27:22","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T05:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/?p=4749"},"modified":"2019-12-12T18:27:22","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T05:27:22","slug":"kiwi-activist-planning-another-publicity-stunt-with-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/2019\/12\/kiwi-activist-planning-another-publicity-stunt-with-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi activist planning another publicity stunt with terrorists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Roger Fowler, chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/2019\/10\/online-hate-uncovered-in-new-zealand-anti-israel-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hate group Kia Ora Gaza<\/a>, has recently attended a planning meeting for the 2020 &#8220;Freedom Flotilla&#8221; alongside terrorists.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/SWaGqfnQIaaojP7Ry51p4r4QJUoVL34MwJHQKDxDxUjqC9XrlV-AoxlvGyKjycMJBI59v11T9tGUYDsdhhInw1C5JIWkssukLGAePc7vWQTYxUyBMyBVJTHn7Sgc6PIDhtM6mxn-\" alt=\"\" width=\"440\" height=\"230\" \/><br \/>\nIn the picture above, Fowler is joined by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.israelnationalnews.com\/News\/News.aspx\/145408\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amin Abu Rashed<\/a> &#8211; a Hamas operative living in The Netherlands who was also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.israelnationalnews.com\/News\/News.aspx\/137859\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on the Mavi Marama<\/a> &#8211; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.il\/BlobFolder\/generalpage\/terrorists_in_suits\/en\/De-Legitimization%20Brochure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zaher Birawi<\/a> &#8211; a Hamas affiliate living in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>Also pictured with Fowler and the Hamas affiliates is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mick Napier, who has <a href=\"https:\/\/antisemitism.uk\/daily-mail-investigation-reports-that-psc-and-spsc-forced-jewish-shops-to-close-with-campaign-of-intimidation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accused the Israeli embassy in the UK<\/a> of being behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2019\/jul\/11\/labour-antisemitism-30-whistleblowers-to-give-evidence-to-ehrc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">allegations of antisemitism in the UK Labour Party<\/a> and is the secretary of a group that <a href=\"https:\/\/antisemitism.uk\/daily-mail-investigation-reports-that-psc-and-spsc-forced-jewish-shops-to-close-with-campaign-of-intimidation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">forced Jewish shops to close with a &#8220;campaign of intimidation.&#8221;<\/a>; and<\/li>\n<li>Torstein Dahle, a Norwegian politician who said that <a href=\"https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Torstein_Dahle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Taliban and other Afghan rebels had the full right of fighting the Norwegian soldiers<\/a> of the International Security Assistance Force stationed in Afghanistan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The activists met as part of the &#8220;Freedom Flotilla Coalition&#8221;, which was formed in 2010. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ngo-monitor.org\/reports\/_freedom_flotilla_iii_connections_to_french_government_funding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Members of the Coalition<\/a> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the Turkey-based Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH), which is listed by several Western governments as a terrorist entity and has alleged links with Hamas and Al Qaeda (and was founded by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.israelnationalnews.com\/News\/News.aspx\/145408\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amin Abu Rashed<\/a>); and<\/li>\n<li>the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, which <a href=\"http:\/\/www.terrorism-info.org.il\/en\/article\/18014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center<\/a> is a pro-Hamas umbrella organization operating in Europe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The stated goal of the Flotilla is to &#8220;to end the blockade of Gaza&#8221;. The maritime blockade of Gaza was imposed in 2007. That is two years after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/twelve-powerful-images-from-the-gaza-disengagement-1.5378980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Israel unilaterally withdrew all Jews from the area<\/a> and shortly after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2007\/jun\/15\/israel4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hamas took control through a violent coup following elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After Hamas took control, Israel and &#8220;The Quartet on the Middle East&#8221; (US, Russia, UN, EU) imposed economic sanctions and restrictions on Gaza. The naval blockade and land crossing policies were instituted as a response to rocket attacks and expressly for the purpose of stemming the flow of weapons into Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the blockade, <a href=\"http:\/\/gisha.org\/graph\/2387\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">thousands of truckloads of goods enter Gaza from Israel<\/a>, even when Hamas and other terror groups <a href=\"https:\/\/www.i24news.tv\/en\/news\/israel\/180524-180729-new-round-of-arson-balloons-cause-seven-fires-in-gaza-border-communities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">continue to indiscriminately send flaming kites, mortars, and missiles over the border<\/a>. Thus, the ships are clearly not intending to provide any aid to Gaza; but aim to reduce restrictions on terrorists acquiring weapons.<\/p>\n<p>The 2018 &#8220;flotilla&#8221; participants admitted their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/news\/israels-gaza-blockade-challenged-seaborne-activists-1907642621\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">medical cargo was &#8220;merely a gesture. We&#8217;re talking just a few boxes&#8221;<\/a>. Kiwi activist, Mike Treen, was on that boat with shipmates <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2LNUdO3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">known to support terror groups, including Hamas as PFLP<\/a>. New Zealand Labour MP, Duncan Webb, <a href=\"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/2018\/08\/israel-institute-calls-on-government-to-distance-itself-from-terrorism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hosted a lunch for Mr Treen on his return<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand Green MP, Marama Davidson, joined a boat in 2016 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/national\/85075657\/paul-moon-david-cumin-and-juliet-moses-flotilla-became-ship-of-fools\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">alongside a woman who created a video game that encourages kids to shoot as many Israelis as they can and another who accused Israel of orchestrating the recent terrorist attacks in Munich and Nice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And in 2015, a Maori TV journalist, Ruwani Perera, boarded a ship. Ms Parera said the activists were after publicity alone, and the crew members agreed, saying the flotilla &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/wbg.freedomflotilla.org\/faq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is a solidarity, not an aid mission<\/a>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations panel, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, deemed Israel&#8217;s naval blockade of Gaza<a href=\"https:\/\/unispal.un.org\/pdfs\/GazaFlotillaPanelReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> legal and a necessary step to protect its citizens<\/a> from the onslaught of rocket attacks from Gaza. In order to maintain the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rhH4KVjB59Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">legal blockade<\/a>, Israel <a href=\"https:\/\/ihl-databases.icrc.org\/applic\/ihl\/ihl.nsf\/xsp\/.ibmmodres\/domino\/OpenAttachment\/applic\/ihl\/ihl.nsf\/5B310CC97F166BE3C12563F6005E3E09\/FULLTEXT\/IHL-89-EN.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">must stop any boat attempting to breach it<\/a>. That is why the previous attempts have ended with the Israeli navy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.camera.org\/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=81&x_article=2077\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interceptions and arrests<\/a>. It is also why the report considers attempts to breach the blockade &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/News\/dh\/infocus\/middle_east\/Gaza_Flotilla_Panel_Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a dangerous and reckless act<\/a>&#8221; and stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;\u2026Where a State becomes aware that its citizens or flag vessels intend to breach a naval blockade, it has a responsibility to take proactive steps compatible with democratic rights and freedoms to warn them of the risks involved and to endeavour to dissuade them from doing so.&#8221;<cite>UN report<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thus, while not delivering any aid, the publicity stunts should also be proactively dissuaded by governments.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2008, activists have sailed 35 boats to try and breach the legal blockade and render it illegal; thus, allowing weapons to more easily flow to terror groups. There is no evidence that New Zealand officials have complied with the UN report in taking proactive steps to warn participants of the risks involved.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to ask MFAT why they have not taken steps recommended by the UN report, <a href=\"mailto:info@mfat.govt.nz?subject=How have you complied with UN report&body=Hi, Please could you outline how you have complied with the UN report on the May 2010 Flotilla incident to &quot;take proactive steps...to warn [those intending to try and breach the legal blockade in the future] of the risks involved and to endeavour to dissuade them from doing so&quot;?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Roger Fowler continues to associate with terror affiliates and is clearly planning to send another Kiwi on the reckless publicity stunt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roger Fowler, chair of the hate group Kia Ora Gaza, has recently attended a planning meeting for the 2020 &#8220;Freedom Flotilla&#8221; alongside terrorists. In the picture above, Fowler is joined by Amin Abu Rashed &#8211; a Hamas operative living in The Netherlands who was also on the Mavi Marama &#8211; and Zaher Birawi &#8211; a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[449,34,447],"tags":[644,650,651,349,649,276,28,646,647,462,275,119,648,645],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4749"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4753,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4749\/revisions\/4753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}