Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
The Meir Amit
Intelligence and Terrorism
Information Center
September 6, 2010
www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/ipc_e120.htm

An anti-Israel coalition, some of whose members organized the Mavi Marmara
flotilla, were encouraged by its results. It is currently promoting a new
series of projects to embarrass and isolate Israel. They include an upgraded
flotilla and a plane to the Gaza Strip.

A Facebook invitation to a Free Palestine Movement fundraiser for a series
of new anti-Israel projects.
A Facebook invitation to a Free Palestine Movement fundraiser for a series
of new anti-Israel projects. The organization is affiliated with the Free
Gaza Movement, which played a major role in the Mavi Marmara flotilla in
close collaboration with the Turkish IHH, and which is an important factor
in new projects planned against Israel.

Overview

1. Accumulated information indicates that the anti-Israel coalition behind
the Mavi Marmara flotilla to the Gaza Strip has spent the past three months
promoting plans for new projects as part of a general campaign to smear
Israel and erode its legitimacy. The projects include sending an upgraded
flotilla (with more ships, more activists, more media personnel and more
celebrities) and sending a plane to the Gaza Strip. All of the above are
meant to raise the action threshold.

2. The anti-Israel coalition is ideologically heterogeneous, united by its
hostility to Israel and desire to challenge and embarrass it to promote what
it represents as "the rights of the Palestinians." In reality, it often
promotes Hamas' political agenda in opposition to the interests of the
Palestinian Authority.

3. At the coalition's ideological poles are, on the one hand, radical
Islamic organizations and activists. Conspicuous among them are the
(ideologically close) Muslim Brotherhood and the Turkish IHH, and other
European Islamist organizations. On the other, are radical left
organizations and activists whose hostility toward Israel is part of their
ideological opposition to the West (especially the United States) and its
values, and to globalization. Between the poles are human rights
organizations and activists, trade unions, Jewish activists and even
politicians who ride the wave of anti-Israel hostility to make personal and
political capital. However, some of the organizations and activists
genuinely identify with the Palestinians, while others are interested in
promoting their own political agendas, particularly pro-Hamas.

4. The coalition includes a number of umbrella organizations which
participated in organizing the Mavi Marmara flotilla. Prominent within the
radical Muslim organizations are the Turkish IHH, which directed the recent
flotilla, and the radical Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas' parent movement, which
has a world-wide network including the Arab-Muslim world and Europe
(especially Britain). They collaborate with several umbrella organizations
operating in Europe and the United States under the title of "humanitarian"
or "human rights" organizations, while in reality their activity is
political, pro-Palestinian/pro-Hamas. Among those collaborating with the
radical Islamic organizations within the coalition are the Free Gaza
Movement (FGM) and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which
operate in Judea and Samaria, and the European Campaign to End the Siege on
Gaza (ECESG) (For further information, see the Appendices).

5. For the aforementioned organizations, which inspired by the Goldstone
Report, the Mavi Marmara flotilla was a watershed event (despite, or perhaps
because of, the fact that nine Turkish IHH members were killed and dozens
wounded). They share the following characteristics:

A. The Turkish IHH, which led the most recent flotilla, is capable of
actions the other organizations are not because of the governmental support
it receives from Turkey. The organization, which has branches throughout the
world, made it possible for the coalition to enjoy financial support (which
enabled it to launch a larger number of ships along with the Mavi Marmara),
organizational support, media support and political support (which enabled
the flotilla to greatly increase the pressure exerted on Israel).

B. The organizations and activists who joined the flotilla demonstrated
the capability and desire to go beyond their local interests and collaborate
to a great extent for the sake of promoting a joint anti-Israeli project,
including taking risks (because of the expected Israeli opposition). That
was manifested by months of preparation, mostly in Istanbul, which included
coordination meetings of the representatives of the umbrella organizations
of the coalition (the minutes of one of the meetings were seized on board
the Mavi Marmara).

C. As far as the coalition was concerned, the results of the flotilla
were extremely positive. They exceeded the individual "achievements" of the
"routine" activity directed against Israel (sending convoys to the Gaza
Strip, initiatives to boycott Israel, attempts to bring Israel's senior
political and military figures to trial, propaganda projects). Because
Israel was forced to change its policy toward the closure of the Gaza Strip,
its public image was harmed, to this day its senior figures are under
examination by Israeli and international investigations, and its relations
with Turkey suffered a severe blow. However, some of those involved,
including Hamas, are worried by the Israeli easing of the closure, which
deflated some of the strategic momentum of the flotillas and harmed its
ability to undermine Israel's legitimacy, which is at the center of the
coalition's activity.

6. The anti-Israel coalition was joined by a small organization in
California called the Free Palestine Movement (FPM). In our assessment it is
closely linked to the Free Gaza Movement (FGM), and is possibly its front
organization (because of legal considerations: in America supporting Hamas,
which has been designated as a terrorist organization, is outlawed). The
most prominent figure in the FPM is Dr. Paul Larudee (aka Paul Wilder). He
is a radical leftist activist, anti-Israel and pro-Hamas, and is a
co-founder of both the FGM and the ISM, and is in all probability still
affiliated with them. He participated in the recent flotilla (and boasts of
being one of its "survivors"). In the past he was involved in many ISM
activities in Judea and Samaria, and expelled from Israel in 2006 (For
further information about him and his organization, see Appendix I).

7. Paul Larudee recently held a FPM fund-raising dinner in California at
which he elaborated a series of planned projects. He also referred to them
in an interview with Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV and on the FPM's website,
calling them part of the public relations war against Israel, which Israel
can only lose.

8. The projects include increasing the number of American activists on the
planned flotilla (of 10-20 ships), a permanent maritime presence of dozens
of small boats and a supply ship off the Gaza coast, sending a plane to the
Gaza Strip, flying 200 Palestinian volunteers on commercial planes to
Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport to demand the so-called " right of
return," and holding a concert for the benefit of the Palestinians in London
and other locations in Europe, similar to the one held for Nelson Mandela in
1988 to protest apartheid in South Africa (For further information about
planned projects, see Appendix II).

9. In our assessment, the projects for which the FPM is raising funds are
not exclusive to the organization and reflect plans practical preparations
which have been carried out in recent months by the anti-Israel coalition.
The main plan is to send a large flotilla to the Gaza Strip called Freedom
Fleet 2. It is being organized by the FGM, IHH and other umbrella
organizations which participated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla (For further
information see the Appendices). Organizations from other countries
(Lebanon, Iran, Yemen) which are afraid of sending lone ships may join, and
there may be individual ships or groups of ships from specific sectors
intended to be difficult for the IDF to operate against (such as the
Lebanese women's ship, a ship with clerics, a ship with Jewish passengers).
In our assessment, the coalition is also making practical preparations for
other projects, such as sending a plane to the Gaza Strip.

10. It is reasonable to assume that only some of the plans may eventually be
implemented because of their organizers' constraints: they still have
financial difficulties (the programs are more ambitious and more expensive
than previous ones), political difficulties (the legitimacy of the flotillas
has waned and most of the international community regards them as
provocations liable to harm the peace process), and legal difficulties
(especially in the United States). However, some of the coalition partners
are highly motivated and enjoy governmental support from countries which
include Iran and Syria. They are determined to implement at least some of
the planned projects to increase international pressure on Israel.

11. The Hamas movement is in contact with the hard core of coalition
organizations and activists, directly or indirectly through Western
activists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood around the globe. Hamas will
probably try to encourage the coalition to execute spectacular projects in
the upcoming months, regarding them not only as eroding Israel's legitimacy
but as a means of disrupting the direct negotiations between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority, which Hamas strongly opposes.

12. Appendices

A. Appendix I: A list of the anti-Israel projects presented by the Free
Palestine Movement (FPM)

B. Appendix II: The Free Palestine Movement (FPM) and its co-founder,
Dr. Paul Larudee

C. Appendix III: The Free Gaza Movement (FGM)

D. Appendix IV: The International Solidarity Movement (ISM)

E. Appendix V: The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ESESG)

F: Appendix VI: The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas' parent movement, and its
British stronghold.

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