The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) is co-sponsoring a “Viva Palestina Convoy Celebration Day” scheduled for this evening in London. According to the announcement:
The Program will include:
– Keynote speech by George Galloway MP
– A pictorial slideshow and presentation of the Viva Palestina convoy and the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza
– An award ceremony to the representatives of the Viva Palestina Convoy.
Organisers:
Palestinian Forum of Britain (PFB)
Muslim Association of Britain (MAB)
Islamic Unity Forum (IUF)
Supporting Organisations:
British Muslim Initiative (BMI), Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop The War Coalition (STW), Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS)
The MAB, along with the British Muslim Initiative (BMI), the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), and the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), is part of the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood.
Viva Palestina in the U.K. is a registered charity associated with George Galloway which is currently under investigation by U.K. authorities. The organization has organized several convoys of humanitarian aid to Gaza including the first convoy where Galloway was reported to have handed cash and three cars to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah and the second convoy where Galloway met again with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah. Previous posts have discussed Galloway’s trips to the U.S. in conjunction with the convoys including a trip in March 2009 where he participated in a Northern Virginia fund-raising event in which Muslim American Society leader Mahdi Bray was also scheduled to appear.
Galloway is a far-left British M.P. who was expelled from the Labor Party over incendiary comments made at time of the 2003 Iraq War. He subsequently formed the Respect Coalition which prior to a 2007 split included the Socialist Workers Party and members of the Muslim Association of Britain and Muslim Council of Britain, essentially the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain. The Respect coalition was the sponsor of the February 2003 anti-Iraq war demonstration in London, reported by police to have been the largest demonstration ever held in the U.K. A previous post discussed the 2007 falling out between Galloway and the Socialist Workers Party and the speculation that the difficulties stemmed from Galloway’s desire to focus more on developing a Muslim constituency. At that time, Galloway launched a new movement called Respect Renewal which helped to elect Mr Galloway as a Respect MP. Galloway has been a long-time supporter of Palestinian causes and another previous post discussed his participation in a fund-raising event for a Bahraini charity that is part of the Union of Good, a worldwide coalition of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and which has been designated by the U.S. in connection with its funding of Hamas. Galloway was recently banned from entry into Canada on the same grounds.