A Union of Good web site has announced that the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG) intends to prosecute the Israeli government for what it calls the “massacre committed against the peaceful activists on board of Freedom Flotilla.” According to the report:
The European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG) started on Saturday its first steps to prosecute the Israeli occupation authorities aftermath the Israeli massacre committed against the peaceful activists on board of Freedom Flotilla that resulted in the killing and injuring tens of them. Ameen Abu Rashed , member of ECESG, said in a statement to the press, that the campaign held a series of meetings with a specialized legal team to start prosecuting measures immediately against the Israeli officials and soldiers, for their crime, in front of the international courts in Holland. He explained that the meeting looked into the possibility of prosecuting the Israeli occupation leaders in international courts, pointing to the existence of complete evidence , in terms of judicial principles to be adopted concerning the committed crimes against international peace and humanity. The legal team emphasized that the available prosecution data will be based on what the Israeli war ships have done , when they attacked the protected vessels, not in war times only but even in peace times. It is worth to mention that six French citizens , who were on board of the Freedom Flotilla have filed a lawsuit in France against the Israeli authorities accusing them with the crime of “kidnapping and detention without any legal basis”. Meanwhile, the U.N. Human Rights Council has condemned Israel for its “outrageous attack” on a flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. The 47-member body passed a resolution Wednesday that established a fact-finding mission into possible international law violations.
Previous posts have documented that the ECESG was an important part of the coalition behind the Gaza Flotilla. The Union of Good is a coalition of Hamas fundraising charities headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and described in a NEFA Foundation report as follows:
The Union of Good is a coalition of Islamic charities that provides financial support to both the Hamas “social” infrastructure, as well as its terrorist activities. It is headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, and most of the trustees and member organizations are associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood. The Union of Good was banned by Israel in 2002 and was recently designated a terrorist entity by the United States, although neither Youssef Qaradawi nor any of the Trustees were similarly designated. Despite the fact that action has been taken against some of its member organizations in Europe, many of its other European member organizations continue to operate. Further, the Union of Good itself does not appear to be under investigation in Europe
Another NEFA Foundation report documents the numerous ties between the ECESG and the European Muslim Brotherhood represented by the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), In addition to his role as charman of the ECESG, Arafat Madi (aka Arafat Madi Shoukri) is the executive director of the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) which has also strong ties to the global Muslim Brotherhood. Two PRC directors are also directors of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), generally regarded as part of the UK. Muslim Brotherhood. The PRC is also listed as an affiliate of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) dominated by UK Muslim Brotherhood groups. PRC activities are frequently promoted by the MAB, MCB, and other U.K Brotherhood organizations. PRC director Ghassan Four is also a Trustee of INTERPAL, a key member of the Union of Good which was designated by the US in 2003 as a terrorist entity.
PRC director Zaher Birawi is a Trustee of Education Aid for Palestine (EAP), also a part of the Union of Good. Mr. Birawi is also head of programming for Al-Hiwar TV which frequently features MB/Hamas individuals and organizations and was founded by Azzam Al-Tamimi, a U.K Muslim Brotherhood leader and close to Hamas. An Israeli web site, known to be close to Israeli military intelligence, has reported that Mr. Birawi, along with another PRC Trustee, are “past Hamas operatives who found refuge in Britain in the early nineties.” The PRC has also been the co-sponsor of several conferences in Europe associated with Hamas. For example, the PRC was the co-sponsor of the Sixth Palestinians In Europe Conference which featured Nihad Awad of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), former US. Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammad Akram Al-Adlouni, and Raed Salah, a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel and close to Hamas. The 2009 conference was addressed via video link by Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.Another report from the Union of Good web site identifies Anouar Gharbi, a member of the European Campaign, as one of the founders of the freedom fleet’s coalition. Mr Gharbi is known to have been an officer of the Association de Secours Palestinien in Switzerland, the Swiss member of the Union of Good.
Another earlier post has discussed Ameen Abu Rashed (aka Amin Abou, Amin Rashid, Amin Abou Rashed) , a Dutch national recently released from Israeli custody who was one of the chief organizers of the Gaza flotilla. As noted in that post, Mr. Rashed was part of the Al-Aqsa Foundation in the Netherlands, a member of the Union of Good,