Iranian media is reporting on a group of UK Muslim Brotherhood and allied far leftwing organizations that have formed a coalition to participate in the next Gaza Flotilla. According to the report:
LONDON (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Pro-Palestinian British organizations announced the formation of a coalition to participate in the second aid convoy, Freedom Flotilla, to the besieged Gaza Strip next May. The coalition is composed of the British-Palestinian solidarity campaign, Friends of the Aqsa, the British Muslim initiative, Stop the War coalition and the Palestinian Forum in addition to other British organizations. Spokesman for the Palestinian Forum Zaher Beirawi said that this coalition would hire a big cruise ship for the travel of the participants who would be part of a 15-ship aid convoy to Gaza. Commenting on the possibility of seeing another Israeli attack on the convoy as the previous one, spokesman Beirawi stated that Israel does not respect international law and commits serious violations against the Palestinians day and night, so it is likely to repeat its crime.
Previous posts have reported on the next Gaza flotilla, designated “Freedom Flotilla 2” and expected to arrive in May.
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) had for many years been the most active organization in the U.K Muslim Brotherhood. Many of the leaders of the MAB left in 2007 to form the British Muslim Initiative (BMI). According to an Israeli think-tank report, the breakup appeared to be the result of a conflict between traditionalists in the MAB who were unhappy with the high level of involvement in U.K left-wing politics while those who who formed the BMI wished such activity to continue. Anas Al-Tikriti, the leader of the BMI, and former MAB official, is the son of Osama Al-Tikriti, one of the leaders of the Iraqi Islamic Party representing the Muslim Brotherhood in that country. The Stop The War Coalition is one of the far-left groups which has frequently acted in coalitions with the UK Muslim Brotherhood.
Zaher Beirawi (aka Zaher Birawi) is also a director of the Palestinian Return Center (Palestinian Return Center), designated by the Israeli government as an arm of Hamas and discussed in previous posts as central to the Gaza flotilla movement and intimately tied to the UK Brotherhood. Birawi is also a Trustee of Education Aid for Palestine (EAP), a part of the Union of Good, the coalition of Hamas fundraising charities headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and described in a NEFAFoundation 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.
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.