Revealing Free Gaza’s agenda

TANYA ROSENBLATT MARCIANO

Last week, pro-Palesintian activist Greta Berlin made headlines in newspapers around the globe for this tweet posted to the Free Gaza Movement’s Twitter account: “Zionists operated the concentration camps and helped murder millions of innocent Jews.” She also included a link to a video of Eustace Mullins, an American antisemitic conspiracy theorist (now deceased) who espoused the belief that Adolf Hitler allied himself with the Zionist movement. In the video, Mullins suggests that Hitler “aligned with the Zionist party, and the mission of the Nazis was to force the anti-Zionist Jews to accept Zionism – and this is what the concentration camps were about.”

The tweet was quickly removed from the organization’s office feed, but not before an employee with the Jewish Agency for Israel captured it in a screenshot.

In a supposed apology, Berlin later wrote that she regretted making the tweet public. Apparently, she only intended to post it and the video link to her private Facebook account. In a tweet responding to one by Vancouver-based National Post reporter Tristin Hopper, someone from Free Gaza wrote, “Facebook attached the [Facebook twitter] account to my personal account. It should have gone to the [Facebook] account. My apologies.” Another tweet on the organization’s website read: “I shared [the link] without watching it. I am sorry that I just sent it forward without looking at it. It won’t happen again.”

Berlin calls herself a media communications expert, volunteer pro-Palestinian activist and the spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which she also co-founded. The Free Gaza Movement is a coalition of “human rights activists,” explains their website, who fight the Israeli naval blockade by sailing cargoes of “humanitarian aid” to the Gaza Strip. The organization states that they are anti-Zionist, not antisemitic, but I guess that the cat is now out of the bag.

Even Naomi Klein, the Canadian author and social activist who has been very critical of Israel and supportive of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, has disassociated herself from Berlin and her organization, tweeting: “I have resigned from the advisory board of the Free Gaza Movement.” Apparently, Klein is not the only one who sees what is the true agenda of the Free Gaza Movement – she has not been the only one to resign from the board.

This Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish community of Vancouver hosted one of the Israel Defence Forces soldiers who was attacked by Free Gaza Movement’s Mavi Marmara Gaza flotilla “peace activists” to share the real story of that day.

On May 31, 2010, the Mavi Marmara ship attempted to break through Israel’s naval blockade. The group that owned the ship, IHH, is a Turkish nongovernmental organization has been classified as a terrorist group by Israel and Holland. David (not his real name) had been called to duty by the IDF’s naval commandos. The soldiers had been told by their commanding officer that they should anticipate passive resistance from the protesters. If the protesters refused to follow the Israeli navy to the port at Ashdod, the plan was to board the Mavi Marmara, commandeer the vessel and steer the boat towards Ashdod to unload any cargo, “humanitarian” or otherwise.

The plan seemed clear cut, David told me, but as he was lowered onto the boat, he was immediately attacked. Ten men surrounded him, removed his helmet and began to smash his head with metal pipes. He was then taken hostage for 40 minutes – while bleeding profusely – as the Israeli officer in charge negotiated his release. For those who want a visual of the attack, simply type into YouTube, “Close-up footage of Mavi Marmara passengers attacking IDF soldiers,” and you can see David and the passenger-terrorists trying to kill him. When the IDF gained control of the vessel, they discovered rooms of weapons (knives, metal pipes and slingshots) on the Mavi Marmara – including the metal pipes used to nearly murder David. Afterwards, the IDF reported that two activists were found with pistols with empty magazines that had been stolen from the Israeli commandos. The pistols were fully loaded before being stolen.

David was rushed to the hospital once he was released – with a broken skull, a broken arm and a battered body. He spent almost a year in the hospital and was released with a metal plate in his head. Thankfully, the One Family Organization, which supports victims of terror in Israel, has played a significant role in David’s and his family’s life, aiding in his rehabilitation.

I asked David if he is now back to the way he was before the attack. He looked at me and, with a small smile, said his memory isn’t very good. His mother was sitting next to him with tears in her eyes. Neither David nor his parents will ever be the same.

Berlin will be speaking to promote her new book on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 7 p.m., at Simon Fraser University’s downtown campus, 515 West Hastings St. Jews in Vancouver have a responsibility to protest Greta Berlin when she spews her ugly hatred of Jews and Israel. She is hiding under the guise of a social activist but she is simply an antisemite. We owe it to those fighting to protect Israel, and to David.

Tanya Rosenblatt Marciano is a freelance writer with published articles in the Jerusalem Post, National Post and the Jewish Independent.

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