Foreigners in the U.S. raising money for Palestine

A British Member of Parliament, George Galloway, has been actively courting support in the United States for a “humanitarian” convoy to provide cash and vehicles to representatives of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization that controls Gaza.

The Viva Palestina convoy, led by Galloway, a member of the anti-Zionist “Respect Party” in the British Parliament, donated approximately $1.5 million and more than 100 vehicles to Hamas in March 2009. At a press conference in Gaza announcing the donations, Galloway said: “We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of their contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine.”

Although the European Viva Palestina convoy was promoted as an effort to show solidarity with the Gazan people and to deliver humanitarian aid, the donation of cash and supplies directly to Hamas, a group that engages in terror operations against Israeli civilians and is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel, defined the exercise as a show of solidarity with Palestinian terrorism.

Since the convoy returned from Gaza, Galloway has gone on two speaking tours around the U.S. in April and May to promote Viva Palestina. During his speeches, which attracted hundreds of attendees, Galloway regularly defended Hamas, describing it as a liberation movement that “just wants to liberate its tiny piece of land from illegal and violent military occupation.” He called Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and imprisoned Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti “the greatest Arab leaders,” while referring to Israel’s newly elected government as “killers” and “fascists.” He claimed that “Zionism has poisoned the well” and has “distorted the face of Jewish people.”

Galloway also succeeded in eliciting support for an American version of Viva Palestina. At a 1,000-person event in Anaheim, CA on April 7, Galloway officially announced the formation of Viva Palestina US, which is planning to depart for Gaza in early July. Ron Kovic, a Vietnam veteran and longtime antiwar activist, was named as a co-organizer of the U.S. convoy. Organizers hope to be even more successful than the European one and have set a fundraising goal of $10 million and 500 vehicles.

Galloway is currently in the U.S. on a three-week-long fundraising drive for Viva Palestina US and is scheduled to make appearances in at least 12 U.S. cities, including Houston, San Diego, Chicago, Washington, DC and New York. These fundraising events are being coordinated by more than 20 anti-Israel and antiwar groups, as well as local Viva Palestina US chapters that have formed, an indication of the strong support Galloway has received. Pastors for Peace/the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), an interfaith organization based out of New York, is serving as Viva Palestina US’ fiscal sponsor, thus ensuring that donations to the convoy will be tax deductible.

Under American law, providing material support to designated terrorist groups, including Hamas, is a crime. Organizers of Viva Palestina US claim on the group’s Web site that the convoy intends to comply with U.S. law and will give the money to “a reception committee comprising hospitals, doctors and health professionals, charities and grassroots NGOs working in Gaza.” It is not verifiable that this “committee” will function independently of the Hamas leadership in Gaza, and Galloway -- who plans to lead the American convoy -- has already demonstrated his willingness to directly support Hamas.

Given these concerns, we have urged the Justice Department to investigate whether this campaign is raising funds for the purpose of providing material support to Hamas, which both the United States and the European Union have designated as a terrorist organization.

For its part, Hamas has already welcomed news of Viva Palestina US. Adel Zaroub, a Hamas spokesman, was quoted as saying, “We greet the new step by Mr. Galloway and the American peace activist Ron Kovic to send a new convoy to break the siege on the Gaza Strip.”

There is a growing acceptability of Middle Eastern terrorist groups among far left and pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. in the past several years. After the summer 2006 Lebanon war, an activist with the group New Jersey Solidarity exemplified this trend when she declared at an antiwar rally, “Our troops are Hezbollah. Our troops are the Palestinian resistance, and we do support our troops… we will build the resistance here until all Palestine is free.” In January 2009, representatives from the International Action Center, an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist organization, as well as Cynthia McKinney, a left-wing activist and former United States Congresswoman, joined representatives of Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations at a conference in Beirut to discuss strategies for supporting Hamas.

Certainly, if more Americans knew what Galloway stood for, including his unabashed support for Hamas, they would choose to reject him and this tainted “humanitarian” effort. 

Abraham H. Foxman is National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and the author of “The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control.”