Alleged Hamas operative organized Greta Thunbergs failed attempt to break Gaza blockade: report
A British-Palestinian journalist who has long-been accused of being a “Hamas operative” served as a key figure who helped launch the aid vessel carrying Greta Thunberg and other international activists who were detained by Israel, according to a new report.Zaher Birawi, 63, the head of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza and founding member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was at the launch of the Madleen ship a week ago as he praised Thunberg and the other activists traveling to challenge Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian enclave.Birawi, who also heads the EuroPal Forum nonprofit to support Palestinians, has been repeatedly accused of having Hamas links, with a 2012 photograph showing him attending an event alongside slain Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, the Telegraph reported.
Birawi, a vocal critic of Israel’s policies in the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly denied the allegations that he has any links to terrorist crimes.There’s no evidence to suggest Birawi has helped facilitate any of Hamas’ crimes.
The allegations first surfaced in 2013 when Israel identified him as a Hamas operative working in Europe, with his nonprofit labeled a terrorist organization in 2021 for alleged ties to the Palestinian terror group.The EuroPal Forum has strongly denied any terror links, claiming it was unfairly targeted for its work abroad advocating for Palestinian rights.Birawi was eventually awarded compensation when he sued the NatWest financial database for allegedly putting him on a terrorism watch list.
“My legal team relied primarily on the fact that there has never been any legal sentence passed against me by any official authority in any state anywhere in the world, and that never have I been found to have been involved in any illegal acts which could be deemed within the scope of terrorism crimes,” Birawi said at the time.The Palestinian advocate was accused again of being “a Hamas operative” by Labour MP Christian Wakef...