Anglican Friends of Israel is dismayed at international condemnation of Israel following attacks upon Israeli Defence Force personnel a supposedly peaceful aid convoy on board the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, for instance, called “on the Government of Israel to open the crossings to allow unfettered access for aid to Gaza” whose Hamas government calls for Israel’s destruction and the murder of her Jewish citizens.

Yet such calls ignore both information emerging about the IHH which sponsored the ‘aid convoy’ and the wider context in which Israel’s actions were framed.

Israeli offers of peaceful means to deliver the aid into Gaza were refused. Video footage proves that the violence which tragically resulted in the deaths of some passengers and injuries to others including IDF personnel was begun by Aid convoy members. Yet the UN Security Council has condemned Israel for the deaths.

Much of the aid from the ships has since been delivered to Gaza via Israeli border crossings.

The MV Mari Marmara was sponsored by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) The IHH is far from being the ‘Turkish equivalent of Oxfam’ as anti-Israel protesters have claimed.

Previously it was banned from participating in earthquake aid efforts by its own Government ‘because it was counted among several “fundamentalist organizations” operating “secret bank accounts” that were refusing to allow local authorities to oversee the distribution of their aid resources’.

It was also outlawed by the Israeli Government in 2008 because of its support for Hamas.

Gaza based Professor Abd Al-Fatah Nu’man makes the Islamist imperialist motives behind the convoy clear in this interview. And Al Jazeera footage of the racist chanting of the Mavi Marmara’s ‘Aid Convoy’ confirms their Jihadist intent.

Israel has good reason for maintaining restrictions at Gaza border crossings and has previously intercepted ships carrying weapons bound for terror organisations in Gaza and Hizbollah.

Some previous ‘aid’ convoys bound for Gaza have had little on board except activists eager to discredit Israel and to deflect attention from the thousands of tonnes of aid which flow into Gaza weekly via Israel.

Furthermore terrorists in Gaza continue to fire rockets into Israel – over 60 this year so far – and to explode bombs in order to kill and maim Israeli citizens. The latest exploded as recently as 25 May 2010.

The widely promulgated paradigm of the Israeli blockade as a punishment against a helpless and harmless Gazan population is highly questionable.

Western spokespersons might bear in mind that the terror threat to western nations springs from the same source as that faced daily by Israelis and be more circumspect in making demands on Israel before all relevant facts have emerged.

We received this statement from the Israeli Embassy on the ‘Flotilla to Gaza’:

The Flotilla to Gaza: A publicity stunt, not a genuine aid convoy

Since last year’s January cease fire, 133 million liters of fuel entered Gaza from Israel – That’s more than enough fuel to fill the fuel tank of every car and truck in Israel!

Since the ceasefire, well over a million tons of humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Israel – That’s almost a ton of aid for every man woman and child in Gaza.

Israel transfers food, medicines, clothing and school-books for all Gazans, but Hamas demands concrete for its reinforced bunkers, from which they will be able to continue to fire rockets at Israeli schools and hospitals.  Nevertheless, despite the need to restrict the supply of building materials for this reason,  Israel has this week allowed 6 trucks loaded with 250 tons of cement, one truck loaded with 5 tons of iron and 15 trucks loaded with gravels to enter Gaza for building projects operated and executed by UNRWA.

Israel transfers 15,000 tons of real aid to Gaza each and every week – so a flotilla claiming to carry 10,000 tons of concrete is clearly about a different agenda.

International aid groups send their aid to Gaza through the Israeli humanitarian pipeline, while publicity seekers merely exploit the humanitarian agenda to promote their own media stunts.

In 2009 alone, 10,544 patients and their companions left the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israel.

Humanitarian aid flows into Gaza daily, except when the crossings are rocketed by the Hamas regime.

In 2009, 21,200 international organization staff members entered the Gaza Strip, and some 4,883 tons of medical equipment and medicine were brought in.

Israel is now coordinating the transfer of 200,000 laptops for Gaza schoolchildren.

Transferring Aid to Gaza through Existing Channels

Israel maintains land crossings into Gaza, through which food, fuels and other materials are supplied. These transfer points operate despite numerous Palestinian terrorist attacks on the crossings, which have cost Israeli lives.

There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, although Hamas attempts to portray the situation as such. Enormous amounts of supplies and humanitarian aid cross into the Strip on a regular basis. Each day, many dozens of trucks carrying supplies are transported from Israel to the Gaza Strip.

The land crossing points remain the most efficient means for the transfer of goods. Reputable international organizations, such as the Red Cross, regularly use these crossings to deliver supplies and transfer personnel. Israel is very willing to assist the organizers of the flotilla in using the land crossings, in the same manner as it does for the other international organizations.

Given that sufficient land crossings are open and that Israel has invited the organizers to use them, the flotilla clearly is both futile and a publicity stunt.  If the organizers were truly interesting in providing humanitarian aid, as opposed to engaging in publicity stunts, they would utilize the proper channels to ensure delivery.

Millions of dollars worth of international food aid continually flows through the Israeli humanitarian apparatus, ensuring that there is no food shortage in Gaza. Food and supplies are shipped from Israel to Gaza daily.

Despite attacks by Hamas, Israel maintains an ongoing humanitarian corridor for the transfer of food items to Gaza. This conduit is used by internationally recognized organizations including the United Nations and the Red Cross.

Large quantities of essential food items like baby formula, wheat, meat, dairy products and other, are transferred daily and weekly to Gaza.

In a typical week the IDF coordinates the transfer of hundreds of trucks containing about 15,000 tons of supplies: during the week of May 18, 2010 there were 65 trucks of fruit and vegetables; 22 truckloads of sugar, some 27 truckloads of meat, poultry and fish; and 40 trucks of dairy products and more than 100 truckloads of animal food.

During the first quarter of 2010 some 553 tons or 40 trucks of milk powder and baby food were shipped to the Strip. One hundred and eight trucks of rice, 164 trucks of clothing and shoes, 1,115 trucks of wheat and 1,753 trucks of various food products including vegetables and cheese went through. These items were channeled through aid organizations or via the private sector.

In 2009, more than 738,000 tons of food and supplies entered Gaza.  During holidays, Israel increases transfers. During the Muslim feast Eid al-Adha, Israel shipped some 11,000 head of cattle into the Strip.

Maintaining Medical Aid for All in Need

No Palestinian is denied medical care in Israel.  Israel maintains a corridor for the transfer of medical patients out of Gaza, and about 200 medical staff go through the crossings every month.

Israel helps coordinate the transfer of Jordanian doctors into Gaza.

In 2009 alone, 10,544 patients and their companions left the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israel.

The Israeli Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem donates $3 million in aid annually to treat Palestinians in Israel.

Since 2005, Palestinians exploited medical care arrangements more than 20 times to carry out terror attacks.

In the first quarter of 2010, Israel shipped 152 trucks of medical supplies and equipment into Gaza.

A new CAT scan machine was recently shipped to Gaza.

In a typical week (in May 2010), some 37 truckloads of hygiene products were shipped to Gaza.

In 2009, 21,200 international organization staff members entered the Gaza Strip, and some 4,883 tons of medical equipment and medicine were brought in.

We are pleased to publish this letter from the director of Christian Friends of Israel, Geoffrey Smith, to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The Advertising Standards Authority

Dear Sirs,

I write on behalf of the Trustees and 10,000 members of this registered charity to protest in the strongest terms against your ruling that the Western Wall cannot be shown in Israel tourist advertisements. There are few places on earth where the purchase of real estate is recorded for thousands of years. Of these few, the single most significant and iconic is undoubtedly the Temple in Jerusalem. In the Bible – the sacred text of two world religions – 2 Samuel 24 records the purchase of the site – the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite – for fifty shekels of silver. 2 Chronicles 3 verse 1 links this site with the construction of Solomon’s Temple. This is the geographical focus of the family of Israel throughout the world, the resting place of the God of Israel celebrated in Psalm 132, and the place to which the prophets of Israel looked in the messianic age to come (Isaiah 62).

Tourists to Israel whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim are drawn to this iconic site which is celebrated hundreds of times in the biblical texts of Israel. In book publishing, the Western Wall is the picture most associated with Israel and is indeed on the cover of two of our own publications. While part of Jerusalem was for a short time under Jordanian control from 1948-1967 it was closed to Jewish worshippers but subsequently under Israeli control access to the holy sites is open to all faith communities. As a students of Hebrew in Jerusalem twenty years ago, (and employers of Christian Jewish and Muslim staff), my wife and I counted it as the highest of privileges to accompany international visitors and Jews returning to Israel to the Western Wall.  Whatever form of administration is negotiated in the future there is no question of Israel relinquishing its historic heritage in the holy basin.

The Board of Trustees of this international organisation will await your response at our next Board meeting on Monday 19th April.

Yours sincerely

Geoffrey Smith
Director
Christian Friends of Israel

From The Jerusalem Post

Hamas gunmen used Palestinian children as human shields, and established command centers and Kassam launch pads in and near more than 100 mosques and hospitals during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last year, according to a new Israeli report being released on Monday that aims to counter criticism of the IDF.

The detailed 500-page report, obtained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post, was written by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Malam) , a small research group led by Col. (res.) Reuven Erlich, a former Military Intelligence officer who works closely with the army.

The IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) cooperated with the report’s authors and declassified hundreds of photographs, videos, prisoner interrogations and Hamas-drawn sketches as part of an effort to counter the criticism leveled at Israel in the UN-sponsored Goldstone Report.

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