The Dutch government has put the Turkish terror group IHH - which was responsible for the Mavi Marmara and other ships that attempted to breach Israel's legal blockade of Gaza last May - in its place, declaring the IHH a terror organization and blocking it from transferring funds out of Holland to Germany.
Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that he has “placed the [IHH Netherlands] on the Dutch list of terrorist organizations and froze its assets, because IHH Netherlands regularly transferred funds to IHH Germany. This organization is banned in Germany because it has raised funds for Hamas. Hamas has been on the EU list of terrorist organizations since 2003.”
He added that: “The decision to list IHH Netherlands was taken independently from the current plans to organize a new flotilla. The government is opposed to the flotilla.”
Asked about the slated May or June second Gaza flotilla action, Rosenthal told the Post, “The Dutch government believes that the second Gaza flotilla is countereffective to further opening of the regular border crossings.
Especially taking into account that the Dutch government is trying to advance the export of flowers and fruits from Gaza.”
Rosenthal noted that, “The Netherlands government has called upon organizations to refrain from participation in the Gaza flotilla since it will not help to improve the situation in Gaza. Under Dutch law, however, the government cannot prevent ships from setting sail.”
...
Yochanan Visser, an expert on Dutch-Israeli relations – who made aliya from the Netherlands in 2000, and is head of the organization Missing Peace – told the Post on Friday that the “The chairman [Groenhuijzen] of the Free Gaza movement in Holland is a convicted terrorist, who was a member of the Red Youth, an extremist organization modeled after the Rote Armee Fraktion in Germany, and has ties with the PFLP. He was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in jail for possession of arms in 1977.
“Officially he states that the aim of Free Gaza is to force Israel to abide by international law, but in reality his views are compatible to those of the IHH. He has reportedly admitted that providing humanitarian aid is not the aim of the second flotilla.
That leaves aiding Hamas and breaking the blockade as the real aims of Free Gaza Holland.”
E-mail queries to contact Groenhuijzen were not immediately returned.
Last week, a majority of the Dutch parliament voted to ratify a motion condemning the IHH flotilla as an action aimed against a friendly nation, and stated there are sufficient legal avenues to provide the Gaza population with humanitarian aid. The motion noted that second Gaza flotilla could be construed as aiding terrorist organizations.
A legislative effort is underway in the Dutch parliament to place the IHH on the European Union’s terror list.
Hmmm.
Labels: Dutch government, funding terrorists, IHH, Mavi Marmara
posted by Carl in Jerusalem
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