Friday, May 22, 2009
Sad news from the great Gaza boat ride people. Splitters ahoy!
Dear Friends,
It is with deep regret and sadness that we have to announce a separation within the Free Gaza Movement.
Free Gaza Movement was formed in the fall of 2006 by five individuals: Eliza Ernshire, Greta Berlin, Mary Hughes, Paul Larudee, and Sharon Lock. A year later, a non-profit called the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees (AIPAC) was created in California as a means of accepting U.S. tax-deductible donations on behalf of Free Gaza. Both Greta Berlin and Mary Hughes were on the steering committee of that non-profit as founding members, and Mary Hughes was on the Board of Directors. With volunteers from AIPAC, and others, we were responsible for the first, successful voyage to Gaza in August 2008.
In November 2008, all of the original founders of Free Gaza met in London with 16 other organizers from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East in order to elect a board of directors for the Free Gaza Movement and discuss our future plans and organization. After considering several proposals for structure and several nominations for a board, we elected Huwaida Arraf, Greta Berlin, Eliza Ernshire, Derek Graham, Fathi Jaouadi, Ramzi Kysia, and Vaggelis Pissias as our interim board (iB) of directors.
Since then the International Free Gaza Movement has organized every other voyage without AIPAC's assistance either financial or through providing volunteers.
For the last, several months, we attempted to negotiate an affiliate and funding agreement with AIPAC. Unfortunately, this has not been successful, and we have decided to separate.
AIPAC has decided to call itself "The Free Gaza Movement." They have reserved the new URL "www.freegazamovement.org" for themselves, and have set up a new email address, "friendstogaza@gmail.com," for their use.
Our web address is the original "www.freegaza.org," and our existing email address is "friendofgaza@gmail.com." Please make a note of these distinctions.
Also, please note that we do not have a funding agreement with AIPAC. Any donations made to California since September 2008 have not and will not be sent to us in order to run boat missions out of Cyprus.
Anyone wishing to make U.S. tax-deductible donations to the Free Gaza Movement should do it through our U.S. fiscal sponsors by making a check out to: The American Educational Trust LE, (publishers of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs) and putting FOR FREE GAZA in the subject line. Please see our website for details.
We wish our sisters and brothers at AIPAC well, and hope that their unique efforts to break the siege of Gaza from California will be successful.
Thank you for your continued support for the people of Palestine.
Sincerely,
Huwaida Arraf
Greta Berlin
Eliza Ernshire
Derek Graham
Fathi Jaouadi
Ramzi Kysia
Board of Directors, Free Gaza Movement
www.FreeGaza.org
I knew the Free Gaza thing was a big AIPAC plot to discredit the anti-something movement! Maybe the rival boats will start ramming each other at sea.
Anyway, looks like a lot of people have been giving money down a big drain. ISM tool Paul Larudee... Wasn't he the last man to speak to Riad Hamad alive? They were also talking about donations. Wasn't he Hamad's money man? He was. I learned in college never to elect the kid who can't pay his rent as your club treasurer, and never give cash to a bunch of semi-rational lefty moonbats just lucky to keep out of range of the butterfly nets.
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(...and material support for Hamas in Gaza, but who's counting at this point)...The Council on American Islamic Relations has issued a press release: CAIR Asks President to Intervene on Behalf of Former U.S. Congresswoman Seized by Israel. You get thre... Read More
AIPAC is now the "Free Gaza" movement?
Who knew?
I gotta adjust my silver hat:)
Ahhh, it's the People's Liberation Front of Judea vs. the Judean People's Liberation Front all over again - Monty Python has seen (or foreseen) it all ...
Ooh-ooh, wait, wait - I know, I know: there are bona fide AIPAC Zionist infiltrators there who are trying to split the unity among the anti-AIPAC forces, thus they formed another AIPAC, which isn't really the AIPAC, but only AIPAC in name, whereas in fact the real AIPAC ... well, you catch the drift.
Or, better yet, and even more sinister - both groups are the brain children of the real (Zionist) AIPAC who created the entities so as to be able to monitor and control the anti-AIPAC forces, and now they are sowing confusion and division within their ranks.
One can always rely on the good old Learned Elders of Zion to pull off a devious trick like that ... Yippie!
Don't the rest of you goons realize that this entire story is a plant? The Free Gaza Movement is doing quite well, thank you very much. But... they needed a credible split so they could work in the U.S. AND in Europe while keeping the 501c3 status in the U.S.
Seems to me they are laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of you are jacking off over a fake story. They picked up a page from the real AIPAC. Kudos to them.