Purporting to send “humanitarian aid” to Gaza, flotilla leader Yasser Kashlak calls for sending the “European garbage leftovers” in Israel back to “their lands.” So reports the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) in its latest study.
A boat is scheduled to depart from Lebanon sometime in the coming days, headed for Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade. ITIC says the ship is backed by Syria and Hizbullah.
The ship supposedly contains aid for Gaza, as well as activists. It will dock first at Cyprus, precluding a direct Lebanese-Israel route which would be a violation of the 2006 ceasefire between the two countries.
“Behind the launching of the ships are small-time Lebanese activists,” ITIC writes, “who are lacking significant political weight in the Lebanese political scene. Some of them are members of the March 8 camp, which supports Hizbullah and Syria. The two bodies that are supporting the launch are ‘Reporters Without Borders’ and the ‘Free Palestine Movement,’” the latter of which is headed by Kashlak. “Both are fairly small-fry movements.”
In light of this, ITIC estimates that the purchase of the boats and the organization of the flotilla is being done with the involvement and help of Syria and Hizbullah. “Both of them do not wish to divulge their true involvement, for fear of making waves with Israel, and choose instead to hide behind fictitious or light-weight activists (a commonly used method in Lebanon).”
ITIC adds: “The Lebanese government prefers to try to deflect the issue of the boats to Cyprus – especially since UNIFIL has warned it that giving permission for the boats to sail [directly to Gaza] would be a violation of UN Resolution 1710 [the ceasefire].”