That the Turkish organizers of Ship to Gaza had ties to terrorist organizations is something that most people know about. But I can imagine that the image of the Swedish Ship to Gaza has been that it is about some European peace activists who just want to make the world better. That image may not be quite accurate.
In Sweden, Ship to Gaza is a part of the government. Several government ministers support Ship to Gaza. Among these are Minister for Defence Peter Hultqvist, Minister for Education Gustav Fridolin[1] and Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Information Technology Mehmet Kaplan, who even was aboard one of the six Ship to Gaza ships that tried to break the blockade 2010.[2] Ship to Gaza gets its opinion articles published in Sweden's biggest and most important media outlets and it is very easy for them to get their message out.
Ship to Gaza is to blame for legitimizing anti-Semitic media outlets by giving interviews to this kind of media.
Therefore, it is strange that Ship to Gaza's president in Sweden, Mikael Karlsson, agreed to give a 12-minute interview to the unknown website "White TV" whose content consists only of conspiracy theories, similar to the ones of the so-called “truth movement”.[3] The interviewer was Henning Witte who is the founder of "White TV". The interview ends with Witte saying to Karlsson that his "research" shows that "Hamas is controlled by Israel." Mikael Karlsson, Ship to Gaza's president, does not tell Witte that this allegation is false and he lets the conspiracy theories spread, his presence legitimizing them.
Conspiracy theories which one can easily find on the White TV's website include the delusional claims that the reason Hitler persecuted the Jews was a "declaration of war" from the "Zionists"[4]; that most Jews living in Israel are Khazars from Russia[5]; that the Islamic State was founded by Mossad and the CIA; that Mossad controls the Swedish politicians through "mind control".[6]
I am the first to condemn the "guilt-by-association" argument. Ship to Gaza is not to blame for White TV's anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. But Ship to Gaza is to blame for legitimizing anti-Semitic media outlets by giving interviews to this kind of media.
That Ship to Gaza in Sweden now has taken this step and gives interviews in media outlets that so openly spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories shows that the Swedish Ship to Gaza is more than a few European peace activists that have been misunderstood. They understand very well that Israel is the world's only Jewish state, and that they have an audience of people who are interested in conspiracy theories about Jews and Judaism.
There is no other way to explain Mikael Karlsson's bizarre participation in "White TV". After Karlsson's participation in "White TV", it also becomes ironic and inherently hypocritical every time Ship to Gaza accuses Israel of racism.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour is vice chairman for the Swedish think-tank Perspective on Israel (PPI)
[1] http://www.svd.se/vi-visar-gazas-folk-att-vi-bryr-oss
[2] http://www.svd.se/kaplan-mp-kan-hamna-i-javsituation
[3] http://whitetv.se/sv/inget-fritt-medium-i-sverige/1274-israel-misshandlade-marianne-ship-to-gaza-besaettningen-2015.html
[4] http://whitetv.se/sv/historiefoerfalskning/33-historiefoerfalskning/457-zionister-foerklarade-krig-mot-tyskland-redan-i-mars-1933.html
[5] http://whitetv.se/sv/historiefoerfalskning/33-historiefoerfalskning/635-israel-skall-vara-glad-om-de-far-behalla-sina-graenser-fran-1967.html
[6] http://whitetv.se/sv/inget-fritt-medium-i-sverige/1235-isis-smugglar-krigare-via-batflyktingar-och-danmarksverige-ger-is-bidrag.html