RUTHFULLY YOURS

“I personally am about to break the sanctions on the elected government of Palestine… By Allah, we carried a lot of cash here.. But I, now, here, on behalf of myself, my sister Yvonne Ridley…are giving three cars and 25,000 pounds in cash to Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Here is the money. This is not charity. This is politics.”

Which brings us to Yvonne Ridley, Galloway’s right hand and an important figure behind Viva Palestina. While it is unclear if she’ll be on the current boat, she is a known supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah as is clear from her speech on this (if you cannot see video below click here)

Kevin Ovenden is a long time assistant to Galloway and the leader of Viva Palestina 5 convoy. In March of 2009 he met with Ismail Haniyeh and rejoiced:

“some of us were fortunate enough, privileged enough to meet the democratically elected prime minister of Palestine, Ismail Haniyeh ..I would have liked everybody on the convoy to meet Ismail Haniyeh and the leadership of the government in Gaza.. We met at one of the greatest heroes, greatest leaders that Palestine has ever known, met at his house, Abdul Rantissi, who himself was assassinated.”

And last but not least, Zaher Birawi, is the Spokesman for Viva Palestina 5 and the Chairman of Palestinian Return Centre board of trustees (a London-based institution which conducts intensive anti-Israel activity). Birawi (known as Abu Khaled) is a Hamas activist which resides in Britain.

Zaher Birawi, sitting third from left at the send-off of the Marmara  flotilla

So these are the people behind Viva Palestina. It seems there are close connections between Viva Palestina people and IHH, the turkish organization behind the Mavi Marmara flotilla. Time will tell if Viva Palestina will follow the radical path of the Mavi Marmara, but their common origins indicant their common intentions.