Obama Administration Using Anti-Terror Laws to Intimidate and Harass American Palestine Solidarity Activists

For the past year, as activists prepared for the participation of an American boat in the flotilla seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, organizers tried to come up with a way to circumvent a major obstacle: the prohibition against “material support” for State Department-designated terrorist groups.

But now, as pressure intensifies on the countries from where boats will launch, the prohibition on material support remains a potent weapon the Obama administration wields to pressure American activists who plan to set sail to break Israel’s blockade.  

American officials continue to repeatedly threaten to prosecute the U.S. activists involved with the flotilla. And, perhaps most importantly, it represents the latest action in the Obama administration’s crackdown on Palestine solidarity activists across the U.S—a crackdown that is a continuation of similar efforts made by the Bush administration in cases like the Holy Land 5.

Currently, the international flotilla to Gaza--which comes about a year after a similar one was raided by the Israeli Navy--has been held up due to reported acts of sabotage activists say is the work of Israel and obstacles put in place by the Greek government. Armed Greek commandos turned back the American-flagged boat on July 1 after the ship, The Audacity of Hope, attempted to leave Greek waters for Gaza.

The ship’s American captain was arrested and then held in Greek jail, reportedly charged with “disturbing sea traffic and endangering passengers.” The captain was released early Tuesday. The Greek government’s repression, though, may turn out to be the least of the U.S. solidarity activists’ troubles.

In the months leading up to the second Freedom Flotilla, U.S. Boat to Gaza activists decided to carry cargo of a much different sort than earlier Gaza-bound boats: 3,000 letters from American citizens addressed to the citizens of Gaza as a symbolic act of solidarity. 

“The letters project underscores the need to really express--not only to this country, but to countries around the world--the friendship and the solidarity that we have with the people of Gaza,” said Leslie Cagan, a longtime anti-war activist and the coordinator for the American boat to Gaza.  

That cargo, they reasoned, couldn’t be construed as material support for a designated terrorist group, Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip after being democratically elected in 2006.  

Organizations on the State Department’s “foreign terrorist” list are put there by the Secretary of State, and most major Palestinian political factions are listed.

“As risky in some ways this whole venture is for the people who are going to be on the boat--given how the Israelis behaved last time--we did not want to put an additional burden on the people going on the U.S. boat,” said Cagan, in an interview shortly before the American passengers left for Greece. “So we made a decision; instead of challenging the material aid law of the U.S., we would just stay focused on the Israeli naval blockade.”  

But much to the chagrin of the U.S. Boat to Gaza, it looks like the American flotilla activists will have to deal with the specter of prosecution.  A June 24 statement from the State Department bluntly warns that “delivering or attempting or conspiring to deliver material support or other resources to or for the benefit of a designated foreign terrorist organization, such as Hamas, could violate U.S. civil and criminal statutes and could lead to fines and incarceration.”  

Texas Governor Rick Perry, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, echoed the State Department in a June 29 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. According to the Associated Press, Perry’s letter “suggested that Holder prosecute the protesters for providing materials or assistance to a terrorist organization.” And while on a recent trip to Israel, New York Democrats Gary Ackerman and Nita Lowey also said that Americans should be prosecuted if they participate in the flotilla.