http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9332/pub_detail.asp

 

April 25, 2011


HAMAS and the Convict Connection


Where the past invades the present.

 <http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/authors/id.202/author_detail.asp>
Patrick Dunleavy


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http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/imgLib/20110424_AyersDohrnNow.jpg

 

Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn.

 

There is an old saying “War and Politics Makes for Strange Bedfellows” Now
it seems we may add a third part to the equation: Prisons.

 

In the present situation in Gaza with its current government run by HAMAS,
designated a terrorist organization by the US State Department, it seems
that some convicts from America’s past have run to support it with political
statements and funds. 

 

Several domestic terrorists currently serving life sentences for killing law
enforcement officers are attempting to inject themselves into the current
situation in the Middle East including calling for the end to Israel.

 

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/imgLib/20110424_ClarkEdwardSquire.jpg

 

Clark Edward Squire.

 

Inmates such as Herman Bell, Anthony Bottoms, James Dixon York, and Clark
Edward Squire who were members of the Black Liberation Army as well as David
Gilbert, a member of the Weather Underground, have in the recent past posted
statements on the Internet calling for the end of “US/Zionist Imperialism in
Palestine.” They also encouraged the use of any means necessary - including
violence - to achieve the goal of “driving the Zionist oppressors out of
your land.”

 

These same convicts have also come out in opposition to the US involvement
in Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Africa. 

 

They consider themselves political prisoners in a corrupt regime, not
criminals.

 

Their view of the United States was articulated most accurately in this
<http://newsclick.in/node/1913> recent statement;

 

"The real terrorist is the American government, state terrorism unleashed
against the world." 

 

Who said it? If you would have guessed Al Qaeda spokesman Anwar Al Awlaki or
Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri, you would have been
wrong. The statement comes from Bernadette Dohrn. Dohrn you may recall is
the former member of a domestic terrorist organization who along with her
husband, Bill Ayers, admitted to setting bombs at several government
buildings during the turbulent 60’s and early 70’s .. Although charges
against Ayers were dropped, Dohrn pled guilty to aggravated battery in
exchange for a sentence of probation. Over the years they have maintained
their relationship with the other members of their group, now incarcerated,
through visiting and talking on the prison telephone. The inmate they most
frequently communicate with is David Gilbert. He is currently serving
seventy five years to life in Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora,
New York near the Canadian border. Gilbert’s lenghty sentence was meted out
after he was found guilty in the murder of two police officers and a Brinks
guard during a botched hold up attempt.

 

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/imgLib/20110424_DavidGIlbert.jpg

 

David Gilbert.

 

In addition to Ayers and Dohrn, Gilbert has also received visits from
several advocates for the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, a HAMAS
sympathizer.  While the Movement states that it is nonviolent, we must
remember that  many of the 60’s domestic terrorists began in non violent
protest organizations only to become completely commited to violence and any
means necessary to achieve their objectives. Dohrn, Ayers, and Gilbert were
all members of the Students for a Democractic Society (SDS), a non-violent
student activist organization begun in 1962. The SDS expressed a desire to
use civil disobedience and other nonviolent means to cause change with
social, political, and economic policy within the government   However ,
after several years of non-violent protest, a segment within that group,
which included Dohrn, Ayers, and Gilbert, became disillusioned with the
results and wanted to take action -- violent action -- against the United
States government. 

 

They called themselves the Weather Underground or the Weathermen, after a
line in a Bob Dylan Song; “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the
wind blows.”[1]   

 

Dohrn loudly announced the objective of the new organization with this
communiqué [2]: 

 

"Hello, I'm going to read a declaration of a state of war...Within the next
14 days we will attack a symbol or institution of American injustice."

 

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/imgLib/201104241_ayersdohrnthen.jpg

 

The connection between 60’s radicals and radical Islamic organizations such
as HAMAS and Hezbollah began many years ago when several of the 60’s
radicals were in prison with a number of Palestinian inmates in New York
State. The Palestinians were in prison at the time for violent crimes
including kidnapping, firebombing a Jewish Deli in New York City, and
opening fire with automatic weapons on a vanload of Hasidic students. Three
of them had active ties to HAMAS, Hezbollah, and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine. This melding of the minds to identify a common
enemy, that being “the corrupt US / Zionist Imperialism” was formed over the
years in prison together. They exchanged ideas on such topics as safe
houses, demonstration tactics and financing. They also shared friends and
contacts and some shared visitors with David Gilbert. Others attended the
prison mosque with members of the Black Liberation Army who had converted to
Islam. The prison chaplain at the time was himself a Palestinian with
Jordanian citizenship. The chaplain made national headlines in 2003
<http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/110.pdf> when he
was indicted (pdf) by the United States Attorney General’s Office for
funneling funds into a suspicious charity suspected of providing support to
Sunni insurgents in Iraq in violation of the War Powers Act.

 

These were not the only funds to be misdirected. Other inmate donations were
sent to the Holy Land Foundation, which was found guilty in 2008 of sending
millions of dollars, raised through donations under the guise of helping
with relief efforts in Gaza, to HAMAS .

 

Viva Palestina, an organization founded in the UK by British Member of
Parliment George Galloway , uses the same method,
<http://www.vivapalestina.org/donations.htm> stating that it “is a charity
that seeks to take practical steps needed to help the people of Palestine
and especially the besieged in the Gaza Strip.” 

 

However a large portion of the the resources raised were
<http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2060.htm> given in the form of cash directly
to  HAMAS leaders.

 

In addition to fund raising Viva Palestina has organized several convoys of
vehicles loaded with supplies attempting to enter into Gaza through the
Egyptian border crossing at Rafah. Participating in the convoy was New York
City Councilman Charles Barron. Barron is a former 60’s radical and member
of the Black Panther Party who still maintains contact with members of the
Black Liberation Army currently in prison for the killing of four New York
City Police officers.

 

Following the truck convoy, Galloway announced that he would next attempt to
enter Gaza directly by sea with ships. Viva Palestina joined with several
other groups in this endeavour including the Free Gaza Movement. 

 

Ayers and Dohrn were both involved, along with others, in helping to
organize the Free Gaza Movement shipments sent from Turkey. The flotilla
ships attempted to by pass an Israeli blockade of Gaza in May 2010  and were
met by Israeli naval vessels. In the ensuing confrontation nine people were
killed and seven Israeli commandos were injured.

 

Four months prior to that Ayers and Dohrn were in Egypt
<http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/ayers-dohrn-helped
-organize-flotilla-group> attempting to enter the Gaza Strip and meet with
HAMAS leaders. During this much publicized demonstration several indivduals
required medical attention after a confrontation with Egyptian police when
they attempted to stop traffic. Ayers’ recounting  the event in the Rag Blog
was giddy and euphoric using words like “spirited, or gallant effort” as he
described the demonstrators commitment to disrupt social order.

 

Concievably he was recalling his past violent conflicts with police in
Chicago in 1969 during the “Days of Rage”   perhaps sighing to himself; “oh
if only David could be here.” While Gilbert in his prison cell reponds, “We
stand with you in the fight!”

 

Alas old radicals’ memories die hard or are gilded by nostalgia.  The names
of the police officers 

killed in the line of duty by these so called activists or political
prisoners are forever etched in our memory. Indivduals like Rocco Laurie,
Gregg Foster, Waverly Brown, Edward O’Grady, Werner Foerster, [3] and others
must not be forgotten when it comes to dealing with the old 60’s radicals
and their new causes.  For HAMAS, becoming a cause célèbre  for the old
radicals is a tactic they will use to their advantage.

 

History can be a cruel teacher if we fail to learn from it. 

 

Notes:

 

[1]Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan, copyright 1965, renewed 1993
Special Rider Music.

[2]The Weather Underground: report of the Subcommittee to Investigate the
Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws
of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fourth
Congress, first session 1975.

[3] National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Laurie & Foster were NYPD
officers, Brown & O’Grady were Nyack Police Officers, Foerster was a New
Jersey State Trooper.

 

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/imgLib/20110331_PDunleavyCE.jpg

 

 <http://familysecuritymatters.org/> FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributor
Patrick Dunleavy is the former Deputy Inspector General for New York State
Department of Corrections. He is the author of the upcoming book, "
<http://www.potomacbooksinc.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=237234> The
Fertile Soil of Jihad: Terrorism’s Prison Connection," details of which can
be found at his  <http://www.ptdassociates.com/> website, and he can be
contacted at:  <mailto:m...@ptdassociates.com> m...@ptdassociates.com.

 



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