June 7, 2010: Shurat HaDin sent a letter to the American Attorney General, Eric Holder, asking him to investigate whether the U.S. Neutrality Act (18 USC § 960) was violated by the anti-Israel organizations that funded the Gaza flotilla. The letter also asks for an investigation of whether the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) which organized the illegal boat expedition was involved in money laundering and efforts to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Nine Turkish terrorists aboard the boats were killed and numerous Israeli soldiers were seriously injured when efforts by the ships to run the Israeli imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip turned violent.

The U.S. Neutrality Act provides that: Whoever, within the United States, knowingly begins or sets on foot or provides or prepares a means for or furnishes the money for, or takes part in, any military or naval expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence against the territory or dominion of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both."

Our letter noted that the Israeli blockade of Gaza is lawful under international law and is recognized as such by the U.S. government. Moreover,  according to the Oslo Accords signed by both Israel and the PLO, the Gaza coastline was placed under strict control of Israel until a Palestinian state is created.  Efforts by the FGM to organize a boat flotilla to provoke the Israeli navy and to attempt to run the blockade to smuggle weapons and supplies to Hamas in Gaza jeopardizes Israel's security.  It is illegal for anyone in the U.S. to organize or raise funds for a naval expedition aimed at interfering with the maritime blockade imposed by an American ally.  As such, the FGM's efforts to raise funds and smuggle weapons aboard a boat flotilla is a direct violation of the U.S. Neutrality Act.

The FGM, which had organized an earlier Gaza flotilla in 2008, raises funds in the U.S. via its website www.freegaza.org, although it remains formally unorganized and unincorporated.  The website explains that the FGM does not have tax-free status in the U.S. and therefore relies upon another anti-Israel organization, the American Educational Trust, which issues tax receipts on its behalf: http://www.freegaza.org/en/usa-donations.

The Shurat HaDin letter calls on the Attorney General to further investigate whether this arrangement by the Washington, DC based American Educational Trust to issue tax receipts for a radical, pro-Hamas group like FGM constitutes money laundering and is an effort to defraud the IRS.

While the Israeli government, under extreme foreign pressure, appoints a commission to investigate the IDF raid on Gaza flotilla, the U.S. and other countries must investigate who, in their own backyards, funded this conspiracy to interfere with Israel's right to blockade Gaza.

For an article about the letter to Attorney General Holder Click Here

For a copy of the letter Click Here