[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3131 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3131

  To direct the Secretary of State to submit a report on whether any 
support organization that participated in the planning or execution of 
  the recent Gaza flotilla attempt should be designated as a foreign 
terrorist organization and any actions taken by the Department of State 
  to express gratitude to the government of Greece for preventing the 
  Gaza flotilla from setting sail in contravention of Israel's legal 
               blockade of Gaza, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 6, 2011

Mr. Bilirakis (for himself, Mr. Engel, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mrs. Maloney, 
Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Carter, Mr. Frelinghuysen, Mr. Young of 
  Florida, Mr. Grimm, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Rothman of New Jersey, Mr. 
    Roskam, and Mr. Sires) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of State to submit a report on whether any 
support organization that participated in the planning or execution of 
  the recent Gaza flotilla attempt should be designated as a foreign 
terrorist organization and any actions taken by the Department of State 
  to express gratitude to the government of Greece for preventing the 
  Gaza flotilla from setting sail in contravention of Israel's legal 
               blockade of Gaza, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Since 1948, the United States, Greece, and the 
        international community at large have recognized Israel's right 
        to exist and to defend itself and conduct legitimate self-
        defense.
            (2) Since 2001, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and 
        the other Palestinian terrorist organizations operating in the 
        Gaza Strip and supported by Iran and Syria have launched over 
        10,000 rockets into Israeli civilian populations and across 
        Israeli territory.
            (3) Since the beginning of 2010, Israel has provided over 
        100,000 tons of aid to the people living in Gaza.
            (4) Israel's blockade is acknowledged by the United States 
        as necessary and legal given Hamas' control of Gaza, intention 
        to secure greater weaponry for aggressive purposes and open 
        desire to destroy Israel.
            (5) According to sources, the United Nations-commissioned 
        Palmer Report which was released on July 7, 2011, concludes 
        that the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza is legal and is in 
        accordance with international law.
            (6) The Israeli Government has repeatedly indicated that 
        any desire to provide humanitarian materiel to Gaza can be done 
        through the port of Ashdod then delivered to Gaza by land.
            (7) Recent past history has suggested that the sole intent 
        of the flotillas is to provoke an Israeli military response in 
        the international waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
            (8) The Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of 
        the Treasury have determined that flotilla organizers Free Gaza 
        and the Insan Hak ve Hurriyetleri ve Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), 
        an Islamic nongovernmental organization (known in English as 
        the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian 
        Relief), have known terrorist ties.
            (9) In 2010, IHH organized a flotilla that included the 
        ship Mavi Marmara carrying 40 IHH members, including Fatima 
        Mahmadi, Ken O'Keefe, Hassan Iynasi, Hussein Urosh, Ahmad 
        Umimon, and others with known links to Al Qaeda, Hamas, and 
        other terrorist organizations who were armed with 100 metal 
        rods, 200 knives, 150 military self-defense vests, 50 wooden 
        clubs, gas masks, and a telescopic sight for a gun.
            (10) The explicit objective of the Gaza Flotilla organizers 
        that set sail in 2010 was to breach Israel's coastal security 
        by breaking the lawful and legitimate Israeli maritime security 
        perimeter around the Gaza Strip.
            (11) According to a June 7, 2010, report by the 
        Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (known by its 
        Hebrew acronym MALAM), based on security interviews of the Gaza 
        Flotilla participants, at least 40 of the 500 passengers aboard 
        the Mavi Marmara vessel were IHH operatives who boarded the 
        ship in an Istanbul port prior to the security checks conducted 
        at the port in Antalya, Turkey, to which the other passengers, 
        mostly humanitarian volunteers, were subject.
            (12) According to this Intelligence and Terrorism 
        Information Center report, these IHH activists were equipped 
        with communications equipment, flak jackets, and gas masks.
            (13) The group operated with a clear internal hierarchy, 
        with specific activists nominated as fighting commanders and 
        who turned the upper deck of the Mavi Marmara into its 
        headquarters, blocking it off to other passengers.
            (14) In the most recent organization of a Gaza flotilla, 
        Greece worked with the Israeli Government in order to prohibit 
        any violations of Israel's legal blockade of Gaza.
            (15) Greece has proven itself to be a strategic partner and 
        ally of the United States in anchoring political stability and 
        advancing economic development in the Balkan and Black Sea 
        regions of southeast Europe and Eurasia, in the Middle East and 
        northern Africa, and throughout the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
            (16) Greece is an active participant in peacekeeping and 
        peace-building operations conducted by international 
        organizations, including the United Nations, the North Atlantic 
        Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union (EU), and the 
        Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
            (17) Greece acted without hesitation in prohibiting any 
        Greek-flagged or foreign-flagged vessels from setting sail out 
        of Greek ports into the water of the Gaza naval blockade.
            (18) Pursuant to a decision by the Minister of Citizen 
        Protection, Mr. C. Papoutsis, the departure of ships with Greek 
        and foreign flags from Greek ports to Gaza was prohibited on 
        July 1, 2011, and the Hellenic Coast Guard ordered that all 
        appropriate measures be taken for the implementation of such 
        decision.
            (19) The Greek Government worked diligently to ensure the 
        safety of even the organizers of the flotilla knowing that 
        their reckless, irresponsible, and provocative acts against a 
        sovereign country engaged in self-defense could result in great 
        bodily harm or even death to themselves and other individuals.
            (20) The Greek Government took more extraordinary measures 
        to ensure that the broader maritime area of the eastern 
        Mediterranean Sea would be continuously monitored by electronic 
        means for tracking, where applicable, the movements of the 
        ships allegedly participating in such an illegal campaign.
            (21) Greek authorities boarded ships and took into custody 
        several individuals, including Captain John Klusmire of the 
        ship Audacity of Hope as it violated Greek Coast Guard orders 
        by setting sail without permission.
            (22) Greek authorities acted in accordance with the 
        recommendation of the Quartet--the United States, the European 
        Union, the United States and Russia--as it urged countries to 
        prohibit Gaza-bound flotillas that would serve solely to 
        escalate tension in the Middle East.

SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF CONGRESS.

    Congress--
            (1) notes the important role that Greece has played in the 
        wider European, Eurasian, and Middle Eastern regions, and in 
        the community of nations by promoting, peace, freedom, 
        democracy, and security; and
            (2) stands behind Israel for its sovereign right to defend 
        its citizens and its territory, and specifically for its 
        actions to prevent the import of offensive weaponry into the 
        hands of Hamas, Palestinian Jihad, and other terrorist 
        organizations in the Gaza Strip.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the United States should take 
appropriate diplomatic steps to express gratitude to Greece for 
upholding the rule of law in preventing hostile forces from violating a 
legal naval blockade of Gaza by Israel and thereby advancing the 
security of its ally Israel.

SEC. 4. REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than six months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report on whether any 
support organization that participated in the planning or execution of 
the recent Gaza flotilla attempt should be designated as a foreign 
terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189).
    (b) Contents.--The report required under subsection (a) shall 
include information on the following:
            (1) The sources of any logistical, technical, or financial 
        support for the Gaza flotilla ships, including the Audacity of 
        Hope, that were set to set sail from Greece on July 1, 2011.
            (2) Any actions taken by the Department of State to express 
        support and gratitude for the principled stance taken by the 
        Government of Greece to prevent the recent Gaza flotilla 
        attempt to violate Israel's lawful blockade of Gaza.
                                 <all>