[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.
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