Freedom flotilla official responds to media defamation campaign

Chairman of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza and founding member of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Zaher Birawi, has issued a press statement in response to a “recent smear campaign” launched against him in sections of the British press. Recent media reports have accused Birawi, a British-Palestinian, of being a “Hamas operative”.

“I categorically reject the baseless and potentially defamatory claims that I belong to any political party or organisation in Palestine”, Birawi said. “These claims are wholly fabricated, offered without a shred of evidence, and form part of a cynical, coordinated effort – often incubated within Israeli political institutions and repeated uncritically by segments of the British media – to defame those who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

The recent smear campaign, Birawi added, was not against himself only but equally “at the legitimacy of a global movement demanding justice for Palestine. It is part of a long-standing strategy to silence dissent and discredit those who expose Israel’s ongoing genocide, military occupation and apartheid regime.”

The current media onslaught against Birawi is not the first of its kind. In 2021, his name was removed from the blacklist in the ‘World-Check’ database after they falsely linked him to terrorism. Following a lawsuit brought by Birawi against the institution, it was forced to withdraw its accusation and pay financial compensation along with legal fees.

Although there is an element of reputational jeopardy from the current media campaign, Birawi insist that its ultimate objective is “to attack and dismantle the collective momentum of solidarity movements and preventing the growth of a unified international popular resistance against occupation, genocide and apartheid.”

“None of these attacks will frighten us, silence us, or stop our efforts to support our people in occupied Palestine and their pursuit of liberation and the establishment of their independent state on their national soil.”

As he had done successfully in the past, Birawi says he is currently exploring avenues through which to bring legal action against the concerned news organisations for defaming him.

READ: Global resistance against global injustice