The op-ed the London Free Press refused to print: ‘Blue Berets for Peace vigil in London,’ by Gary McHale

The article & photo below were submitted to the Editor of the London Free Press on July 11/11 who informed Mr. McHale the same day that it would not be published. Hyperlinks in body text added for publication here.

(Feel free to reprint article & use photo w/link-back, please)

Blue Berets for Peace vigil outside London Muslim Mosque on Oxford St. In foreground, Pesach Ovadyah (Chair, Jewish Defence League - London), Mark Vandermaas (organizer), Steve Scheffer (Never Again Group, Hamilton). PHOTO: Christine McHale, Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality.

Blue Berets for Peace vigil in London 

by Gary McHale  [PDF]

David Heap, a UWO professor, and Muhammed Hamou, a teacher, chaplain, and former operations manager at the London Muslim Mosque are part of an international team who attempted to travel to the Gaza Strip aboard a 10-ship flotilla in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade of weapons to Hamas. While it was promoted as a humanitarian effort, the trip now appears to have been more about embarrassing Israel then helping people.

While there are true humanitarian disasters in the world, Gaza is not one of those places. In April 2011 Mathilde Redmatn, Deputy Head of the Red Cross stated, “There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” Recent news stories tell of how Gaza is opening luxury hotels, a large water park, schools, large malls and how food is abundant. Khalil Hamada, a senior Hamas official with Gaza’s Ministry of Justice stated, in June 2010, “There is no starvation in Gaza. No one has died of hunger.”

Mark Vandermaas, a Londoner who served in the Mid-East as a United Nations peacekeeper in 1978, has been conducting a daily Blue Berets for Peace vigil at the mosque on Oxford St. since June 23rd. to call attention to the fact that the mosque held a fundraising dinner for the Canadian boat to Gaza, which is under the control of Hamas, labelled as a terror organization by the Canadian Government.

MEDIA RELEASE: Former Blue Beret to protest London (Ontario) Muslim Mosque support for Canadian Boat to Hamas

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In response to the latest campaign to delegitimize the state of Israel by Canadian anti-Israel activists — the attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of weapons to the Hamas terrorist organization now underway via the ‘Canadian Boat to Gaza’ – former UN peacekeeper and VoiceofCanada editor Mark Vandermaas will be conducting a series of public protests at the London (Ontario) Muslim Mosque to draw attention to the little-known facts that the state of Israel was created by a 1947 vote of the United Nations General Assembly, and that the UN Committee for Human Rights has condemned the Hamas Charter for its genocidal objectives towards Jews and the state of Israel.

The London Muslim Mosque has provided support for the ‘Canadian Boat to Gaza’ (the Tahrir). According to the Canadian Boat to Gaza website, the mosque has held a fundraising dinner for the Tahrir, and its Operations Manager will be sailing on board.

“As a former peacekeeper I feel compelled to defend Israel’s right to exist in peace,” says Mr. Vandermaas. ”The people of London should be concerned that a religious institution in their community such as the London Muslim Mosque is playing a key role in supporting an effort that, if successful, will make it possible for the Hamas terrorist organization to import even more arms for the purpose of carrying out its stated objective of killing Jews and seeing Israel “obliterated.”"