Dr Hafiz Karami of the Palestinian British Forum made clear in his speach to Quds Press that the festival will be taking place in the context of celebrating the victory of the resistance in Gaza, along with standing side by side with its people who are confronting the burden of the Israeli aggression.

Karami said, “The festival is an occasion celebrating solidarity with Gaza. The festival, which starts at 1pm and ends around 9pm Sunday 15th Feb, will include speeches [words] of solidarity from a number of Arab thinkers and writers.

Those attending will be Sheikh Wagdi Ghuniem, another being the president of the Tunis awakening movement Sheikh Rashid Ghanoushi, general superintendant of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria lawyer Ali Sadr Adiin Beanounii, president of the centre for terrorism studies Dr Kamal Al-Helbawy, & Dr Tariq Tahboub one of the doctors who visited Gaza during and after the war.

Also in attendance will be a number of activists from the British Stop The War Movement and others from the campaign for Solidarity with Gaza.

Karamii mentioned that the festival which will include an artistic (protest?) message presented by a group of Palestinian artists along with a bazaar, with the proceeds going to the Gaza Strip, and the gathering of financial donations.

The festival is a message celebrating the victory of the resistance in Gaza and its stedfastness during the 22 days of the aggression and also protesting the British Governments position on the aggression, a position which wasn’t neutral vis a vis the war, as was said.

There is enough material in this event to fill several posts.

However, for now, I’d like to touch briefly on the participation of Wagdi Ghuniem:

At an Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) conference at Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, New York, co-sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), among others, Ghoneim told the audience in Arabic:

“The Jews distort words from their meanings. . . . They killed the prophets and worshipped idols. . . . Allah says he who equips a warrior of Jihad is like the one who makes Jihad himself.”

Ghoneim then reminded the audience of the Jews’ “infidelity,” “stealth,” and “deceit,” and told the audience that the Israeli/Palestine conflict was fundamentally not a dispute over land, but over belief:

“Suppose the Jews said ‘Palestine you [Muslims] can take it.’ Would it then be ok? What would we tell them? No! . . . The problem is belief, it is not a problem of land.”

Ghoneim then led his rapt audience, which numbered as many as five hundred, in a special song, with the audience responsively repeating each refrain:

Transcript [Translated from Arabic]:

No to the Jews

Descendants of the Apes

We vow to return

Despite the obstacles (CHORUS)

The collaborators have sold

The Land of Ascension

Without Shame

They bowed to the Jews

(Chorus)



“Oh Ben Gurion”

Zion is ours

[Line is unclear]

A mean Jew

(Chorus)



Generations have past

Refusing humiliation

The heroes attacked

The heroes of steadfastness

(Chorus)



Oh Children of Salah [Al Din]

And Children of [Ibn al] Jerah

Jerusalem is allowed to everybody [is vulnerable to rape]

And the Arabs are bowing down.

(Chorus)

Wagdi Ghuniem was denied entrance to Canada in 1998 after immigration officials determined he was a member of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 2004, he was run out of the United States, leaving before he could be deported. The US stated that Ghuniem “participated in fundraising activities around the country that could have helped terrorist organizations”.

In 2005, Wagdi Ghuniem was barred from Switzerland.

So, here are two questions.

1. The purpose of this festival is to glorify Hamas. When the organisers state that the “proceeds” of this event will be “going to the Gaza Strip”, which groups do you think will be beneficiaries of the funds raised?

2. Given that Ghuniem has a track record of supporting terrorism, and inciting religious hatred against Jews, and given that he has been expelled or barred from three countries how on earth did he gain admission to the United Kingdom?