I 
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 organiza-
tion 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 orga-
nization 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 con-
travention of Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza, and for 
other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives 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 recog-
nized 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 organiza-
tions 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 pro-
vided 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 weap-
onry for aggressive purposes and open desire to de-
stroy Israel. 
(5) According to sources, the United Nations- 
commissioned Palmer Report which was released on 
July 7, 2011, concludes that the Israeli naval block-
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ade on Gaza is legal and is in accordance with inter-
national law. 
(6) The Israeli Government has repeatedly indi-
cated that any desire to provide humanitarian mate-
riel 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 Is-
lamic 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 in-
cluded 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- 
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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 Ter-
rorism Information Center report, these IHH activ-
ists were equipped with communications equipment, 
flak jackets, and gas masks. 
(13) The group operated with a clear internal 
hierarchy, with specific activists nominated as fight-
ing commanders and who turned the upper deck of 
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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 develop-
ment in the Balkan and Black Sea regions of south-
east Europe and Eurasia, in the Middle East and 
northern Africa, and throughout the eastern Medi-
terranean Sea. 
(16) Greece is an active participant in peace-
keeping and peace-building operations conducted by 
international organizations, including the United 
Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
(NATO), the European Union (EU), and the Orga-
nization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
(OSCE). 
(17) Greece acted without hesitation in prohib-
iting any Greek-flagged or foreign-flagged vessels 
from setting sail out of Greek ports into the water 
of the Gaza naval blockade. 
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(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 appro-
priate 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 flo-
tilla 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 extraor-
dinary measures to ensure that the broader mari-
time 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 cam-
paign. 
(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. 
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(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 specifi-
cally for its actions to prevent the import of offen-
sive 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 grati-
tude to Greece for upholding the rule of law in preventing 
hostile forces from violating a legal naval blockade of Gaza 
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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 des-
ignated as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to sec-
tion 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1189). 
(b) CONTENTS.—The report required under sub-
section (a) shall include information on the following: 
(1) The sources of any logistical, technical, or 
financial support for the Gaza flotilla ships, includ-
ing 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 prin-
cipled stance taken by the Government of Greece to 
prevent the recent Gaza flotilla attempt to violate 
Israel’s lawful blockade of Gaza. 
Æ 
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