Teacups and dates are set out on the table in front of the ten people in the picture. The photograph, taken in June this year, is said to be from Hamas' branch in Algeria. Several are making the peace sign, including Wael Nawar and Hayfa Mansouri, who are part of Global Sumud Flotillas' (GSF) board. Also in the picture is Youssef Hamdan, who is Hamas' representative in Algeria.
Another person in the Facebook post where the picture is published is said to be from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group that is also considered a terrorist organization by the US and EU.
A man from Global Sumud Flotillas' regional branch has posted the picture, and writes that during the meeting they discussed "appreciation for the efforts made by the participants in the convoy for the Palestinian resistance".
The convoy in question was the one that was stopped by Israeli forces in June when it was on its way to Gaza, also with Greta Thunberg on board.
Fueling accusations
Israel has for a long time accused the organizers behind the convoy, which is now sailing to Gaza to once again try to break Israel's blockade against the population, of having various types of connections to Hamas and other terrorist-classified groups.
This type of image fuels Israel's accusations, says Anders Persson, political scientist at Linnaeus University with a focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
A few days after the first picture, on June 26, Marouan Ben Guettaia, also one of twelve people on GSF's board, published a picture from a meeting with Youssef Hamdan.
When Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was to be buried in February this year, representatives from GSF were present at the funeral. Wael Nawar published in connection with the funeral a picture from a meeting with Ihsan Ataya, leader of the terrorist-stamped Islamic Jihad's Lebanese branch.
Seen as legitimate actors
The meetings have taken place in countries such as Algeria and Lebanon, where many more see Hamas and similar movements as legitimate actors.
The Hamas representatives in the pictures are said to be part of the movement's political branch. At the same time, it is part of the same organization as the military branch, which carried out the terrorist attack on October 7.
Youssef Hamdan probably had no knowledge in advance of the October 7 attack, but he is a clear part of the organization that carried out the attack. To my knowledge, there are no examples of Hamas representatives who have condemned the attack, says Anders Persson.
How the pictures should be interpreted - if it can be said that parts of the board members actually have any concrete cooperation with Hamas or not - is more difficult to answer.
TT has sought GSF and Greta Thunberg through GSF.
