Josh Miller, head of a team overseeing security in Gaza, posted a photo on his Facebook account showing contractors in Gaza with masked faces, posing with a sign that reads “Make Gaza Great Again.” Photo shared by the BBC.
Aid centers in Gaza run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, where Palestinians are killed daily by gunfire as they line up for aid, are in part controlled by members of an Islamophobic American biker gang, the Infidels Motorcycle Club, who claim to be waging a crusade against Muslims, the BBC reported.
The media identified 10 members of the gang recruited to work in Gaza, seven of them in management roles.
The men work under the American company UG Solutions, one of two firms — along with Safe Reach Solutions — tasked since May with implementing the new U.S.- and Israeli-imposed aid mechanism.
Their responsibilities include securing aid centers, checking lines, managing checkpoints, using drones and cameras for monitoring, and escorting aid trucks. At least 40 of the roughly 320 people hired by UG Solutions in Gaza, or 12.5 percent, came from the Infidels Motorcycle Club, according to a former contractor cited by the BBC.
Founded in 2006 by U.S. veterans of the Iraq war, the Infidels MC describes itself as modern Crusaders and uses the Crusaders’ cross as its symbol, the BBC said. The group is known for Islamophobic provocations on social media, particularly Facebook.
"Always shoot until they're no longer a threat"
The gang’s leader, Johnny “Taz” Mulford, who now oversees UG Solutions’ Gaza contract, began recruiting in May among American veterans who followed him on Facebook, asking for anyone who “can still shoot, move, and communicate.”
On the gang’s Facebook page, hats marked “1095” are sold, referring to the year Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade. Mulford has the number tattooed on his chest. The First Crusade is described as a military campaign by Western Europeans to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule, the BBC reported.
Mulford recruited heavily from the biker gang, particularly for higher-paid positions as armed team leaders, the BBC found. Documents reviewed by the broadcaster showed UG Solutions pays $980 per day, including expenses, for contractors, and up to $1,580 for team leaders stationed at GHF “secure distribution sites.”
Josh Miller, one of the team leaders in Gaza, has “1095” tattooed on his thumbs and “Crusader” on his fingers. He posted a photo of contractors in Gaza holding a banner that read “Make Gaza Great Again,” with the logo of his company, ONTHEX.
According to the BBC, the firm sells clothing with slogans such as “embrace violence” and “Surf all day, rockets all night. Gaza summer 25.” It also published a video featuring armed violence with the caption: “Remember: always shoot until they’re no longer a threat!”
Parallels with the Ku Klux Klan
UG Solutions told the BBC it conducts background checks before employing contractors and denied claims that its agents had fired on civilians or endangered people seeking food because of incompetent leadership. It acknowledged, however, that its guards use warning shots to disperse crowds.
“Giving the Infidels biker club the task of distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza is like assigning the Ku Klux Klan to distribute humanitarian aid in Sudan. That makes absolutely no sense,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the BBC. “It can only lead to violence, and that is exactly what we’ve seen happen in Gaza.”
According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 1,135 children, women, and men have been killed near GHF sites while seeking food. The U.N. said most of the deaths appeared to be caused by Israeli security forces, who maintain that civilian killings are “under review by the competent authorities.” For its part, the GHF said it relies on “people from all walks of life” to provide aid in Gaza.
