UK: British IS recruit traveled to Gaza with anti-Israel MP Galloway

This is not the first time that the ‘Viva Palestina’ “vetting procedure” has been shown to be unreliable and, courtesy of Harry’s Place, it can be seen that Kotey’s name appeared on its list of participants in that particular convoy. (BBC Watch)

The Times of Israel reports:

An Islamic State member involved in beheading Western hostages in Syria has been identified as a British convert to Islam who joined the firebrand anti-Israel British lawmaker George Galloway on his controversial aid convoy to the Gaza Strip in 2009.

A joint investigation by the Washington Post and Buzzfeed News revealed on Sunday that Alexanda Kotey [pictured], a 32-year-old half-Ghanaian, half-Greek Cypriot Londoner moved to Syria to join the jihadist group shortly after traveling to Gaza with other British Muslims who later were named by the UK as having links to terrorism.  

According to the report, Kotey was also an associate of Mohammed Emwazi, a notorious IS executioner nicknamed “Jihadi John,” who beheaded American, British, and Japanese hostages on film while taunting Western leaders. Emzawi died in a US drone strike in November 2015. 

Sometime prior to leaving the UK, Kotey became a member of a network of Islamic extremists, known as the “London Boys,” who advocated violence and were linked to a number of terror attacks and plots in the UK.

In 2009, Kotey left the UK for Gaza on the aid convoy of 110 vehicles organized by then-MP George Galloway. On Galloway’s “Viva Palestine” mission, Kotey traveled alongside at least three known jihadis, the report confirmed.

A volunteer who traveled on the same boat as Kotey and the others told BuzzFeed News the Gaza trip “changed” Kotey, and wasn’t sure if he had ever returned to Britain after the mission was over.

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