TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinian residents from Gaza, many of whom lacked the required travel documents, landed at an airport near Johannesburg, leaving South African officials 'blindsided'. After nearly 12 hours, the group was finally allowed to disembark and was taken care of by a local charity organization. Activists argue that the scheme run by "Al-Majd Europe" paved the way for Israel to carry out ethnic cleansing of Palestinian residents from Gaza.
Legitimacy of Al-Majd Europe
According to their official website, Al-Majd Europe is a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany. They claim to provide assistance and rescue efforts to the Muslim community in conflict and war zones. "Our roots are rooted in the values and heritage of Islam, and our headquarters are located in Jerusalem, the first Qibla (direction of prayer) and the third holiest site in Islam," Al-Majd wrote on their website.
Suspicions are growing stronger due to the increasing anomalies regarding the identity of Al-Majd Europe. Among these anomalies, according to an Al Jazeera report, its address in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, could not be verified, and no operational office was found there.
Despite being registered in 2010, Al Jazeera found that the website domain, almajdeurope.org, was only registered in February of this year, and some links on the website also do not lead anywhere.
Namecheap, the company that registered the domain, has been cited in several cybersecurity reports for online fraud due to its easy and low-cost registration process. The listed email, [email protected], also bounced back with an automatic message stating that the site does not exist.
It is suspected that the uploaded executive photos on the website were AI-generated, according to the report.
Furthermore, the financial transparency of the company is unclear, as it uses personal accounts rather than official accounts. Among the functioning links is a page with four "Impact Stories."
One post about "Mona," a 29-year-old woman from Aleppo, Syria, dated March 22, 2023, although the website was only registered 10 months ago.
The narrative written in "Mona's" voice expresses gratitude to Al-Majd for moving her and her mother "to a safe place" when they felt threatened in Lebanon, where they had fled to in 2013.
However, the photo features Abeer Khayat, who was 33 years old when photographed by journalist Madeline Edwards in December 2024 in Tripoli, Lebanon, for Middle East Eye.
The online form reads: “For Gaza residents currently inside the Gaza Strip only!”
“Do you aspire to travel and start a new life? We are here to help you!”
Israel's Operation
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that Al-Majd Europe is operated by dual Israeli-Estonian national named Tomer Janar Lind, as quoted by Al Jazeera. It was reported that Lind worked with a unit in the Israeli military that was tasked with forcibly displacing Palestinian residents from Gaza to facilitate such flights.
This unit, named the Voluntary Emigration Bureau, was formed in early 2025 under the Israeli Ministry of Defense to expel Palestinian residents from their homeland.
According to the Haaretz report, Lind did not deny arranging flights for Palestinian residents but refused to disclose further information.
“This is not at all a random event,” said Oroub el-Abed, associate professor in international migration and refugee studies at Birzeit University in Ramallah.
“This is very much part of a long colonial pattern, very systematic dispossession of indigenous Palestinians that has been perpetuated by Zionist Israelis, and they want to empty the land from its indigenous people, using multi-faceted approaches,” she told Al Jazeera.
Efforts of Ethnic Cleansing Against Palestinians in Gaza
Na'eem Jeenah, an activist and scholar based in Johannesburg, told Middle East Eye that Israel is exploiting the desperation of Palestinians. They are quietly facilitating the transfer of Gaza residents by partnering with the Al-Majd Europe group.
This also appears to be an effort to permanently displace professionals such as doctors, educators, and business actors from staying in Gaza. "It is clear to us that Al-Majd is a front for the Israeli state and the Israeli intelligence, and is a project to aid in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza."
"We are convinced that the displacement of Palestinians that resulted in the traumatic drama they were subjected to at OR Tambo Airport, occurred with the direct collusion of the Israeli regime," said Iqbal Jassat, an executive member of the Johannesburg-based Media Review Network advocacy group, to Anadolu.
He said that there are no besieged Palestinians in Gaza who can approach the imaginary yellow line without being shot. "They had to be bused through the yellow line, across the militarized 53% of Gaza that the Israeli army still controls and is operating in out of Gaza, through Israel to the Ramon airport; it points to a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing."
Jassat also said that they are aware that the Eilat military base, where the airport is located at the southern tip of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, has been identified as a point for evacuating Palestinian residents.
DITYA RASYADIPUTRA
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