00:00Our BBC investigation has found that the firm providing armed security to guard sites where
00:05aid is distributed in Gaza has used members of a US biker gang with a history of hostility to
00:12Islam. The BBC has confirmed that members of the Infidels Motorcycle Club work for the private
00:19contractor hired by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, often known as the GHF. Well,
00:25that is, of course, the aid operation backed by Israel and the United States. The contractor
00:30said it didn't screen people for affiliations unrelated to their job performance. The GHF
00:36said it had zero tolerance for any hateful biases or conduct. Well, I'm joined in the studio by Andy
00:44Verity, who's been working on that investigation. Andy, first of all, just tell us more about this
00:49biker gang from the evidence that you gathered. Yeah, of course, Regina. So they take their name
00:54from Infidels, Infidels Motorcycle Club, English translation of an Arabic word that I think
01:00probably isn't used that much by Muslims. The word is kafir to refer to an unbeliever or a non-Muslim
01:07or infidel. So that's where the name comes from. It was set up by US military veterans of the Iraq
01:12war back in 2006. And it's grown rapidly since then, hundreds of members. And what's really striking
01:18is the iconography of the group. So they have a skull logo, for example, on their website until
01:23recently, the violent Marvel comic book character, Punisher. And that's a symbol which has been
01:30appropriated by white supremacist groups. And it's inscribed with the word kafir in Arabic script. Now
01:35some wear tattoos, crusader cross tattoos, hats celebrating the year 1095, which, if you know
01:41your history, was the year that Pope Urban II launched the first crusade, calling all Muslims,
01:47quote, vile race, and urging Europeans to recapture the Holy Land. So it's a sensitive subject that
01:56they're playing on. Gang members see themselves as modern crusaders. Many have these crosses on the
02:00bikes, backs of their biker jackets, or they're tattooed on their forearms or their shoulders.
02:05And we've discovered that they're currently hosting anti-Muslim hate speech on their Facebook site,
02:10and also have previously held a pig roast in defiance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
02:16And how did these bikers get involved in running security for the GHF thousands of miles away?
02:24Well, they're all ex-veterans, and the infidels is mostly ex-veterans. And the attraction was the
02:30money. According to our sources and contract documents we've seen, they're paying each of
02:34them about $980 a day. That's about ┬г720 every day, including expenses, rising to about $1,500
02:41for team leaders. So if they're there all year, they can make hundreds of thousands of dollars.
02:46And we've got images of some of the people in this gang. I mean, you identified the names of some
02:52of them. How did you then establish that they were working for this agency?
02:58Well, this is interesting, because at first we were up against a wall. There was just one
03:01member of the gang who we knew about. That was Johnny Taz Mulford. He's a former sergeant in the US
03:07Army, and he posted a picture of himself on the gang's page, posing with a machine gun. And then
03:15there was another picture with 1095 tattooed across his chest. Now, we emailed infidels MC for comment.
03:23And what happened was, in response, Mr Mulford instructed his fellow gang members not to reply
03:29to the BBC, but forgot to take us off when he hit reply all, thereby disclosing email addresses and
03:35names of other members. So we got that. We also spoke to infidels insiders, and we were able to
03:40match up names with public information about infidels leadership to arrive at 10 bikers who
03:46are from infidels who are leading the teams in Gaza where people have died. And there have been
03:53all kinds of accusations and counter-accusations. Now, UGS, according to estimates by a former
03:59contractor, at least 40 bikers are among the 320 people they've hired.
04:03OK. You talk about this group, UGS, UG Solutions. What have they said then in response to your
04:10investigation, Andy?
04:11UG Solutions, which, by the way, is a subcontractor for security for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,
04:16they gave us a statement saying they don't screen people out for personal hobbies or affiliations
04:20unrelated to job performance. And they do carry out background checks, they say, making sure
04:24everyone's fully vetted. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it has a zero-tolerance policy
04:30for any hateful discriminatory biases or conduct. And of course, you can read more about this on
04:35the BBC's website.
04:36OK. So I was about to ask you that. Where can we see more of your investigation? On the BBC News
04:40website or on the app. Andy Verity, thank you very much for taking us through your investigation there.
Comments