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December 15, 2006

UK: Muslim Charity Or Islamist Fundraiser?

Once more, an article from Family Security Matters, which follows on from the earlier article on Mohammed Sawalha of the Muslim Association of Britain. This concerns a charity run by Sawalha's friend, Essem Yussuf (Essam Salih Mustafa Yussuf).

It is more than disheartening to know that our most staunch ally in the war against Radical Islam is Britain, but that Britain refuses to ban a charity that America itself has designated as a terrorist entity. FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan calls on the UK Charity Commission to ban Interpal in this meticulously documented, hair-raising piece about them. If you see the light after reading this article, we suggest that you do the same. Contact information is at the end.

The Muslim Charity Britain Refuses To Ban

The US Treasury designated Interpal as a terrorist entity (Executive Order 13224) on August 23, 2003. The Treasury decided that the British-based charity, which purports to send money to alleviate poor social conditions amongst Palestinians, was a conduit for Hamas funding. Interpal was founded in 1994, as an offshoot of the Manchester-based Palestine and Lebanon Relief Fund (PLRF), which was run by Essem Yussuf (Essam Salih Mustafa Yussuf). The PLRF was forced to freeze its activities, as it was not registered with the British Charity Commission. Essem Yussuf relocated the charity to Kilburn, west London and legally registered it under its new name.

Interpal or the "Palestinians Relief and Development Fund" - registered charity number 1040094 - has been investigated twice by the Charity Commission. The first time was in 1996, at the request of Britain's then home secretary, Michael Howard. Another investigation took place in 2003, completed on September 6 , 2003. Both investigations claimed Interpal had no links with supporting Hamas.

When Interpal was first operating, its representatives appeared to admit that some of their funding sent to Palestinian charities went indirectly to Hamas. Essem Yussuf said in early 1996 that though no money went to Hamas, it was possible that Interpal funding went indirectly to families of Hamas activists. On August 7, 1997, the Guardian newspaper carried an interview with Ibrahim Brian Hewitt (pictured) of Interpal, who said it was possible that some of Interpal's funds were invested for specific purposes in the PA-administered territories, which were pre-determined by Hamas. He justified this by claiming that Hamas' social wing was separate from its military wing.

According to the Center for Special Studies in Israel, Essem Yussuf also runs the Union of Good ('I'tilaf al-Khayr) an umbrella organization of 56 so-called charities. It began operations in October 2000, to channel money to Palestinians in need. However, it also channeled funds to the families of suicide bombers, via the charity Al-Tadhamun in Nablus. The official head of the Union of Good is the "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yussuf al-Qaradawi. Qaradawi has issued a fatwa declaring that it is permitted for Muslims (including women) to commit suicide attacks against Israel.

Qaradawi has said of the Israel-Palestinian conflict: "We must plant the love of death and the love of martyrdom in the Islamic nation." When recently asked by BBC journalist John Ware if his Union of Good website supported Hamas, Essem Yussuf denied this, even though it carries an image of Sheikh Yassin on a page called the "al Yassin fund". Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as Gaza leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded Hamas in 1987. Yassin was killed by an Israeli target strike on March 22, 2004.

John Ware produced an extraordinary documentary for the BBC's Panorama strand, called "Faith, Hate and Charity", exposing the links of Interpal to Hamas. Ware traveled to the PA territories to see where Interpal's money had gone. Originally broadcast on July 30 2006, "Faith Hate and Charity" can be viewed directly here, or from the BBC Website here Ware's findings were presented to Kenneth Dibble, of the UK Charity Commission. As a result of Ware's investigation, the Charity Commission is now deciding whether to mount its third investigation into the activities of Interpal.

Ibrahim Hewitt is now the chairman of Interpal. A convert to Islam, he runs the Al-Aqsa Primary School in Leicester. He seems to compare the Israeli government's attempts to protect its citizens to the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, in which at least 6 million Jews were killed. Last year, Muslim advisers to Britain's government suggested that the Holocaust Memorial Day should be scrapped, because it "excluded Muslims". Hewitt then said: "There are 500 Palestinian towns and villages that have been wiped out over the years. That's pretty genocidal to me." Mahmoud Ahmadinejad employs such tactics in Iran as do other Muslim Holocaust deniers.

When the Charity Commission conducted its 2003 inquiry into Interpal, it claimed "The US authorities were unable to provide evidence to support allegations made against Interpal within the agreed time scale. The commission concluded that in the absence of any clear evidence showing Interpal had links to Hamas's political or violent militant activities, Interpal's bank accounts should be unfrozen and the inquiry closed."

Despite this, the inquiry found that Interpal had received funds from the Al-Aqsa International Foundation, a group based in Germany, which is banned in Britain for its links to Hamas. The US Treasury designated Al Aqsa on May 29, 2003. The Telegraph stated that the commission was only handed "press-cuttings", which were not considered as evidence.

When the Charity Commission decided to unfreeze Interpal's accounts, the move stunned US officials. At a Senate Hearing on September 25, 2003, David Aufhauser, General Counsel at the US Treasury, said: "What happened with Interpal in Britain is really quite chilling. This - these were the best of our friends. If we cannot convince them to join us against one of the primary funders of Hamas, in the millions of dollars, within weeks after the designation by the EU of Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization, it gives you some taste of how difficult it is to get other, less friendly, nations to join us."

The Charity Commission did not visit the Palestinian Territories to see how Interpal's money was spent. Since then, information gathered by the Israelis under its "Defensive Shield" operations of 2002 has become declassified. Many documents from Interpal are presented at the Center for Special Studies website, which clearly show donations being made to "charities" in the Palestinian territories which support terrorism.

These charities include the Bethlehem Orphan Care Society, founded in 1997, and outlawed by Israel in 2002. Run by Dr. Ghassan 'Issa Mahmoud Harmass (Abu Tayib), a leading Hamas activist, this charity specifically gave support to the families of suicide bombers.

Another Interpal-funded charity on the Center for Special Studies' files is the Al-Islah Charitable Society. During Operation Defensive Shield, two documents were found in its Bethlehem office, showing that $33,800 was sent by Interpal to the Ramallah branch of Al-Islah. The money was sent via the City Bank, New York to the Al-Aqsa Islamic Bank in Ramallah. The transfer documentation was signed by Jamal Muhammad al-Tawil on January 23, 2001. Tawil was a leading Hamas activist.

Tawil was jailed for three years on November 9, 2003. He had admitted setting up the Ramallah bank account to provide a legal cover for illicit transfers of funds. He admitted that he provided financial aid for imprisoned Hamas members and their families and transferred funds to those in charge of Hamas' terrorist-operative infrastructure in Ramallah.

Another document found in Bethlehem relates that Al-Islah with assistance from Interpal organized donations of $100 to be given to the families of suicide-bombers as a special Eid al-Fitr gift.

An Interpal-funded kindergarten for girls, the Al Khalil Al Rahman Girls' Society, has video of its pupils singing: "Give me the Kalashnikov if you are thinking of giving up the fight. For the sake of glory to religion we give our blood. Fasten your bomb belt oh would-be martyr and fill the square with blood so that we get back our homeland. We will sacrifice ourselves for our country. We answer your call and make of our skulls a ladder to your glory.. a ladder.. Rise with us to liberate Palestine through the path of the Islamic dawah. Whoever abandons the path of Muslims will live under humiliation and slavery."

The Al Sharia Girls' School and Orphanage, run by the Islamic Charitable Society of Hebron (funded by Interpal) has flags of Hamas at its entrance. When searched by the Israeli army in August 2004, a computer was retrieved. Its hard drive was filled with graphic promotional material, praising Hamas suicide bombers.

The issues of Interpal's funding of Hamas have not entirely gone away in the United States. The subject was brought up on April 27, 2005, at a hearing before the House of Representatives, on Islamic Extremism in Europe. Here, the 2003 inquiry by the UK Charities Commission was lambasted: "...the Charity Commission's failure to account for the plethora of open source evidence linking Interpal to Hamas was only half the problem. The Commission did not investigate whether Interpal funded Hamas charities or organizations, only whether Interpal was linked to the group's "political or violent militant activities."

Though Interpal's leaders appear to be supporters of the "Islamic agenda" as promoted by Hamas, they are quick to threaten lawsuits to silence any opposition. The Board of Deputies of British Jews suggested that Interpal was a "terrorist organization" in an article it published in 2003 on its website. Rather than face the exacting costs of a High Court action, on December 17 last year it published an official apology, stating "We would like to make it clear that we should not have described Interpal in this way and we regret the upset and distress our item caused."

The findings of John Ware appear to support the assertions made by the US Treasury - that Interpal sponsors charities that are fronts for Hamas. Ware stated that Interpal has funded the Abdul Nasser mosque in Ramallah, which he states is "quite obviously influenced by Hamas". The mosque had a banner of the latest "martyrs" hanging in front of it. At the Dura Islamic Society for Orphans near Hebron, Israelis found framed posters made by children that glorified local Hamas "martyrs".

Appearing on Qaradawi's Al Jazeera TV show in 2002, Interpal's vice-chairman and founder Essem Yussuf said: "Greetings to the Sheikh of the Mujahideen... But my biggest salutation is to the Mujahideen, to the heroes of the Palestinian people who are sacrificing everything that is precious." Yussuf is also an associate of Yemeni citizen Mohammed Ali Hasan al-Moyad. He met him in Yemen.

Moyad was arrested in Frankfurt on January 10, 2003, and on November 16 he was extradited for trial in the US. The Federal Court of Brooklyn gave him a 75-year jail sentence for funding terrorism on July 28, 2005. Moyad had met with Bin Laden and provided over $20 million to al Qaeda. He had also funded Hamas.

FBI surveillance film played at Moyad's trial showed him in a Frankfurt hotel where he met with undercover FBI agents. Moyad was demonstrating how he could raise money for jihad. He had four receipts with him, one of which was from Interpal, for $70,000, ostensibly for benign purposes. On the surveillance video, Moyad stated; "This one, for instance, we deliver it to Hamas. This one we deliver it to the interior. This one we send it to the martyrs. But when we are in front of our government?" He then laughed.

The BBC investigation by John Ware triggered a surprised reaction from Kenneth Dibble of the Charity Commission when screened. However, since August 15, there has been no further move by the Commission to state whether or not it will investigate the damaging claims that Interpal is knowingly funding charities linked to Hamas.

It is not enough for the Commission to say it is "looking into" these issues. Aaron Klein of WorldNet Daily wrote that a security source has said: "The [British] authorities are afraid of the large Muslim community. Britain's failure to close Interpal and take action against Hamas' charities is coming from internal politics."

There is a lack of will power on the part of many civil servants in Britain to even question the activities of Islamist groups. Most of Britain's Muslim "representatives" have a clear political agenda, and the UK government has encouraged such perspectives, even when they openly support acts of terror against Israel. As long as these groups do not advocate terrorism on Britain's soil, they are allowed to operate freely.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was officially endorsed as a candidate by the Blair government. Yet Livingstone has welcomed the Muslim Brotherhood's "spiritual leader" Qaradawi to London, even though the Sheikh has condoned suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and openly supports Hamas.

One of the most ardent supporters of Interpal in Britain is George Galloway of the "Respect" party. When he appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" in January, he demanded that his fee be given to Interpal.

The UK Charity Commission can be contacted by telephone on (+44) 0845 3000218. Letters can be sent to: Charity Commission Direct, PO Box 1227, Liverpool, L69 3UG, United Kingdom.

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Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 15, 2006 11:34 PM

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