BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Treasury Designates Union Of Good; Fails To Mention Qaradawi Role
The U.S. Treasury Department has designated the Union of Good, a worldwide collection of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, as a terrorist entity as a result of its fund-raising activities on behalf of Hamas. According to a just-released Treasury announcement:Union of Good was designated today under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists, terrorist organizations, and those providing financial, technological, or material support to terrorists, terrorist organizations, or acts of terrorism. Any assets the Union of Good holds under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the Union of Good. The leadership of Hamas created the Union of Good in late-2000, shortly after the start of the second Intifada, in order to facilitate the transfer of funds to Hamas. The Union of Good acts as a broker for Hamas by facilitating financial transfers between a web of charitable organizations—including several organizations previously designated under E.O. 13224 for providing support to Hamas—and Hamas-controlled organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. The primary purpose of this activity is to strengthen Hamas’ political and military position in the West Bank and Gaza, including by: (i) diverting charitable donations to support Hamas members and the families of terrorist operatives; and (ii) dispensing social welfare and other charitable services on behalf of Hamas. Among the primary financiers of Union of Good projects are several organizations designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 for providing support to Hamas and other terrorist groups, including the International Palestine Relief and Development Fund (Interpal), Al- Aqsa Foundation, Comite de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP), the Association de Secours Palestiniens (ASP) of Switzerland, the Palestinian Association in Austria (PVOE), and the Sanabil Association for Relief and Development in Lebanon. The Union of Good facilitates the transfer of tens of millions of dollars a year to Hamas- managed associations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Funds raised by the Union of Good affiliates have been transferred to Hamas-managed organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. In addition to providing cover for Hamas financial transfers, some of the funds transferred by the Union of Good have compensated Hamas terrorists by providing payments to the families of suicide bombers. One of them, the Al-Salah Society, previously identified as a key support node for Hamas, was designated in August 2007 under E.O. 13224. The Society employed a number of members of the Hamas military wing and supported Hamas-affiliated combatants during the first Intifada. The Union of Good’s executive leadership and board of directors includes Hamas leaders, Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), and other terrorist supporters. The secretary general of the Union of Good, for example, also acts as the vice-chairman of the United Kingdom-based Interpal, which was designated in 2003 for providing financial support to Hamas under the cover of charitable activity. As of mid-2007, this official served on the Hamas executive committee under Hamas leader Khaled Misha’al. Board members of the Union of Good include a West Bank Hamas member, and Abd al a Yemen-based Hamas fundraiser who was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 in 2004 for providing support to al-Qaida. In 2006, Zindani delivered a fundraising speech at a Hamas conference in Yemen where the crowd pledged millions of riyals for Hamas.Curiously, the Treasury annoucement makes no mention of Youssef Qaradawi who is the head of the Union of Good.
As previous posts have discussed, actions against Union of Good member organizations had already been taken in many countries. The United States designated the Al-Aqsa Foundation and Interpal on May 2003 while Germany and the Netherlands acted to close the Al-Aqsa Foundations branches in those countries. In Denmark, the leaders of Al-Aqsa were charged but later acquitted of terrorism-financing charges. Other European countries such as the U.K., France, and Belgium have never acted against Union of Good members in those countries although the U.K. based Interpal has been the subject of several investigations by local charity regulators. The Union of Good itself has never previously been banned or the subject of any other governmental actions, although it still maintains a website and solicits donations with a server located in the U.S., possibly in violation of U.S. terrorism-financing laws. The U.S. also has never acted against Qaradawi himself despite his support for suicide bombings and his role as the head of the Union of Good.
For numerous posts referencing the Union of Good, click here.
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 U.S. Hamas Operative Sues Treasury Department Over Terrorist DesignationThe Investigative Project is reporting that attorneys for Hamas operative Muhammad Salah have filed a lawsuit on his behalf claiming that his designation as a terrorist has interfered with finding employment and the conduct of everyday life. According to the report:IPT News • Sep 7, 2012 at 6:15 pm Attorneys for a Chicago man believed to be the only American citizen designated as terrorist sued the U.S. Treasury Department this week, saying he’s been virtually unable to hold a job or engage in everyday transactions as a result. Muhammad Salah was designated a terrorist in August 1995, months after an executive order by President Bill Clinton named Hamas a terrorist group and prohibited transactions with the group. Salah was in an Israeli prison at the time after pleading guilty to a Hamas support charge. He returned to Illinois after his release in 1997, but with limited exceptions has been unable to open a bank account, buy groceries or gifts for his family because of the Clinton order’s ban on transactions with a designated terrorist, the lawsuit said. ‘There is no endpoint to the designation and its restrictions,’ the lawsuit said. It argues the designation was never court-tested, violating Salah’s due process rights and essentially punishing him without a trial. He is joined in the suit by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and the American Friends Services Committee, a Quaker organization.A post from October 2009 reported that Abdelhaleem Ashqar, part of he Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas support network in the U.S and a co-defendant with Salah, lost his appeal of his 11-year prison sentence for refusing to testify before a U.S. grand jury in 2003 that was investigating Hamas. A post from November 2007 discussed the background to the conviction of Dr. Ashqar: U.S. media has reported that a former professor accused of being part of a Hamas support network was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison Wednesday for refusing to testify before a U.S. grand jury in 2003 that was investigating Hamas. Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 49, a former associate professor of business at Washington’s Howard University, was convicted earlier this year on criminal contempt and obstruction of justice charges for his refusal to testify but he and codefendant Muhammad Salah were acquitted of participating in a racketeering conspiracy aimed at financing Hamas. (Salah was later sentenced to 22 months in prison after being convicted of lying in a civil suit concerning Hamas support.) Public records indicate that in 1993, Ashqar was the Registered Agent for the Al-Aqsa Educational Fund in Mississippi which, according to various FBI documents, was the original collection point for Hamas fund-raising in the U.S before it was replaced by the Holy Land Foundation in 1994. Documents released as part of the recent Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial indicate the the Hamas fund-raising and support network in the U.S. was an integral part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.Appellate court ruling can be found here. American Hamas Operative Sues Treasury Over Designation
by IPT News • Sep 7, 2012 at 6:15 pm
Muhammad Salah was designated a terrorist in August 1995, months after an executive order by President Bill Clinton named Hamas a terrorist group and prohibited transactions with the group. Salah was in an Israeli prison at the time after pleading guilty to a Hamas support charge. He returned to Illinois after his release in 1997, but with limited exceptions has been unable to open a bank account, buy groceries or gifts for his family because of the Clinton order's ban on transactions with a designated terrorist, the lawsuit said. "There is no endpoint to the designation and its restrictions," the lawsuit said. It argues the designation was never court-tested, violating Salah's due process rights and essentially punishing him without a trial. He is joined in the suit by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and the American Friends Services Committee, a Quaker organization. The groups say they would like to champion Salah's plight, but fear crossing restrictions on providing support to a terrorist that are spelled out in the executive order. The ADC took up for two other Hamas supporters in July, issuing a release complaining about the deportation of two brothers from Texas. The brothers turned out to be Basman and Bayan Elashi. Each is a convicted felon tied to a Dallas-based Hamas support network. Salah is an unindicted co-conspirator in that case, listed among people Hamas deputy political leader Mousa Abu Marzook "utilized as a financial conduit on behalf and/or for the benefit of HAMAS." Salah was indicted on racketeering charges in 2004, but convicted only of lying in a civil suit related to Hamas financing. U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said jurors did think Salah was connected to Hamas and she didn't buy his claims that his confession to Israeli officials had been coerced. Prosecutors say Salah continued serving for Hamas after the designation "including directing and financing travel to Israel and the West Bank in or about October 1999 of a Chicago-based associate." ADC, CAIR Form Election Partnership
by IPT News • Aug 24, 2012 at 4:39 pm
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) will join the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) for registration, phone bank and other get-out-the-vote efforts in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the ADC announced. CAIR and its founders were implicated as part of a Hamas-support network operating in the United States. Internal records admitted into evidence in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five former officials, showed CAIR was an official part of the "Palestine Committee," which existed to help Hamas politically and financially. Last month, ADC decried the treatment given to two other members of that network after they were deported pursuant to court orders. The group's release failed to identify the men involved or mention their connection to the Hamas support operation. And both groups stood by former White House reporter Helen Thomas after Thomas made anti-Semitic comments about Jews' connection to Israel and said Zionists run the media and American politics. http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/441.pdf#page=11 |
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