The recent beneficiary of a $270,000 U.S. grant has ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, that beneficiary is Islamic Relief Worldwide and this charity has been banned in Israel and the United Arab Emirates because of its financial ties two the two terror-linked groups. Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) has high ranking members that are connected with the Muslim Brotherhood on a global scale with tentacles stretching into other “charities” that are being called into question for their legitimacy.
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The Obama administration through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cut a check for the funds to the UK-based ‘charity’ last month for its work in Kenya (this according to a federal government website on spending). The funds were given under the pretense that they would be used in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s global health security partner engagement initiative.
IRW has come under heavy scrutiny and raised security concerns in Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which led both to ban the charity from operating within its borders. In 2014, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon stated that Hamas was running the IRW chapters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He said in a 2014 statement,
“The IRW is one of the sources of Hamas’s funding and a means for raising funds from various countries in the world. We do not intend to allow it to function and abet terrorist activity against Israel.”
In 2006, the Israeli Security Agency arrested Iyaz Ali, a Pakistani-born British national who worked as project director of IRW’s operations in the West Bank. A 2006 statement from the Israel Defense Ministry on Iyaz Ali’s arrest:
“He worked to transfer funds and assistance to various Hamas institutions and organizations, including the Al Wafa and Al Tzalah associations, which have been outlawed in Israel. The IRW provides support and assistance to Hamas’s infrastructure, [which are] controlled and staffed by Hamas operatives. The intensive activities of these associations are designed to further Hamas’s ideology among the Palestinian population.”
The United Arab Emirates put the IRW on its list of terrorist organizations whilst HSBC, a London-based bank, severed its ties completely with IRW for the same reason. While the IRW denies its associations with terrorist groups / terrorism sponsors, the Obama administration continues to look upon the charity in a favorable light noting its work on international relief issues.
An intriguing item of note is Obama’s ISIS czar, Robert Malley, who is a Hamas sympathizer and what role, if any, he might have played in this $270,000 federal grant to the Islamic Relief Worldwide.
What are the implications of this terrorism-linked charity receiving U.S. funds? Sound off in the comments below!
