On Thursday evening Islamic Help, a charity based in Birmingham, will hold a fundraising event for Gaza in London.
Guess who’s coming to dinner: George Galloway.
Here he is handing cash to Hamas in Gaza in March 2009.
Yvonne Ridley is coming too. Here she is calling for “victory to Hamas” in the Gaza war at a London demonstration in January 2009.
Although it does not appear to be have been confirmed yet, Azzam “Kaboom” Tamimi, one of London’s prominent Islamists and an open supporter of Hamas, may come as well.
Islamic Help’s work with Galloway and Ridley is nothing new. The charity took part in Galloway’s convoy to Gaza, which ended in the celebration of Hamas shown above.
Here is a cheery video of the send-off in London, where one Islamic Help man standing next to Galloway makes his annihilationist view clear: “From the river to the sea, Palestine inshallah will be free”. Yvonne Ridley’s convoy blog posts were published on the charity’s website.
In Gaza, Islamic Help is backing the reconstruction of Darul Fadilah, a facility in Rafah owned by the Islamic Society of Gaza. This is an important project for the charity. Mohammad Masood Alam Khan, Islamic Help’s chairman, has visited the facility, with Galloway.
The Society is closely linked to Hamas. Ahmad Bahr, a Hamas leader, was its secretary general from 1985 to 2004. He too is an annihilationist, as you can see from this sermon message he delivered at a mosque in Sudan in 2007:
Ahmad Bahr began: “‘You will be victorious’ on the face of this planet. You are the masters of the world on the face of this planet. Yes, [the Koran says that] ‘you will be victorious,’ but only ‘if you are believers.’ Allah willing, ‘you will be victorious,’ while America and Israel will be annihilated. I guarantee you that the power of belief and faith is greater than the power of America and Israel. They are cowards who are eager for life, while we are eager for death for the sake of Allah. That is why America’s nose was rubbed in the mud in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia, and everywhere.”
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The Hamas spokesperson concluded with a prayer, saying: “Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet, defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them.”
Israel bombed the Darul Fadilah site during the Gaza war, because, it said, Hamas had used it as both a firing position and a weapons depot.
Unsurprisingly, the construction of the bombed facility was partly financed by the Union of Good, an alliance of Islamic charities that has been banned by the United States on these grounds:
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.
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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.
Now Islamic Help is stepping in for the Islamic Society of Gaza. This is the kind of activity its donors are funding: a Society-run kindergarten “graduation” ceremony where little boys are dressed as terrorists.
Here’s another one, this time from al Manar, Hezbollah’s TV channel.
The aim of the Society is the perpetuation of jihadi hatred and conflict, for generations.
British charities can help to fuel this hatred, openly, and almost always without any legal or even political consequences, when it is a crime to fund Hamas from the UK.
That should change.
