Last Wednesday Home Secretary Theresa May had this to say in a speech (emphases added):
Speaking at the Community Security Trust annual dinner in central London on Wednesday evening, Mrs May said more would be done to stop extremists “masquerading as charities” in order to raise funds.
Mrs May praised the Charity Commission’s efforts to take a “more effective and aggressive line in seeking out and ejecting” such organisations.
“Too often organisations whose purposes have been the opposite of charitable – and which have even been involved in sending money to straightforwardly terrorist organisations – have been allowed to flourish as charities,” said the Home Secretary.
These are welcome words. But they will be worthless if action does not follow.
Few abusers of charity are as blatant as Interpal, the biggest political and material supporter of Hamas among British charities.
Here is Interpal Vice Chairman and Managing Trustee Essam Mustafa embracing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza just a month ago. Mustafa was in Gaza for one of a score of Interpal’s “Miles of Smiles” solidarity visits to the terrorist group over recent years.
Now take a look at some video from that meeting. Essam Mustafa is given pride of place to Haniyeh’s right, as you can see at the beginning of the clip. This is customary for Hamas’s key man from the UK. As the chanting for Hamas, jihad and martyrdom grows louder, in Mustafa joins, raising his finger in a gesture of open solidarity.
Here is an article on the same event. It reports that Haniyeh crowed over millions of Israeli civilians taking shelter as Hamas rockets rained down on them in the last Gaza war. Of course he did – terrorizing and murdering civilians is exactly what Hamas is all about.
The “armed wing” of Hamas also happily reported the visit on its website.
Note that Essam Mustafa is described by Interpal in its latest annual report to the Charity Commission as follows:
The Board entrusts the day-to-day management of the charity to the Managing Trustee who is assisted by senior members of staff.
Yes, naturally, because he is so close to Hamas and so important to the terrorist group.
If the authorities do not take action against Interpal, Theresa May’s speech will amount to nothing more than whistling in the wind.
