NOTE: The following text is an exact quote
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http://internet-haganah.us/harchives/003238.html
November 30, 2004
Group claims Hamas [still] raising funds in Canada [IRFAN]
PAUL LUNGEN cjnews.com:
The Islamic terrorist group Hamas has resumed fundraising in Canada through a front organization that offers charitable tax receipts to donors, an activist group stated earlier this week.
The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy, IRFAN-Canada, has taken over for the defunct Jerusalem Fund for Human Services as Hamas' fundraising arm in Canada, according to the Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD).
However, a spokesman for the organization denied the allegations. "We have nothing to do with the Jerusalem Fund," said Rasem Abdel-Majid, IRFAN-Canada's general manager. "This is an international relief [agency]. We have no connections to anybody."
Abdel-Majid also rejected suggestions the group supports Hamas. "That's not true," he said. "I want [CCD] to come out with proof of that."
CCD called on the federal government to freeze IRFAN's funds, prosecute the people behind it and explain how an organization with clear links to the Jerusalem Fund could have obtained the right to issue tax receipts for donations that ultimately benefit the banned terrorist organization Hamas.
"It really makes you wonder what the CRA [Canadian Revenue Agency] is doing when they grant charitable status to a group whose linkages to a banned organization in Canada is so transparent," said Alastair Gordon, director of communications for CCD.
Naresh Raghubeer, CCD's executive director, said only "gross incompetence" could explain how federal authorities permitted the Jerusalem Fund to re-emerge and do business in Canada under the IRFAN brand. He said IRFAN-Canada uses the same address and fax number as the Jerusalem Fund.
A search of the Internet by The CJN quickly uncovered the link. A website catering to Muslim students and another geared to Muslim entrepreneurs provided contact information for the Jerusalem Fund. The fund's mailing address in Mississauga and its fax number were identical to the ones advertised on IRFAN's website.
CONTINUE...
Regarding Mr. Abdel-Majid's request for proof, see:
IRFAN support for the Qalqilya Charitable Committee
IRFAN support for the Bethlehem Orphan Care Society, a Hamas-run institution
IRFAN support of the Tulkarm Charitable Society
IRFAN support of the Jenin Charitable Society, identified with Hamas
Mr. Abdel-Majid's statement that...
"This is an international relief [agency]. We have no connections to anybody."
...will require further analysis.
Posted by aaron at November 30, 2004 11:50 AM
NOTE: The following text is an exact quote
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http://internet-haganah.us/harchives/003237.html
November 30, 2004
Hamas financial sources in the EU and Canada
[This was first published as Appendix A: Hamas' financial sources of the report IRFAN: A Hamas front organization operating in Canada to enlist financial support for Hamas institutions in the Palestinian Authority-administered territories from the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)]
1. Most of Hamas' budget, estimated at tens of millions of dollars a year, comes from various Islamic charity funds and foundations all over the globe. They operate in the service of Hamas, either directly or through intermediaries, and support the movement's civilian infrastructure (da'wah) in the PA-administered territories. Theoretically, the funds are earmarked exclusively for civilian purposes (education, religion, humanitarian uses). However, in reality, they are used to bolster Hamas' civilian political and terrorist-operational infrastructures , and thus directly support the broad range of terrorist activities Hamas conducts in the PA-administered territories.
2. There are two types of charitable funds and foundations:
a. Those which are Hamas front organizations, whose main purpose is to funnel money into Hamas institutions in the PA-administered territories. Such organizations are an integral part of Hamas. Most of their activists are affiliated with Hamas, some of them were established with the direct involvement of the movement's leadership and most of the financial support they provide goes to Hamas societies in the PA-administered territories. They raise between 15 and 20 million dollars a year, a significant sum by any reckoning. The most prominent among them are Interpal (Britain), CBSP (France), the Al-Aqsa Fund (Germany, with branches in Belgium, Denmark and Holland),[1]and IRFAN in Canada.
b. Those which support, among other things, radical Islamic elements worldwide. They do not all directly support Hamas but are ideologically close to it, and thus the aid they send to the PA-administered territories is channeled into Hamas institutions. Most of the funds and foundations in question are based in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
3. In the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, some of the European governments have made progress in their efforts to curtail the activities of Hamas front organizations operating in their countries. One significant effort was the inclusion (August 2003) of five such organizations (Interpal in Britain, CBSP in France, the Association Switzerland-Palestine in Switzerland, Palestine [Fund] in Austria and the Sanabl Association for Relief and Development in Lebanon) in the list of designated organizations according to American Executive Order 13224, which froze their assets (as well as the freezing of the assets of six senior Hamas members). Great pressure was exerted on Britain, France, Austria, Switzerland and Lebanon to take action against the Hamas organizations designated on the list. One month later (September 2003) the European Union announced it was including Hamas' "political wing" on its list of terrorist organizations.[2]
4. The European Union's decision prohibited collecting money for terrorist organizations for any purpose, even civilian. However, the decision did not give an explicit definition of the term political wing, which can be interpreted in various ways: Germany took it to mean Hamas front organizations masquerading as charities, while Canada , Britain and France hesitated to subscribe to that view.
5. Today (November 2004) some Hamas funds and foundations in Europe are in varying stages of reducing their operations. The activities of Al-Aqsa Fund in Germany were frozen in the past and their future is currently being debated in the German courts. Al-Aqsa Funds in Denmark and Holland have been prohibited from transferring money to the PA-administered territories (the Dutch fund was also included in the European Union's list of terrorist organizations). However, in other countries various funds and foundations – such as IRFAN in Canada, Interpal in Britain and CBSP in France – continue their operations uninterrupted.
6. As to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, until recently they transferred money from their charitable institutions to Hamas' civilian infrastructure with no interference from the authorities whatsoever. However, in the wake of post-September 11 American pressure, particularly during the last half of 2004, the Saudi authorities began severely limiting "charitable" money transfers from their country to Hamas institutions in the PA-administered territories.
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[1]. This bulletin does not deal with charitable organizations in the United States, the Middle East or other countries.
[2]. The claim that there is a distinction between Hamas' "political" and terrorist-operational wings is intended to give the movement's leaders a kind of "diplomatic immunity." In reality the distinction is often unclear. The violent confrontations in the PA-administered territories have shown that Hamas' "political" leaders or education-welfare activists have been involved in plotting violent policy and in supporting the movement's terrorist-operational activities, while terrorist-operatives have often dealt with political, educational and social matters. A particularly telling example was the planning of the suicide bombing attack at the Park Hotel in Netanya (Passover eve, March 27, 2002, 29 killed), which resulted in Operation Defensive Shield, an analysis of which can be found on here:
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/6_04/park_h.htm
Posted by aaron at November 30, 2004 11:49 AM
NoE Please Cindy?