Are Terrorists STILL Raising Money in the U.S.?

Yesterday, November 4, 2004, Nova Southeastern University reportedly hosted a fund-raiser for Islamic Relief, an Islamic charity group that is under investigation for accepting a contribution from a front group for Al-Qaida. The group has come under repeated fire in the U.S. and Britain. There will be a second performance today, Sunday, December 5, 2004.

According to a WND story, “pending performers include a vocal supporter of the terrorists group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

The event at the Nova Southeastern University Miniaci Performing Arts Center was characterized as a “Muslim Family Entertainment Night,” and was to feature performances by Native Deen, Qari Abdul Jaleel, Qari Asif, and Shaam. Tickets were to cost $12 per person, and $50 for a family of five.

The Islamic Relief, a group based in Burbank, California, in conjunction with the Medina Foundation/Islamic Foundation of Central Florida, reportedly mixed the sounds of hip-hop with the message of Islam in a concert held in Davie, Florida. Money raised at the concert is purported to go to “education, housing, and food for orphans in Bosnia, Chechnya, and other countries.”

Michelle Malkin a syndicated columnist and author of Invasion and The Case for Internment. wrote:

"Data from the United States Department of Labor reveals that four Muslim charities under federal investigation for ties to terrorism applied for high tech, or H1-B visas, on behalf of at least sixteen workers over the past years. Three of the charities ... had their assets frozen by the Treasury Department after the September 11 attacks. The fourth, Islamic Relief Worldwide in Burbank, California, accepted $50,000 from an alleged bin Laden front group at its British office, according to Treasury officials," wrote Malkin.

According to Janes Intelligences Review cited in the WND article:

“College Concert for Terror-Supporting Agency,” “At the height of the foreign Arab and Muslim influx into Pakistan-Afghanistan from 1984 to 1986, bin Laden spent time traveling widely and raising funds from the Arab world…The banks channeled funds to 20 non-governmental organizations, the most famous of which was the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). Both IIRO and the Islamic Relief Agency functioned under the umbrella of the World Islamic League.”

Once again we see the umbrella of an international Islam at work in the United States.

Even more interesting is the identity of the founder of Islamic Relief, Hanni al Banna, a “trustee and fundraiser for Muslim Aid, a charity created in London by singer Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam. Stevens or Islam, when queried in the past denied that monies from his charity could have been used for terrorism.

Islamic Relief holds concerts all over the world. Reportedly connected to the International Solidarity Movement, an organization outlawed in Israel that calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, Islamic Relief held a fundraiser at Britain’s Birmingham Central Mosque, which the FBI has said “is a central location for jihad recruitment in the U.K. Another Islamic Fundamentalist group, Al-Muhajiroun, has held regular meetings at the mosque. Leaflets encouraging congregats to fight in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Israel, and Iraq were distributed, and two men connected with a 2003 pizzaria bombing in Israel were reportedly recruited at the mosque. The mosque has terrorist connections.

Although Islamic relief has been caught harboring known terrorists in its Mideast office – including members of Islamic Jihad, Thom Saffold, a leader of the International Solidarity Movement, recently made a public pledge for his supporters to donatr to the Islamic Relief.

Who else besides Muslims would ask for charitable donations in this way?

"Below are three ways by which you can help [the suffering Palestinians.] ... The first is a way as to how you can directly serve as a human shield for the Palestinians against the racist Zionists ... The second way is to make a direct donation to Islamic Relief ... The third way is to join the increasing number of demonstrations underway in the U.S. and the world against the Zionist aggression," wrote Saffold in an open letter.

But will the money raised at Saturday’s concert in Davie, Florida really go to widows and orphans?

On the Islamic Relief website (http://www.irw.org/orphans/), naturally under the picture of a cute smiling little boy, the website defines “orphans” as children whose fathers have died or have been killed. Their mother, a relative or a recognized institution cares for most orphans.” According to the WND article, “This allows the group to raise money for families of suicide bombers and mujaheeden fighters says Beila Rabinowitz of Militant Islam Monitor.”

"It's the old 'orphans' ploy. They use the codeword 'orphan' to stave off any scrutiny or accusations of terrorist fund-raising, and to hide that they are raising money for families of suicide bombers and mujahedeen. It is a travesty of the war on terror that Nova Southeastern is allowing its theater to be used by Islamic Relief to raise money for fictitious 'orphans,'" said Rabinowitz.

Check out the data for the “orphans” listed on the Islamic Relief website. Only the dates of fathers’ deaths are listed, often “within months of the listed birthdays of the children in question.” But, Fauzia Mohamed, one of the events coordinators stated: “We don’t know who the orphans are. I am telling you they are orphans.”

Of the performers listed above at the December 4 and 5, 2004 concert, singer Ratib a vocal supporter of the terrorist organization Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which has “perpetrated many suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, performs wearing an Al Asqa scarf, considered in the Islamic world to be a statement of support for the terror group. His own website features several pictures of him in the scarf.

David Harris, Nova University spokesperson told World Net Daily that they University “cleared the charity organization with Homeland Security, the FBI and law enforcement before the theater was rented.” But in the past, universities have cleared organizations they have hosted with U.S. law enforcement “only to have the events turn controversial.”

A recent example is the October 2004 Palestinian Solidarity Conference at Duke University led by International Solidarity Movement co-founder Huweida Arraf. Leaflets were distributed and attendees were instructed through a slide show on how to “fool Israeli border control, since ISM members are denied entry.”

According to Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, “All too often, university employees apologize for Islamist terrorism and sometimes they are even involved with it.” Pipes also said: “But the university as a place to raise money for Islamist terrorism sounds new to me. It represents another ominous sign of the direction in which institutions of higher education are heading.”

Daniel Pipes maintains an extensive file of Islamists terrorism and Muslim activities in the U.S. at DanielPipes.org.Also, FrontPagemagazine.com has several articles that describe how universities are being used by many groups, including the Left and Islamism.

See both Daniel Pipes and FrontPageMagazine for an eye-opening look into how universities are being used by front groups.

Muslim Family Night Entertainment at Nova University sounds innocuous. We can’t be sure whether or not the money raised will ever go to “widows and orphans.” We thought the money sent to Saddam for Oil-for-Food would go to feed starving Iraqis and buy medicine for sick children. Instead he sent the money as compensation for the families of suicide bombers in Israel, in fact, paying them a salary to murder out of donated funds. Have other Muslim charities also funded terror? Law enforcement agencies seem to think that Americans have duped out of millions of dollars to fund violence.

END NOTES:

“Group Mixes Hip-Hop With Islam.” http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cmuslim04dec04,0,21012.story

“College Concert for Terror-Supporting Charity.” http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41752

“Terror-Harboring Group Recruits Students at Duke.” http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40973


FrontPageMagazine.com – Academia/Campus Campaigns
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/GetArticleByTopic.asp?D=Academia+%2F+Campus+Campaigns+&ID=1

Daniel Pipes: http://www.danielpipes.org/