GMBDW has developed information suggesting a possible link between newly promoted charity efforts for Gaza in the U.K. and INTERPAL another U.K. charity designated by the U.S. in connection with the funding of Hamas. The website of the Muslim Association of Britain, an important part of the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood, has posted the following announcement about a charity known as “IF”:
A new charity, “IF”, is getting 3000 people to run 100 metres each, one after the other… like passing a batton. The money raised will go to the children of Gaza as well as to help raise the awareness of Gaza/Palestine in the news again.
In fact, according to the U.K. Charity Commission, IF was created in January 2003 and according to the last available figures, reported an income of only about 8000 British pounds in 2007.
The designated contact for IF is listed as Mr. Andul Karim Gheewala who is also a trustee of the charity. Mr. Gheewala is also the Chair of the Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO) described as “an umbrella body with a current membership of 184 affiliated groups made up of all mosques and Muslim organisations across the sectarian divide in Leicestershire.” One of the board members of the FMO is Mr. Ibrahim Hewitt, a convert to Islam who is a former Secretary to Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, and a current Trustee of INTERPAL. The NEFA Foundation has recently released a report on the role of INTERPAL as a key member organization of the Union of Good, a worldwide coalition of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi add which has also been designated by the U.S. in connection with its funding of Hamas. It should be noted that the global Muslim Brotherhood has a long history of moving covert funding to new organizations following exposure of their activities.
Also of interest is that Mr. Gheewala is also a Trustee of the Europe World Islamic Organisation (EWIO) whose website says is: “Seeking to build relationships of trust and mutual endeavour between Europe and the Islamic World and of friendship between Muslims and non-Muslims.” The EIWO is headed by former U.K. history professor Richard Bonney who is the author of an academic work on Jihad. Another EIWO Trustees of interest is Ataullah Siddiqi whose biographies say is a Senior Research Fellow at the Islamic Foundation, Leicester, and Director of the Markfield Institute of Higher Education. Both organizations are associated with associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood as well as the Jammat-e-Islami (JEI), founded in 1941 and Pakistan’s oldest religious party. The party had it’s origins in the thoughts of Maulana Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi (1903-79), the most important Islamist intellectual in the history of Southeast Asia. Maududi was also a major influence on the global Muslim Brotherhood with whom the JEI has long enjoyed close relations.
Another Trustee of the EWIO is Georgetown academic John Esposito, a long-time supporter of the global Muslim Brotherhood with ties to Saudi Arabia and who has espoused views consistent with Brotherhood doctrine. Dr. Esposito has at least a dozen past or present affiliations with global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas organizations including having served on the advisory boards of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in the U.K. and the United Association for Studies and Research in the U.S. and has served with global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi on the Steering Committee of the Circle of Tradition and Progress. In 2005, Saudi prince Alaweed bin Talal, a financial supporter of the global Muslim Brotherhood donated $20 million to the Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown, headed by Dr. Esposito. Dr. Esposito appeared to have had lost considerable influence following his pre-911 denials that Islamism posed a threat to the U.S, but a previous post has discussed evidence suggesting he may be returning to favor.