Wagdi Ghoneim, described as a “prominent scholar”, has announced plans for a union of Islamic companies which appears to be at least partly designed to generate revenue for causes supported by the global Muslim Brotherhood including Hamas. The plan was described in a report carried on Islam Online:
Eyeing support for Islamic economies, a group of Muslim scholars are planning a union for Islamic companies to help boost transactions and help the poor in the Muslim world. “We want a strong Islamic alliance capable of competing with foreign goods,” prominent scholar Wagdi Ghoneim told IslamOnline.net. “It aims to provide support for sales of member companies against foreign products.” Ghoneim said the planned union will market products of its members. “It will also give these companies the chance to enhance the quality of their products by benefiting from the researches conducted at the union’s research center.” Headquartered in Belgium, the union is expected to be announced soon. “It will be announced in the coming months,” Ghoneim said. Members will have to pay 2 percent of their monthly sales or profits to the union. “In return, the members will enjoy several privileges,” he said. “Members will gain the union’s badge to guarantee them protection against competition of foreign products.” Member companies will also have access to the union’s research center. “Each firm will also have a special page on the union’s website,” said Ghoneim. Ghoneim said the union aims to unite the Muslim world and solve problems facing Muslims worldwide. “It is meant to improve the living conditions of poor brackets in the Muslim world,” he told IOL. He said the union would plan setting up businesses to fund small-scale projects for poor families. “It will also provide for orphans in the Palestinian territories as well as offer grants for poor Muslim students to study at top-notch world universities.” The prominent scholar said that the union would also provide funds for scientific researches in the Muslim world. It will also seek to provide protection to Islamic sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine. “The union would also dedicate part of its members’ profits to support victims of Israeli aggression the occupied lands. “We will also offer part of the profits to help Islamic countries harmed by conflicts such as Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and Pakistan.”
It should be noted that support for Palestinian orphans has in the past served as a code word for support of families of Hamas personnel killed in the conflict with Israel. The Brussels location for the new entity suggests a possible connection with the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe, the umbrella organization for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe which also has its headquarters in Brussels.
Wagdi Ghoneim (aka Wagdy Mohamed Ghoneim, Wagdi Ghuniem) was recently identified as one of sixteen individuals on a Home office list of people banned from the U.K. on the basis of ” unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and to provoke others to commit terrorist acts. Mr. Ghoneim is an Egyptian cleric known for his anti-Semitic speeches. In January 2005, Mr. Ghoneim agreed to be voluntarily deported from the U.S. based upon Department of Homeland Security concerns that his past speeches and participation in fund-raising activities could be supportive of terrorist organizations. Following deportations from Bahrain and South Africa, he appears to have settled in Qatar where MEMRI reported on remarks by Mr. Ghoneim which aired on Al-Jazeera TV and which praised violent Jihad and criticized the U.S. and Europe as “Godless” nations. Ghoneim is closely tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood and has been a frequent speaker or invited speaker at Brotherhood events including those sponsored by the Union of Islamic Organizations in Italy (UCOII), the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI), and the League of Swiss Muslims. Known for his anti-semitic speeches, global media have also reported that he is closely associated with Hamas.