A Yemeni charity known to be tied to Hamas fund-raising has announced activities said to be part of “Arab Orphan Week”. According to a report carried on a website close to the Union of Good:
The family development sector of the Social Reform Charity of Yemen, and within the events of Arab Orphan Week, has organized a courtesy meeting between the orphans and their sponsors under the slogan “ We plant the smile, and we reap the fruit in Paradise”. Dr.Abdoh Wasel, the director of orphan’s sector, reaffirmed in his opening speech the importance of celebrating this event to remind all concerned persons with their humanitarian, moral, and religious duties and responsibilities towards this vulnerable category of the society. He explained that “the orphan sector of the Reform Charity, since its establishment, has sponsored 40.000 orphan, while some of them grew up and became owners of their projects, thanks to Allah and the care and assistance they received by their sponsors. He pointed out that the number of present sponsored orphans, by the charity, is 25000. He added that the orphan sector launched a new mechanism of sponsorship called “ Family’s orphan” through which the sponsor is the whole family members who contributes on daily basis in collecting the monthly amount of money for one orphan.
The Social Reform Charity of Yemen is known to be a founding member of the Union of Good, described in a NEFA Foundation report as follows:
The Union of Good is a coalition of Islamic charities that provides financial support to both the Hamas “social” infrastructure, as well as its terrorist activities. It is headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, and most of the trustees and member organizations are associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood. The Union of Good was banned by Israel in 2002 and was recently designated a terrorist entity by the United States, although neither Youssef Qaradawi nor any of the Trustees were similarly designated. Despite the fact that action has been taken against some of its member organizations in Europe, many of its other European member organizations continue to operate. Further, the Union of Good itself does not appear to be under investigation in Europe.
As the NEFA report explains, much of the Hamas fundraising is carried out under the cover of orphan support.