A Palestinian solidarity organization is reporting that Ibrahim Hewitt, a U.K. convert to Islam tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas fund-raising, has led a delegation of British MP’s to the Gaza Strip in February. According to the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign report:
Ibrahim Hewitt
14/05/2013 Ibrahim Hewitt led a cross-party delegation of MPs, consisting of Jeremy Corbyn MP, Philip Hollobone MP, and Sarah Teather MP, to the Gaza Strip in February 2013. This event gives them, and Interpal, the opportunity to report on what they saw. During their time in Gaza they witnessed the situation that Gazans face every day; be it fishing restrictions, exclusion from their agricultural land in the Israeli buffer zone, or the impact of the ongoing Israeli siege.
They also saw the work that Interpal does to restore hope to the people of Gaza. The reception will give you an opportunity to see some of that work, which is based on Interpal’s firm foundations in the local community in Gaza. It will also highlight the difficulties of working in such a sensitive part of the world and the steps Interpal have taken to ensure local ownership over their projects and to build effective partnerships with international organisations and NGOs.
A discussion on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the work that Interpal carries out will follow brief speeches from the delegation.
INTERPAL is the most important member of the Union of Good, a coalition of global charities that helps to raise funds for Hamas and headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi. The Union of Good was banned by Israel in 2002 and in 2008 was designated a terrorist entity by the United States for supporting following the designation of INTERPAL in 2003. In 2009, the UK Charity Commission ordered that INTERPAL sever its ties with the Union of Good, likely only a formality given that Essam Mustafa, the former head of the Union of Good, is still the Managing Trustee of INTERPAL. The U.S. has attempted to persuade the U.K. government act against INTERPAL to no avail as of the current time.
An online profile provides biographical detail about Ibrahim Hewitt:
Ibrahim Hewitt is the Senior Editor of MEMO [Middle East Monitor]. He is a media and education consultant and has been the chairman of Interpal, the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, a British charity, since 1997. A school inspector, he is also the Head of Al-Aqsa School in Leicester. He was awarded the Alija Izetbekovic Award for Citizenship at the Muslim News Awards for Excellence ceremony in 2005, and received an Honorary Doctorate from the Islamic University in Gaza in 2011 for his support for the people of Palestine and the development of the university.
It should be noted that the Islamic University in Gaza is an important center for Hamas activity. Mr. Hewitt is also a trustee of the International Board of Educational Research and Resources (IBERR), a little known organization headquartered in South Africa. IBERR was founded by Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) and distributes Islamic educational material around the world. An IBERR website identifies IBERR members including some prominent names from the global Muslim Brotherhood. In addition to Mr. Islam and Mr. Hewitt, these include:
Ibrahim Hassaballa (International. Islamic Charitable Organization, Kuwait)
Mr. Hewitt was also the Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) from 2004-2006. The MCB is a U.K. umbrella group is dominated by the Pakistani-based Islamist group known as the Jaamat-I-Islami that is itself closely tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and the MCB usually acts in concert with the Global Brotherhood.
MP’s Corbyn and Teather have a long history of acting in support of the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas support organizations.
