Sweden: patron of Israel boycott movement

If you follow the money, Sweden is among the leaders, if not the number one advocate, of boycotting and disinvestment in Israel.

Sweden is a primary funder of the organizations Addameer, Al Mezan, Diakonia, Alternative Information Center (through Diakonia), Defence of Children International – Palestine Section, Sabeel, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, all of which advocate sanctions or boycotts against Israel.

Sweden is also a main donor for NDC, a conglomerate funding mechanism that finances at least eight anti-Israel organizations itself.

Elder of Ziyon has a helpful chart showing the money behind the movement.  His table also shows that a big culprit is the European Union itself, funding at least 13 such groups.

The original research comes from NGO Monitor.

More question marks for the Zakat Foundation

FrontPage Magazine has posted a somewhat unevenly researched (and unfortunately, not the best written) article on the connections of the Zakat Foundation.  I am excluding the portions of the text that I cannot substantiate through my own research or by following the hyperlinks included in the orginal article.  What remains is the Zakat Foundation’s financial role in the anti-Israel flotilla escapades:

…[T]here is the question of how the Zakat Foundation distributes its funds. The Caipirinha Foundation, the  charitable organization created by anti-Israel documentarian Iara Lee and her billionaire husband George Gund III, utilized Zakat as a  fiscal sponsor for a grant to the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH). The IHH is part  of the “Union of Good,” an umbrella coalition of Hamas-affiliated organizations led by Qaradawi. The Foundation supports the IHH’s efforts to disrupt Israel’s self-defense, describing last year’s controversial flotilla as a “heroic effort.”

It might have benefited the author to take a look at Money Jihad’s article on the Zakat Foundation here, which exposed with visual evidence the ties between the Zakat Foundation and a charity that funds Hamas.

Weenie sheikh endorses plunder, sex slavery

Sheikh Abu Ishaq al-Hoeweyni

A cross-eyed sheikh says plundering infidel countries will restore Islamic economies plus provide perks like fresh sex slaves.  This tidbit comes from Gates of Vienna as the sheikh recently sought to “clarify” similar statements he made years ago.  The Koran indeed contains a sura entirely on how to divvy up the spoils of war once an infidel group is conquered.  The profiteer Muhammad supposedly would not personally accept zakat, but he always took a cut from the war booty.

Three weeks ago (June 11th), there was an item in the news (and video) about an Egyptian Sheikh Hoeweyni, who made the following statements:

We are in the era of jihad. The era of Jihad has come to us and jihad in the path of Allah is a pleasure. It’s a real pleasure. The companions (of the Prophet) used to compete to (perform jihad).

That we are in poverty — is it not due to our abandonment or jihad? But if we could conduct one, two, or three jihadist operations every year, many people would become Muslims Throughout the earth. And whoever rejected this da’wa, or stood in our way, we would fight against him and take him prisoner, and confiscate his wealth, his children, and his women — all of this means money. Every mujahid who returned from jihad, his pockets would be full. He would return with three or four slaves, three or four women, and three or four children. Each head, multiply by 300 dirhams, or 300 dinars, and you have a good amount of profit. If he were to go to the West and work on a commercial deal, he would not make that much money.

Whenever things became difficult (financially), he could take the head (i.e. the prisoner) and sell it, and ease his (financial) crisis.

Huwaini actually made these scandalous assertions some eighteen years ago. But because they were only recently exposed, and he was invited to “clarify” his position on Hikma TV last week. Amazingly, though he began by saying his words were “taken out of context”, he nonetheless reasserted, in even more blunt language, that Islam justifies plundering, enslaving, and raping the infidel. (Al Youm 7 has the entire interview, excerpts of which I translate below.)

According to Huwaini, after Muslims invade and conquer a non-Muslim nation — in the course of waging an offensive jihad — the properties and persons of those infidels who refuse to convert or pay jizya and live as subjugated dhimmis are to be seized as ghanima or “spoils of war.”

Huwaini cited the Koran as his authority — boasting that it has an entire chapter named “spoils” — and the sunna of Muhammad, specifically as recorded in the famous Sahih Muslim hadith wherein the prophet ordered the Muslim armies to offer non-Muslims three choices: conversion, subjugation, or death/enslavement.

Huwaini said that infidel captives, the “spoils of war,” are to be distributed among the Muslim combatants (i.e., jihadists) and taken to “the slave market, where slave-girls and concubines are sold.” He referred to these latter by their dehumanizing name in the Koran, ma malakat aymanukum — “what your right hands possess” — in this context, sex-slaves:

You go to the market and buy her, and she becomes like your legal mate — though without a contract, a guardian, or any of that stuff — and this is agreed upon by the ulema.

“In other words,” Huwaini concluded, “when I want a sex-slave, I go to the market and pick whichever female I desire and buy her.”

French ransom payments boomerang

France brought it on itself. France’s payment of a $15 to $20 million ransom to the Taliban reported earlier this month has emboldened Al Qaeda to demand $90 million in ransom for four French hostages in Africa. La Belle France has turned its French citizens into merchandise over which to haggle at an Arab bazaar. For the West, horrifying; for al Qaeda, jackpot.

From Ansamed (h/t RoP):

TUNIS, JULY 25 – More than 300 days into an imprisonment that risks prolonging even further. The four French nationals who were captured in September of last year have literally disappeared into a “black hole” created by Al Qaeda in the Maghreb. The hostages appear to be an investment for the future of the terrorist organisation, which does not intend to lower the enormous ransom set at 90 million euros, according to the most recent reports. For Delie Larribe, Theirry Dole, Marc Feret and Pierre Legrand, a positive end to the story in a short period of time seems unlikely because they are pawns in a larger game being played by AQMI in the Sahel, which is perhaps the most potentially at risk zone on the global terrorism panorama. The situation has escalated to the point that the countries in the area (with Algeria leading the way) have allied themselves in their anti-terrorism efforts. But this is only true in terms of their military operations, and certainly does not involve searching for hostages swallowed up in the abyss that Al Qaida has succeeded in creating around their prisoners, like Italian national Maria Sandra Mariani, who disappeared in Algeria in February. It is difficult to say where the hostages are being held, even for French intelligence officials who are extremely active in the area and who have built up a solid collaboration with their Algerian counterparts. Recent events in the area have fuelled worries regarding the increasingly “professional” operations conducted by AQMI following their affiliation with the “mother ship”, which has translated into constant military pressure, especially along the border between Mali and Mauritania (with Algeria and Niger ready to collaborate) and into an attempt to manage the flourishing kidnapping industry, which, has raised the stakes with the four French hostages, and therefore, their potential revenue.

Ransom money could be reinvested to acquire weapons, especially after a thriving parallel market opened up with the war in Libya, for the most part regarding the weapons in the Libyan arsenal that have been recently acquired, mainly from Russia.

From SFW: Robbed for Sharia

“If the banks continued to operate contrary to Islamic code, monies snatched from them remain legitimate…”

Mercy.  Here’s further evidence for those who doubted that Islamic bank robbery isn’t just greedy criminality.  It is a reasoned decision based on the sacred texts of Islam by its most zealous adherents.

Shariah Finance Watch had a great post on the subject last week.  An excerpt follows.

Nigerian Jihadists Target Banks for not being Shariah Compliant

…The latest development in the violence in Nigeria should catch the attention of SFW readers: now the violent Jihadists are targeting banks in Nigeria because they do not comply with Shariah law.

In other words, using violent methods, the jihadist terrorists are working toward the same basic goals as the financial jihadists, in this case the chief of the country’s central bank who, by hook or by crook, is determined to see Shariah banking and finance gain a stronghold in Nigeria…

Read their full post here.  Yeesh!

World Muslim League plays host

Muslim Aid, a Britsh-based Union of Good charity (which means it funds Hamas), has sent its assistant CEO as a representative to a conference of the Muslim World League in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The Muslim World League is the primary financial vessel for Saudi hardcore Wahhabist ideological propagation around the world (see some recent coverage here and here).  MWL money put the conference together during which the “problems facing the Muslim world” are being discussed.

Yes, “problems,” and how, when, and where to line each others’ pockets to fund Islamist zealotry.  Meanwhile, the U.K. continues to slumber while a pro-Wahhabi, Hamas-funding “charity” thrives within its borders.

From the Saudi Gazette today:

MAKKAH – Several reputed scholars presented their papers Sunday, the second day of the three-day Muslim World League conference here on ‘Issues and Challenges of the Muslim World.’ The papers dwelt at length the causes and effects of the ongoing crisis in the Muslim World.

The scholars were unanimous in calling the situation in some of the Muslim countries as demonstration of modern sedition (fitna) and that the only solution to the misfortune befalling the Ummah is to seek refuge in Islam and the Tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Sunday’s deliberations spread into three sessions and saw many prominent figures of the Ummah discussing topics like ‘Current Situation and Problems’, ‘Rights and Obligations’, and ‘Reformation of the Society.’

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh and Dr. Saleh Bin Abdullah Bin Humaid, Chairman of the Supreme Judiciary Council, chaired the morning sessions which dealt with in-depth discussions on economic and social situations in Muslim countries as well as challenges facing them and means of addressing them by Islamic teachings.

Eminent participants unanimously termed the holding of the conference as timely and important. “This conference is a very timely one and a very important one. The Muslim World is facing many crises. At this point of time Saudi Arabia is organizing this conference, and I appreciate Rabita Alam Al-Islami for leading the way and which will definitely contribute to the unity of Ummah,” said Hamid Azad, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Muslim Aid, London.

“I hope this conference will pave the way for establishing peace in the Muslim countries and globally as well,” he said.

Azad praised the speech of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, in which, he said, four points have been outlined for maintaining order in the society.

A participant from India, Hussain Mudavoor, was upbeat about the timing and holding of the international meet and praised King Abdullah and the MWL for organizing the conference.

“Apart from a number of valuable presentation by Islamic scholars of the world, the best thing I found is the gathering of so many Muslim luminaries at one place, and that too to discuss the issues facing the Ummah. This is the character of Islam, which the Kingdom is upholding well despite upheavals in the Muslim society,” Mudavoor, Principal of an Arabic college in a southern Indian state, said.

The three-day conference is expected to release a final communiqué Monday.

Counterfeit intifada

Counterfeiting “infidel” currencies has become a common tactic among jihadist groups.  It has, for example, reached crisis proportions against the “Hindu” rupee.

Add Gaza to the list of counterfeiters of the kaffir U.S. dollar.  From Elder of Ziyon on July 11:

Ma’an (Arabic) reports that Hamas has arrested people who were counterfeiting American $100 bills in Gaza. They caught over $200,000 of fake currency.

The counterfeiters’ tool? An HP 5550 color laser printer.

Hamas has good reason to arrest the counterfeiters. After all, they want to make sure that they corner the market for themselves.

In her book, Funding Evil, Rachel Ehrenfeld described counterfeiting of Israeli shekels by terrorists in the Palestinian territories:  “[I]n April 2002 the IDF found ‘large quantities’ of counterfeit Israeli currency in denominations of 50-, 100-, and 200-sheqel notes, in Arafat’s compound in Ramallah” (p. 91 in the paperback edition).

Ehrenfeld also writes that Argentinian police alleged that Latin American based Hezbollah operative Assad Muhammad Barakat “had distributed $60 million in Colombian-printed counterfeit U.S. dollars, and that he had participated in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires…” (p. 150).

The lessons that the enemies of Israel have learned is that if we don’t give you enough millions of dollars in foreign aid, just Xerox your own!

Time to stop the PA aid

The U.S. has finally smartened up and stalled some of its financial aid to Pakistan.

As the Palestinian Authority considers reconciliation with Hamas, the U.S. Congress is finally having second thoughts about extensive foreign aid to the Palestinian territories.

Couple the rekindling of the romance with Hamas with the news that West Bank residents enjoy a lesser poverty rate than residents of Washington, D.C., and the decision shouldn’t be terribly difficult.

The Palestinian Authority and its PLO predecessor have funded terrorism even more openly than has Pakistan.  Shouldn’t the same freeze on foreign aid apply to the PA, especially in these days of budget austerity?

Not so, says the White House.  Pres. Obama insists (h/t Israel Matzav) on continued funding for the Palestinian Authority…

Can 2012 come too soon?

Your taxes -> UNRWA -> Palestinian terror

Elder of Ziyon has been running a clever poster series for quite some time now.  Since my computer monitor isn’t a big screen, I tend to think of these as “handbills” more so than “posters,” but that’s just me.  EoZ‘s latest:

AQAP got Somali funding

Up until now, the known geographic source of revenue for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was, well, the Arabian Peninsula.

Now it looks like Anwar al-Awlaki may not have only been shaking down the sheikhs in Saudi Arabia for money, but from the Somalis of al Shabaab too.

Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali terrorist captured overseas by the U.S., has been charged with providing material support to both AQAP and al Shabaab.  No details on the amount or source of the money he gave have been reported yet.

We can only speculate for now, but the massive ransom profits from al Shabaab’s piracy department could have been one of Warsame’s revenue sources.  From the Telegraph on July 10:

Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who was captured in the Gulf by the US military on April 19 and is now facing terror charges, had contacts with Awlaki and “was a key interlocutor” between Somalia’s Shabaab Islamist insurgency and Awlaki’s Al-Qaeda outfit in Yemen, the official said.

“He was a senior commander” in Shabaab, said the official.

The Somali national was indicted on Tuesday in a New York court on charges of providing material support to both Shabaab and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, (AQAP).

Warsame, 25, faces nine counts including acting as a go-between between the two groups, providing them with both money and training between 2007 and 2011. He faces a life sentence if convicted on the terror and weapons charges.

US officials say Awlaki, an American citizen who remains at large in Yemen, is a powerful leader of AQAP and is suspected of instigating a string of attacks against the United States, including a failed attempt to blow up a US-bound airliner.

The Saudi and Yemeni Al-Qaeda branches merged in January 2009 to form the Yemen-based AQAP.

US officials have voiced concern about deepening ties between AQAP and Shabaab and that the Somali insurgency may broaden its focus to try to strike at Western targets outside of Somalia.

The Shabaab rebels are locked in a protracted battle with the country’s weak, Western-backed government for control of the Horn of Africa nation.

The Shabaab are currently facing an unprecedented offensive launched by the transitional government and backed by the African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu.

The Shabaab have suffered serious setbacks during the major offensive launched in February by the government and backed by the AU peacekeeping mission.

The US government meanwhile has defended the treatment of Warsame, who was interrogated for two months on an American warship.

US officials said Warsame provided “valuable” intelligence and that military and civilian interrogators strictly followed Army rules that prohibit abuse or torture of a detainee.

Muslim Brotherhood-linked mosque hit with lien

Among his many leadership positions among North American Muslim Brotherhood front groups, Dr. Jamal Badawi also serves on the board of directors for the Maritime Muslim Academy of Halifax, Canada.

The Maritime Muslim Academy hired Kassner/Goodspeed Architects for a project at Ummah Mosque and Community Centre.  The Maritime Academy has since stiffed the architects for over $35,000.

The bill has gone unpaid for at least several months, so  Kassner/Goodspeed has fearlessly upped the ante by filing a mechanic’s lien against the mosque.  If Maritime doesn’t cough up the payment, a judge could force the sale of the mosque to satisfy the lien.  Alas, Maritime will probably reach some sort of half-hearted payment plan or settlement with the firm.

But wouldn’t a forced sale be lovely?  A prediction, by the way:  we will see more and more unpaid debts by Islamic institutions to “infidel” professional service firms and lenders in the coming months and years.

From TGMBDR (with paragraph breaks added) on June 28:

Canadian Mosque Associated With U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Leader Has Financial Trouble

Canadian media is reporting that a new Halifax mosque associated with U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leader Jamal Badawi appears to be experiencing financial difficulties. Acording to the report:

A Halifax architecture firm has put a lien on the city’s new mosque. Kassner/Goodspeed Architects Ltd. has launched a lawsuit against the Maritime Muslim Academy over an unpaid $36,194 bill for its work on the Ummah Mosque and Community Centre. The architecture firm registered a lien against lands at 2510 St. Matthias St. and 6225 Chebucto Rd.

The last work the architecture firm did on the project was on April 1, according to the statement of claim made public Wednesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. ”Any applicable period of credit for payment has expired,” said the lawsuit.

Kassner/Goodspeed is looking for the Maritime Muslim Academy to make good on the unpaid bill, plus the cost of the legal action.  ”In the event of a default of payment,” the architecture firm wants a judge to order the property sold to cover the academy’s bill, according to the lawsuit.

Andrew Wolfson, a Dartmouth lawyer who represents the architecture firm, admitted it was odd to place a lien on a mosque. ”Yeah, it’s different,” Wolfson said. “I’ve never had to do that before.” Dan Goodspeed, who designed the project, refused to comment Wednesday.

Hadi Salah, principal of the Maritime Muslim Academy, said Wednesday he couldn’t speak about the matter. ”I really don’t have the time now,” Salah said. Last year, he told The Chronicle Herald that the $6-million project would be completed without borrowing a penny. Salah said in an April 2010 interview that the mosque was being constructed without the traditional sort of North American mortgage obtained by most businesses, institutions and individuals undertaking big construction jobs. ”In Islamic tradition, it is prohibited to deal with interest,” Salah said at the time. “This project is built mostly by fundraising and the community has been quite generous.”

But Imam Jamal Badawi, professor emeritus of religious studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, said Wednesday that the unpaid architect’s bill has nothing to do with that tradition. ”It’s something much more complex than that,” said Badawi, who refused to elaborate.  ”It has nothing to do with the question of interest. It is a matter before the court of law and it would not be appropriate ethically or legally to make any comment at this point.”

The mosque is slated to take up about one-third of the 25,000-square-foot complex, which includes a gymnasium, library and cafeteria. The province contributed $767,000 toward the construction cost of the gym. Donations for the construction project are still being solicited on the mosque’s website. ”The envelope is completed and we are getting closer to the final stage,” according to http://www.ummahmasjid.ca. “To date, approximately 70 per cent of the needed work toward the project completion has been done.”

An overview updated this month indicates that $5,263,640 in donations have been promised for the project, with $4,238,858 collected.

Dr. Badawi is a leader in many of the most important organizations of the global Muslim Brotherhood including the Islamic Society of North America, the Council on American Islamic Relations (Canada), the Fiqh Council of North America, the Muslim American Society, and the European Council for Fatwa and Research. He recently retired from an academic position at St. Mary’s University in Halifax and continues to be one of the most widely traveled North American Muslim Brotherhood leaders. An earlier post discussed his role in the top leadership structures of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.