The Islamic Community Milli Görus (IGMG) is the largest representation of Muslims of predominantly Turkish origin in Germany.
It works closely with the German Muslim Brotherhood leader Ibrahim El-Zayat whose sister is married to an important IGMG leader.
The prosecutors in Munich investigated officials of the IGMG for several years for collecting money for militant Islamist groups.
To go further
In theory, Middle East Eye is a success story.
Around 30 000 pages read daily. 329 000 English speaking fans on Facebook and 62 600 French speaking fans.
Twenty permanent staff in the London bureau.
A dozen freelancers in several countries.
Many are professionals and their careers give MEE a mantle of seriousness and professionalism. Heading the website is David Hearst. He is the Editor of Middle East Eye and was for a long period of time, senior international correspondent for the Guardian. He worked on the conflicts in Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Ireland and Russia.
In two years’ time, the websites became unavoidable. Online Media Awards named Middle East Eye’s Peter Oborne best freelance writer of the year for his report on the siege of Damascus.
However, what kind of journalism Middle East Eye does?
« The moment activists come through this door they become journalists » #presswashing
Many activists who write in the media sustain adamantly that they are journalists and therefore objective. When David Hearst declares that MEE staff writers come in as “activists” and come out as “journalists” he plays on this ambiguity. As if, human beings, who fight passionately for a cause or an ideology, can turn off their brain when they write.
Some contributors of Middle East Eye are politically engaged. Fortunately so.
However, alleging that they stop being activists the minute they start writing, is an insult to the intelligence of the readers and the contributors of Middle East Eye.
The bias of political Islam
Hanan Chehata is a regular contributor of the site. She does not hesitate to call secular people “secular fanatics”. She says of herself a hostage of two parts of the population. On one side, the seculars (Muslim and non-Muslim) that she does not hesitate to qualify as “secular fanatics”. On the other side, those who are more fundamentalists than she is who she calls “religious police.” Hanan Chehada says she is the happy medium between those two extremes, forgetting however that the vast majority of Muslims in the west (and even in a growing number of Muslim countries) are in favor of the separation between religion and politics and disagree with political Islam.
Basheer Nafi is in charge of research in Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He wrote several articles for Middle East Eye, in one of them he calls Rashed Ghannouchi to order.
“Ennahdah can change its speech, but not the reality of political Islam.
The relation between Ennahda and the Muslim Brothers is not the result of a conspiratorial missionary effort; it is purely a Tunisian choice. It is absolutely wrong to pretend today that Ennahdah was for many decades prisoner of an Islamic political identity it did not want.”
“The forces of the mainstream current in political Islam, led by the Muslim brothers, fought for about one century for the independence of their state. They struggled for people’s freedom and the instauration of a fair system of governance that expresses the will of the majority and safeguards their interests. When it had to face the despotism of Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba, Ennahdah was not an exception. There is nothing shameful in this history that justifies its condemnation.”
« Fear and sensitivity should not push a political movement with such a long history of struggle and sacrifices to take hasty and sudden decisions.”
Independent….yes, from the Hollywood studios and its great granduncle maybe.
In the English section “about”, we can read, “Middle East Eye is an independently funded online news organization founded in February 2014”
What does « independently funded » mean? Independent of the big media groups? Independent of the Hollywood studios? Independent of American pension funds? The only way to try to see a bit more clearly is to ask for the legal documents handed by the company. We can read there that the director is Jamal Awami Jamal known as Jamal Bessasso. He is director of two companies with quasi-similar names: MEE limited and Middle East Eye limited.
Jamal Bessasso born in 1969 in Kuwait is a Dutch national of Palestinian origin who lives in Great Britain. He was formerly director of planning and human resources for Al-Jazeera. He was also director of Samalink TV in Lebanon, which broadcasts Al Quds TV, the station close to Hamas.
Jamal Bassasso also worked for a real estate company in Dubai with Anas Mekdad, another Palestinian linked to Al Islah the Emirati wing of the Muslim Brothers, which is banned today, and many of its members are serving prison sentences accused of attempting to overthrow the government. Anas Mekdad is the founder of the Islamist web forum AlMakeed that praised Hamas. A forum in which Bessasso contributes.
Asked by the Emirati daily The National, David Hearst the editor in chief of Middle East Eye categorically denied that Bessasso played any important role in Middle East Eye. At most he conceded that Jamal Bessasso was a ““a colleague and the head of human resources and the legal director”.
Why deny that he is also represents the anonymous owners of Middle East Eye? If he is not himself the owner. His name is the only one that appears on the official documents handed to the British administration.
The name of Jamal Bessasso is also the only one showing for the company Middle East Eye Limited that owns the website Middle East Eye.
Also in the category, “independence” we must underline this important industrial gift: the lending of a coach, Jonathan Powell, an Al Jazeera employee since 2009. He spent six months in London to create the website Middle East Eye.
Another coincidence probably, the person who registered the website Middle East Eye is Adlin Adnan. Incidentally, he is responsible of development policies at Interpal an organization based in Qatar and linked for a long time to the Union of Good of Youssef Al Qaradhawi.
A coincidence as well, probably, we find in the staff of MEE, Rori Donaghy director from 2012 to 2014 of the Emirates Center for Human Rights, a structure aimed to support the Muslim Brothers in the United Arab Emirates. Rori Donaghy admitted that this structure was created thanks to Anas Al Tikriti, head of the Cordoba Foundation and a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.
David Hearst published videos on internet in which he maintains he is politically and financially independent. However, he does not reveal the identities of those who make his financial set-up. To run a website of this size with spacious offices in central London, twenty permanent staff and tens of freelancers in various countries, let alone the cost of translation, you need more than 1.5 million pounds a year.
“It is our duty to declare Islam (…) against their democracy, which is tantamount to anarchy and libertinism, and against their communism which is equivalent to atheism and international despotism.”
“The Arab nations stand between colonialists’ desires and communists’ ambitions”, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, Cairo, No. 146, 1946, p 1.
This post is also available in Français.
Justice and development party exists since 1998, but its structure exist under another name since the middle of the 1960s.
The ancestor of the justice and Development Party was created before 1967 by Abdelkrim El Khatib: the constitutional democratic popular movement. For a long time its activities are not known, but the party wants to be the respectable showcase of the movement unity and reform, a conglomerate of individuals having more or less abandoned the armed struggle of Chabiba Islamiya.
Abdelkrim El Khatib, founder of the group is Muslim brother and made many references to Hassan Al Banna, but he is also close to the Palace. Its members are not bothered by the police.
Yet, as recalls Mohamed Louizi, in the aftermath of his death in 2008, the office of the supreme guidance of the Brotherhood in Egypt rushed one tribute. The supreme leader of the time, Mohamed Mahdi Akef, lamented the death of the founder of the branch of the ‘brothers’ in the Kingdom.
The Party was born in reality of the constitutional democratic popular movement activists protest.
In the legislative elections of 1997, the constitutional democratic popular movement won nine seats. Protesting against electoral fraud, the activists of the movement refuse to participate in the Government and change of name. This was the birth of ‘Party of justice and development”which peaked with at the outset as an opposition party. The PJD is as follows: “national political party which works from the Islamic reference, under the constitutional monarchy established on the commandery of believers.
The change of title does not decrease ideological links with the Egyptian mother house.Bazzi El Ouggouti co-founder of the MPCD in 1967, is very clear with the new members.
“Dear brothers, you are the heirs of the Salafist movement, which was born of the nationalist movement that had founded the fouqahas (Muslim jurists) in all regions of Morocco […]. What was hoped for behind the battle of the liberation of the country, it was the establishment of an Islamic State. Nevertheless, the seed which the colonizer had left behind him – speaking perhaps the left forces – had prevented this construction. Today,we have a new opportunity before us to try again, again, the realization of this dream,through the political commitment of many sons of the Islamic revival movement, you are. You are now inside the political ring. A team of you succeeded in getting a place inParliament. Responsibility is extended to you, I wish you success in what you do”
The Justice and Development Party becomes the first opposition party in the legislative elections of 2002. (42 seats).
In the speech of the party as Mohamed Yatim and Saadeddine El Othmani intellectualsbegan to emerge the fact that the Islamic State is not necessarily the goal of political action.
In the 2007 elections, the party came in second place with 46 seats.
April 28, 2011 in Marrakesh attack highlights the existence of terrorist cells organized in the territory. In the media, the activists of the Party of justice and development appear as balanced. Since the 2003 bombings, the party has rounded off its speech sought to gain respectability.
In November 2011, the Justice and Development Party wins the parliamentary elections. He obtained in addition to 11 portfolios on 31.
Abdel-Ilah Benkiran, head of the Government.
Saadeddine El Othmani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
El Mostafa Radhika, Minister of Justice and freedom.
Lahcen Daoudi, Minister of education superior, scientific research and the training of managers.
Abdelaziz Rabbah, Minister of equipment and Transport.
Mustapha El Khalfi, Communication Minister and Government spokesman.
Abdelkader Amara, Minister of industry, trade and new technologies.
Bassima Hakkaoui, Minister of solidarity, women, the family and social development.
El Habib Choubani, Minister in charge of Relations with Parliament and civil society.
Mohamed Najib Boulif, Minister delegate to the head of the Government, in charge of General Affairs and governance.
Idriss Azami Al Idrissi, Minister delegate to the head of the Government, in charge of the Budget.
October 10, 2013, the Benkiran II Government is appointed following the departure of the Istiqlal Party of the Coalition.
Most of the PJD Ministers remain, except Saadeddine El Othmani, Minister for ForeignAffairs.
Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt, the party activists insist that they are moreMoroccan than Muslim Brotherhood in order to avoid being mistaken for members of theorganization. At a meeting, on 15 November with members of the youth of the PJD, thePrime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane insists that the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhoodevening rejected and “to establish a barrier between the methodology of the Muslim Brotherhood and the PJD and the oneness Movement and reform (MUR). (TelQuel , November 17, 2015 *)
See in particular:
Mohamed Louizi, “Pourquoi j’ai quitté les Frères musulmans, Michalon.” (à paraître en janvier 2016)This post is also available in العربية and Français
Middle East Monitor is a website with aims to facilitate a better understanding and appreciation of the Palestine issue. The website develops a strongly pro-Brotherhood and pro-Hamas view of the region. Its Facebook fan page is followed by 494 993 persons.
Middle East Monitor informations were quoted by many mainstream media such as :
Unfortunately these prestigious media forgot to inform their readers of the Middle East Monitor staff political background linked to Muslim Brotherhood.
• The director of Middle East Monitor, Daud Abdullah, is a former Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain where he consistently backed the boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day. He is also member of Muslim Brotherhood-linked British Muslim Initiative, set up and run by the Brotherhood activist Anas al-Tikriti and two senior figures in Hamas. Daud Abdullah is Khateeb of An Noor Mosque, home for radicals. In 2009, The Guardianrevealed that Daud Abdullah advocates attack on the Royal Navy if it tries to stop arms for Hamas being smuggled into Gaza.
• MEMO’s senior editor, Ibrahim Hewitt a convert who believes that adulterers should be stoned to death. He is chairman of Interpal, the Hamas-linked charity.
• Walaa Ramadan is researcher for MEMO. Great fan of Morsi, she uses the Rabaa sign and endorse the anti-Semite Erdogan quote : “There are only two paths in Egypt: Those who follow the Pharoah, and those who follow Moses.”
• Hanan Chehata is Middle East Monitor press officer. She also news editor at Middle East Eye linked to Interpal a British charity banned by the US government as “part of the funding network of Hamas”.
• Tariq Ramadan serves as Honorary Advisers to the Middle East Monitor.
Middle East Monitor is not only giving the Muslim Brotherhood Point of vue. MEMO has organised several meetings featuring Hamas and extremist leaders. On may 2013, MEMO invited Jafar Hadi Hassan for his book ‘Qadaya wa Shaksyat Yahudiya (Jewish Issues and Personalities). The website is also home to conspiracy theories about Jews and Israël, explaining that “Israeli donors controls Westminster” or that “Arabs governments fund Israeli assaults on Gaza”.
In august 2015 Middle East Monitor hosted a big meeting with Jeremy Corbyn, futur leader of Labour. Corbyn finally cancelled it after the media picked up on Stand for Peace report*.
Havre du Savoir is a website that relays the message of the Muslim Brotherhood in French. In its presentation, it explains:
“Havre du Savoir is an association which aims at presenting Islam in a comprehensive healthy and authentic way. It chose as an objective to promote its ethical and moral values as well”
Many organizations of the Muslim Brotherhood movement pretend to represent the official and “authentic” Islam, when in reality, it delivers a political message. Moncef Zenati, member of the UOIF bureau is in charge of the « teaching and the presentation of Islam » he is the author of most texts and videos in the website. The other main participants are Hassan Iquioussen and Hani Ramadan. A readers Club of the organization is held in the city of Le Havre (the word ‘havre’ in French also means haven and ‘savoir’ means knowledge). Were invited Christophe Oberlin, Nabil Ennasri and the rapper Médine for the book he wrote with Pascal Boniface.
The organization says how pleased it is about the « success » of the Turkish Islamists and declares outright that Turkey is the only country “where Islam and democracy succeeded where no other Muslim country succeeded”.
Through the Havre du Savoir, young French men and women will learn to mistrust Shiites, Zayidis, Alawites and Yazidis, and to “understand why they are not in line with the Prophet’s ways”. In other words why they are the enemy. Let us remember that in Syria, under the laws of the Islamic State (Daesh) the Yazidis are reduced to slavery and exterminated.
February 12th 2015, Havre du Savoir called on its readers to participate in the charity gala of the
Syrians & Friends Paris association. Among the participants were namely:
Several personalities and associations were announced, namely: JMF, AAVS, UOSSM, Baraka city, Nabil Ennasri, Deen de confiance, Ahmed Jaballah, Ummawork, Umma’Nite, Deen Factor ».
Hassan El Banna is regularly quoted as an essential guide as seen in this screenshot. The organization identifies itself not only with the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood but also with Sayyid Qutb who, up until a short time ago, was denied by the Brotherhood which had a hard time presenting his justification of violence in a positive manner.
In July 2015, the organization illustrated his profile on Facebook with the Rabaa sign.
108 000 people follow the Facebook page of Havre du Savoir. 108 000 people who could read that they should beware of the French media and politicians. Moncef Zenati, in fact, declared when Mohammad Morsi was condemned to death :
« Not one word in the 8 o’clock news bulletin of France 2. France, the country where human rights were born, the country that defends democracy is not even capable of denouncing such an injustice. France with its republican values is turning its back on these values. When I think that Manuel Valls did not prevent himself from reminding the French Muslims of his phobia of the Muslim Brotherhood that he qualified as a worrying movement. The oppressed are worrying, while their executioner is received in the Elysée palace with all the honors. Revolting!
What Moncef Zenati forgets to say is :
However, for Zenati to say so would imply avoiding to radicalize the readers of le Havre du Savoir, helping them to be nuanced, which is apparently not the objective of the organization.
Havre du Savoir enjoys a good reputation in France. The rapper Médine did not hesitate to declare that he fights against Islamophobia through the association Havre du Savoir.
IIIT was established in 1977 during the Islamist conference in Lugano, Switzerland. The organizers were member of the Egyptian Brotherhood such as Jamal Bazinji, Dr. Hisham Yahya Altalib, Dr. Abdul Hamid Ahmad Abu Sulayman.
Yousef al-Qaradawi participated at this meeting.
So did Youssef Nada, Muslim brotherhood banker.
The Institute was established in the United States of America in 1981. The headquarters of the Institute are situated in Herndon, Virginia, in the suburbs of Washington DC. The Institute is governed by a Board of Trustees that meets regularly and periodically elects one of its members to serve as President.
The organization publishes Islamist books such as those of Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi.
The Muslim Brotherhood confirmed that the International Institute of Islamic Thought was one of its organisations. Read : USA Muslim Brotherhood Organisations.
International Institute of Islamic Thought figures
Jamal Barzinji served as the IIIT Vice President for Research and Publications. He is identified by the american authorities as one of the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the US. In 2003 his home was raided because of his links with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and also with Hamas.
Tarik Hamdi, employed by IIIT gave cell phone supplies to Osama Bin Laden, according to a former U.S. Treasury Department official in 2002.
“Tarik Hamdi, an IIIT employee, personally provided bin Laden with the battery for the satellite phone prosecutors at the New York trial of the East Africa Embassy bombers described as “the phone bin Laden and other will use to carry out their war against the United States.””* (U.S. Senate committee )
IIIT employed Bashir Musa Nafi, founder of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was deported from the US in 1996 for immigration fraud and barred for 5 years.
“Both SAAR (Sheikh SuleimanAbdel Aziz al-Rajh) and IIIT are also suspected of financing HAMAS and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), including the World and Islamic Studies Enterprise (WISE) and the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP), PIJ fronts since closed in Florida.” ** (U.S. Senate committee )
The co-founder and Finance Director Hisham Al-Talib worked for the Al-Taqwa Bank run by Muslim Brotherhood member Youssef Nada. He is an irakian Muslim Brother.
Ishaq Farhan member of the Islamic Action Front (Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s political party) was an IIIT official from 2005 to 2007.
International Institute of Islamic Thought visitors
• H.E. Pehin Dato Mohammad Yasmin Umar, Minister of Energy, Brunei visited IIIT on June 7th, 2014. He gave a short talk to the Summer Students.
• Rachid Ghannouchi, co-founder of the En-Nahda Movement, Tunisia, visited IIIT on Wednesday, February 26, 2014.
• Mr. Saadine El Othman, a former Foreign Minister of Morocco, currently President of Justice and Development Party, visited IIIT on Monday, February 3, 2014
• On September 24, 2012 Dr. Hisham Altalib and Dr. Abubaker Al Shingieti – IIIT, met with President Mohamad Mursi of Egypt in New York on in the context of an interfaith meeting. President Mursi welcomed the participation of IIIT in the reform of “higher education in Egypt”.
International Institute of Islamic Thought network
• Branches and offices have also been established in a number of capitals world-wide in order to carry out the Institute’s activities and programs. The International Institute of Islamic Thought has offices in France, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Lebanon, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Brunei and the United Kingdom.
• Georgetown University presents the IIIT as a regular center without mentioning its problematic links.
• Dr. Anas Al-Shaikh-Ali, Director and Academic Advisor, IIIT London Office, has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for June 2009 by being awarded a CBE (Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). The citation in The London Gazette reads as follows:“Dr. Anas Al-Shaikh Ali, Academic Advisor, London Office, International Institute of Islamic Thought. For Services to Community Relations.”
This post is also available in العربية.
World Assembly of Muslim Youth was founded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1972. According to a letter signed by WAMY Assistant Secretary General Dr. Hameed al Shaygi, WAMY has offices in London, Washington DC, Kuala Lampur, Auckland, Dhaka, Nairobi, Dakar, Moscow, Cordoba (Argentina), and headquarters in Riyadh. WAMY’s US website, http://www.wamyusa.org, says “WAMY has 66 regional, local offices and representatives in the five continents.” WAMY’s US office was incorporated in Falls Church, Virginia in 1992 by Osama bin Laden‘s brother, Abdullah bin Laden.
WAMY’s goal, according to its pamphlet “Islam at a glance” is to “arm the Muslim youth with full confidence in the supremacy of the Islamic system over other systems.”
While claiming to Western audiences that it seeks coexistence with the West, WAMY has a comprehensive program for supporting the Jihad. WAMY literature and lectures teach young people that non-Muslims are abhorrent to God, WAMY pays for promising students to continue their Islamic education at radical madrassahs in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the affiliates of WAMY have been used provide cover or logistical support to Islamic terrorists.
WAMY’s Support for Terror
Spreading its message, WAMY supports jihad in Israel, Kashmir, Bosnia, and the Philippines, among others.
Terrorism against Israel
WAMY supports terrorist attacks against Israel financially and ideologically. WAMY invited Khaled Mishaal, Political Head of HAMAS, to be the featured guest at the “Muslim Youth and Globalization” conference on October 29, 2002. According to Agence France Presse, “[Mishaal] was hugged and kissed by hundreds of participants.”
The Arab News of April 12, 2002 reported, “The World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) has decided to raise its monthly contribution to Palestinian Intifada from [$800,000] to [$2.7 million]…” The increase in monthly aid to the Intifada was “in addition to the over $70 million they had collected from donations through WAMY offices abroad and on special occasions.” In addition, WAMY, according to intelligence sources, has provided financial assistance to Hamas.
Terrorism Against India
According to a Pakistan Government website WAMY is located at PO Box 1055 is Peshawar. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) lists PO Box 1055, Peshawar, Pakistan as an address of the Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization, Benevolence International Foundation (BIF).
The Associated Press and CBS News report that WAMY’s Peshawar office was raided in November, 2001 in a joint FBI-Pakistan intelligence operation. A WAMY employee was subsequently questioned for hand delivering a recorded message from Osama bin Laden to local media. In that tape, Bin Laden praised various terrorist attacks, including the Bali nightclub bombing that killed over 200 people, and the Chechen takeover of a theatre in Moscow that led to over 150 deaths.
Nazir Qureshi is assistant Secretary-General of WAMY. He has been accused by the Indian government of supplying money to Kashmiri terrorist groups headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The Pakistani paper The News reported on March 25, 2001 that the Pakistani youth organization Jamiat Taleba Arabia is the only Pakistan-based member organization of WAMY. The article continued, “WAMY is also involved in religious and Jehadi training for its member organizations.” According to The News, Jamiat Taleba Arabia, the WAMY member-organization, was:
involved in Afghanistan from the very beginning. It joined the Jehad in Kashmir as soon as the Kashmiris started their armed struggle in 1990 and was fully involved by 1993. The members of the Jamiat Taleba Arabia fought under the umbrella of Gulbadin Hakmatyar‘s Hizbe Islami in Afghanistan and, in Occupied Kashmir, under the discipline of the hizbul Mujahideen …Jehad has become the focus of the Jamiat’s activities in the last two decades.
According to the Indian magazine Frontline, Mohammed Ayyub Thukar, President of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement, was a financier of Hizbul Mujahideen, a Kashmiri terror organization. During his exile in Saudi Arabia, Thukar was affiliated with Muslim World League, WAMY, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sardar Ija Afzal Khan, Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami since early June, 2002, “highlighted [the] freedom struggle of the Kashmiris at the forums of World Assembly of Muslim Youth…”
The Indian government contends that “90 percent of the funding [for Kashmir militants] is from other countries and Islamic organizations like the World Association of Muslim Youth…”
Terrorism Elsewhere
Beyond the Middle East and India, WAMY works to immerse its students in its hateful ideology. For example, Philippine resident Zam Amputan told the Christian Science Monitor that WAMY paid for him to attend a madrassah in Peshawar in 1987. According to the Monitor, “There he was exposed to the Wahhabi ideology.” Amputan told the Monitor he returned to the Philippines “thinking of ways to create a separate Islamic state in the Southern Philippines.” The Washington Quarterly reports that “IIRO is not the only charitable organization in the Philippines suspected of financing terrorism. Manila is investigating five other Muslim charities active in the Philippines [including] the World Alliance of Muslim Youth…”
Similarly, according to Professor S.V. Seshagiri Rao, the organization Deendar Anjuman “was involved in militant activity in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya through the World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi Arabia based fundamentalist outfit.” Deendar Anjuman is banned by the Indian government.
Likewise, the Romanian newspaper, Bucharest Ziua, reported on February 12, 2002 that “the Muslim Brotherhood organization operates under the screen of the Islamic and Cultural League in Romania [LICR], the ‘al-Taiba‘ humanitarian foundation, the Crescent humanitarian society, and the ‘As Salam’ association. The vast majority of its funds come from the World Association of Muslim Youth [WAMY], with its headquarters in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, and from the al-Taiba humanitarian foundation, with its headquarters in the United States.”
The Global Anti-Aggression Campaign (GAAC) is an anti-Western coalition of Islamist leaders affiliated with al Qaida, the Ummah Conference and/or the Muslim Brotherhood. GAAC’s platform closely mirrors the Ummah Conference’s objectives of confronting western and foreign aggression through political activism and jihad.
GAAC’s founding statement sets forth the goal of confronting the west:
“The Muslim ummah – in this era – is facing a vicious aggression from the powers of tyranny and injustice, from the Zionist power and the American administration led by the extreme right, which is working to achieve control over nations and peoples, and is stealing their wealth, and annihilating their will, and changing their educational curriculums and social orders.
…And in resistance to this aggression, the signatories of this statement announce the Global Anti Aggression Campaign as a vessel uniting the efforts of the children of the ummah, and to remind [the ummah] of its obligation for victory, and to raise [the ummah’s] awareness for its right of self-defense, and to combat the aggressor in a legal manner through effective tools.” [1]
Rabih Haddad was the executive director of the GAAC.[2] Haddad co-founded the Global Relief Foundation (GRF) in Illinois, which was designated by the U.S. and UN for providing support to al-Qaida. Haddad was subsequently deported from the United States.[3]
In a March 2010 interview, Haddad clarified GAAC’s name and purpose, responding to a question asking why GAAC uses the Arabic word Qawim (meaning resist) in its name, rather than Jihad:
There is no doubt that the desired purpose is jihad for the sake of Allah, but during the last year and due to the influence of the western media and misperception of a great number of Muslims regrettably by this media, the word (jihad) and the word (jahid) sparked an emotional and mental reaction when mentioned, and I am speaking here of all people generally. For that reason, we wanted to go beyond that limitation to communicate our message of awareness in order to revive the children of the ummah and inform them of the plans of our enemies, and to appeal to their efforts and recruitment into the resistance against this aggressor. With this I do not mean to dismiss or halt the jihad, or to substitute one term with another, but rather it’s a media tactic nothing more.[4]
The Secretary General of GAAC, Abd al-Rahman al-Nuaimi, also serves as the president of Alkarama in Geneva.[5]Ummah Conference leader Hakim al-Mutairi serves on GAAC’s board of trustees,[6]and Hassan al-Diqqi is a founding member of GAAC.[7]
Other founding members of GAAC include the following leaders from Islamist movements around the world:[8]
○ Abbas Arwa: Secretary of Alkarama[9] and a leader of the Ummah Conference’s Rachad Movement in Algeria.[10]
○ Khalifa Mohammad al-Rabban: a council member of Alkarama and a Qatari businessman.[11]
○ Safar al-Hawali and Salman al-Odah: influential Saudi clerics and leaders of the Saudi Sahwa movement, who provided early ideological support to Osama bin Laden.[12]
○ Yousef al-Qaradawi: a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated religious leader who advocates for violent jihad including in Syria, Iraq and Palestine. Qaradawi established and led the Union for Good–a group designated by the US government for providing financial support to Hamas.[13]
○ Tareq Suwaidan: a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure in Kuwait.[14]
○ Essam El-Erian: a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader in Egypt.[15]
○ Ibrahim Abd al Halim Mustafa Zayd al Kilani, Abd al Latif Sleiman Salim Arabiyat, Hamza Abbas Mansour, and Azam Jamil Faris al-Haniedi: members of the Islamic Action Front, the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[16]
○ Harith al-Dhari: designated by the U.S. government for providing support to al Qaida in Iraq.[17]
○ Hamid al-Ali: a former leader of Salafi Movement in Kuwait, designated by the US government for providing support to al-Qaida in Iraq.[18]
○ Hamed Bitawi,[19] Mohammad Adlouni,[20] Mohammad Sawalha,[21] Khaled al-Mishaal[22]: Hamas leaders and supporters.
○ Mohammad Abdallah al-Roken, Ali Hussein al-Hamadi, Mohammad abd al-Razzak Siddiq, and Hamad Hussein Ruqait: members of Al Eslah in the UAE.[23]
○ Ahmed Raissouni: a leader of the Islamist group the Movement of Unification and Reform in Morocco.[24]
○ Abd al-Majid al-Zindani: a Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood leader and Bin Laden loyalist who was designated by the US and UN for support al-Qaida.[25]
[1] Global Anti-Agression Campaign Founding Statement, ar.qawim.net, May 17, 2006,
http://ar.qawim.net (translated August 2013), (Exhibit 130).
[2] Rabih Haddad, interview with Al-Bashra Network on March 27, 2010 [in Arabic], (translated August 2013),
http://www.albasrah.net (Exhibit 165).
[3] “Narrative Summaries of Reasons for Listing: QE.G.91.02. Global Relief Foundation (GRF),” The Al-QudsSanctions Committee,” September 7, 2010, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE09102E.shtml, (Exhibit132); U.S Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Department Statement Regarding the Designation of theGlobal Relief Foundation,” U.S Department of the Treasury Press Center, October 18, 2002, (Exhibit 171);Soojung Chang, “Haddad deported, A2 rallies to his support,” Michigan Daily, July 20, 2003,
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/haddad-deported-a2-rallies-his-support, (Exhibit 172).
[4] Rabih Haddad, interview with Al-Bashra Network on March 27, 2010 [in Arabic], (translated August 2013), (Exhibit 141); http://www.albasrah.net/ar_articles_2010/0310/m3adidi_270310.htm, (Exhibit 165).
[5] Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Board of Trustees [in Arabic], ar.qawim.net, accessed August 2013, (Exhibit 131); Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Board of Trustees, (translated August 2013), (Exhibit 168);“Who heads Alkarama?” en.AlKarma.org, accessed August 2013, (Exhibit 129).
[6] Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Board of Trustees [in Arabic], ar.qawim.net, accessed August 2013, (Exhibit 131); Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Board of Trustees, (translated August 2013), (Exhibit 168).
[7] Hassan Al-Diqqi’s biography Ikhwan Wiki biography (translated August 2013), [in Arabic], http://goo.gl/zHVrjY (Exhibit 34).; Hassan al-Diqqi biography [in Arabic], Ikhwanwiki.com, last updated January 23, 2012,
[8] Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Founding Members [in Arabic], ar.qawim.net, accessed August 2013, omana.qawim.net/files/moasisoon.html, (Exhibit 47); Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Founding Members, (translated August 2013), (Exhibit 167).
[9] “Who heads Alkarama?” en.AlKarma.org, accessed August 2013, (Exhibit 129).
[10] “Le Mouvement Rachad” [in French], rachad.org, January 13, 2011, (Exhibit 88).
[11] “Who heads Alkarama?” en.AlKarma.org, accessed August 2013, (Exhibit 129).
[12] Susan Schmidt, “Spreading Saudi Fundamentalism in U.S.; Network of Wahhabi Mosques, Schools, Web Sites Probed by FBI,” Washington Post, October 2, 2003, Lexis Nexis, (Exhibit 133); Stephane Lacroix Awakening Islam (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2011), Pages 199-200, (Exhibit 181).
[13] Simon Henderson and Mattew Levitt, “Qatar Challenges Washington on Hamas,” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, February 2, 2009, http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/qatarchallenges-washington-on-hamas, (Exhibit 176); Magdi Abdelhadi, “Controversial preacher with ‘star status,’”
BBC News, July 7, 2004, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3874893.st, (Exhibit 174); U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates the Union of Good,” U.S Department of the Treasury Press Center, November 12, 2008, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1267.aspx, (Exhibit 175).
[14] “Saudi prince sacks TV chief for Muslim Brotherhood ties,” BBC News, August 18, 2013, (Exhibit 163);
Kuwaiti Preacher and Al-Risala TV Director Tareq Al-Suwaidan Declares He’s a Muslim Brotherhood Leader — And is Fired by boss, Saudi Prince Alaweed Bin Talal,” The Middle East Research Institute, August 19, 2013, (Exhibit 173).
[15] Lin Noueihed, “Egypt Arrests Brotherhood Official warns protestors,” Reuters, August 29, 2013, (Exhibit 170); Essam Elerian Facebook post, April 16, 2013, 12:32 a.m. [in Arabic],
https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Essam.Elerian/posts/519286121450292, (Exhibit 179); “Essam Erian: More to Boston Bombing than Meets the Eye,” hhassan.com, April 16, 2013, http://www.hhassan.com/2013/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-gb-x-none.html, (Exhibit 180).
[16] Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Founding Members [in Arabic], ar.qawim.net, accessed August 2013, omana.qawim.net/files/moasisoon.html, (Exhibit 47); Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Founding Members, (translated August 2013), (Exhibit 167).
[17] “U.S Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Individuals and Entities Fueling Violence in Iraq,” U.S Department of the Treasury Resource Center, September 16, 2008, (Exhibit 169).
[18] U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designations Target Terrorist Facilitators,” U.S Department of the Treasury Press Center, December 7, 2006, (Exhibit 139).
[19] “Huge crowd attends funeral of Hamas Parliamentarian,” Middle East Monitor, April 7, 2012, (Exhibit 134).
[20] “Contact Us, Al Quds International Forum, accessed August 2013, (Exhibit 135); U.S Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Sanctions Two Hamas-Controlled Charities,” U.S Department of the Treasury Press Center, October 4, 2012, (Exhibit 136).
[21] Jay Bushinsky, “Area Resident Called Terrorist Commander,” Chicago Sun Times, October 23, 1993, Lexis Nexis, (Exhibit 137); United States of America v. Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah and Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar, Case no. 1:03-cr-00978, accessed on investigativeproject.org in August 2013, (Exhibit 138).
[22] Rabih Haddad, interview with Al-Bashra Network on March 27, 2010 (translated August 2013),
http://www.albasrah.net/ar_articles_2010/0310/m3adidi_270310.htm, (Exhibit 141); U.S Department of the Treasury, “U.S Designates Five Charities Funding Hamas and Six Senior Hamas Leaders as Terrorists Entities,” U.S Department of the Treasury Public Affairs Office, August 22, 2003, (Exhibit 178); U.S Department of the Treasury, Executive Order 13224 U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates the Union of Good,” U.S Department of the Treasury Press Center, November 12, 2008, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1267.aspx, (Exhibit 175).
[23] “UAE sedition trial: Every verdict and sentence for 94 defendents,” The National, July 3, 2013, http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/uae-sedition-trial-every-verdict-and-sentence-for-94defendants, (Exhibit 177).
[24] Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Founding Members [in Arabic], omana.qawim.net, accessed August 2013, omana.qawim.net/files/moasisoon.html, (Exhibit 47); Global Anti-Aggression Campaign: Founding Members, (translated August 2013), (Exhibit 167).
[25] U.S. Department of the Treasury, “United States Designates bin Laden Loyalists,” U.S Department of the Treasury Press Center, February 24, 2004, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/pressreleases/Pages/js1190.aspx, (Exhibit 144).
Cage is an organization supporting the victims of the “war on terror”.
Its director is Moazzem Begg who was detained in Guantanamo, then released without any charge being brought against him.
In 2010, Cage launched a campaign against Gita Saghal, Amnesty International‘s Head of Women’s Section. The campaign titled “The Problem with Gita” was taken up by all pro-Islamist left-wingers who accuse Gita it of being pro-American, following her repeated appeals to Amnesty to clarify its ties with Moazzem Begg, whom she accuses of supporting Talibans. She ended up quitting Amnesty International. However, history will prove her right when Moazzem Begg returned to jail in March 2014 for funding terrorist groups. He was later released.
Cage was recently criticized for supporting Mohamed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John. The latter was described by Asim Qureshi, Cage’s Research Director as “a handsome and sweet young man, the humblest person I know.”
The sponsors of the association include: Lauren Booth, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law who converted to Islam, as well as Massoud Shajeree of the Human right Commission. But also the Rowntree Charitable Trust, a non-violent Quaker fund (£ 305,000), or the Roddick Foundation. Both foundations have since declared that they are reconsidering their support for Cage.
On June 18, 2016, a conference with Tariq Ramadan was announced.
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