Islamic charity returns to Gaza after audit


December 12, 2014
Sarah Benton

This posting has these items:
1) BBC News: Audit clears Islamic Relief of terror funding claim, December 12th, 2014;
2) Islamic Relief USA: Islamic Relief USA Hosts Interfaith Anti-Hunger Meeting, photo caption, 2010;
3) Guardian: Islamic Relief defies Israeli ban and continues operations in Palestine, December 12th, 2014;
4) The Telegraph: Islamic Relief turns down Gaza funds after Israeli ban, September 2014;


Jon Snow, centre,attends a dinner organised by Islamic Relief, July 2014, to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Chief executive, Mohamed Ashmawey, is on the right of the photo.


Audit clears Islamic Relief of terror funding claim

By Matthew Price, Chief correspondent, BBC Radio 4 Today
December 12, 2014

Britain’s biggest Islamic charity says an audit of its activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has found no evidence to support accusations it has funded terrorism.

Islamic Relief Worldwide denied claims made first by Israel and later the United Arab Emirates and hired leading auditors to review its West Bank work.

The charity works with international organisations and governments, such as Unicef and the World Food Programme.

Israel has not responded so far.

Islamic Relief Worldwide works in more than 40 countries.

It started 30 years ago in Birmingham, where it was founded by a group of post-graduate students.

The UK government, through its international development arm DfID, gave Islamic Relief £3.2m in 2013.

The kind of work the charity does ranges from health and education projects, to help with orphans.

But earlier this year Israel claimed the charity was using its donations to fund the Palestinian group Hamas, which it and others sees as a terrorist organisation.

Islamic Relief suspended its work in the occupied West Bank – where the allegations were focused on – and commissioned the audit.

‘Robust systems’
It says the audit, carried out over a few days in September this year, shows “absolutely no evidence” of any link to terrorism.

The audit saw projects run by the charity visited, the organisation’s paperwork and procedures were examined, and staff and recipients of aid spoken to.

The report does throw up some minor accounting and procedural errors, but finds no evidence that funds have been diverted to Hamas or anyone else.

It also details a thorough screening process of staff, donors, and recipients of aid.

The charity is not publicly saying which company they paid to do the audit – but they do say it is a leading global audit firm.

Islamic Relief says because of what it calls the “sensitivities in the region” it has agreed with that firm not to identify it.

Neither the Ministry of Defence in Israel nor the Israeli embassy in London would comment on the report.

The UK’s Charity Commission, which regulates charities, is understood to have received a copy of the report. It says Islamic Relief has done everything it should in keeping them informed of the Israeli allegations and its inquiry.

The UK government has suggested that they see no reason not to continue their relationship with the charity.

The Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together 13 leading UK charities to deal with acute crises, said in a written statement that it “has considered the independent audit report which reviewed Islamic Relief’s operations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.

It added: “We are satisfied that Islamic Relief has robust systems in place to ensure aid money is properly accounted for and spent appropriately. The DEC is not aware of any evidence that Islamic Relief has used aid funds inappropriately in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

Israel’s shutting down of the charity in the West Bank has led to its £5m programme in that area ending. The charity say that has had an impact on the 78,000 people it had been helping.

Meanwhile, there is a wider concern among some development agencies concerning the work of other charities and NGOs in areas where proscribed groups are operating.

Workers in the field fear charities could be forced to limit their work in places like Somalia, Syria and Iraq, because of government and corporate fears that money destined for humanitarian projects in those areas could fall into the wrong hands.



Islamic Relief USA Hosts Interfaith Anti-Hunger Meeting

From Islamic Relief USA website

Islamic Relief offices in Alexandria, Virginia hosted a three-day meeting this week [April 2010] of the “Inter-faith Anti-Hungers Directors,” a yearly gathering of 10-15 major American faiths groups to address anti-hunger relief and development efforts from an interfaith perspective. Ambassador and former congressman Tony Hall, from the Alliance to End Hunger, gave the keynote address, saying that “Islamic Relief is a great partner of the Inter-faith Anti-Hunger Directors group, and we are very proud to have them with us.”



Islamic Relief defies Israeli ban and continues operations in Palestine

Charity says 78,000 people are in urgent need of help, while its CEO insists that no money has been funnelled to Hamas

By Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor, The Guardian
December 11, 2014

Britain’s biggest Islamic charity is due to resume its operations in Palestine in defiance of a ban on working in the territory after Israel’s defence ministry described the aid group as a “terrorist organisation”.

Islamic Relief, a Birmingham-based charity that works in 44 countries, said an internal inquiry had not revealed any evidence to corroborate Israel’s claim that it should not be allowed to work in the West Bank because it had been collecting money for Hamas and its offices were run by terror operatives.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Islamic Relief’s chief executive, Mohamed Ashmawey, said months of work has turned up nothing and the charity would return to its “humanitarian work” in Palestine.

Two days after the ban was announced the charity’s West Bank offices were raided. Computers were smashed, files taken and the office safe blown apart. Islamic Relief, which is widely regarded as a pillar of the UK establishment, immediately halted its work in the West Bank – leaving 78,000 people hungry and hospitals without incubators and dialysis machines.

The charity, which spent £172m last year on aid, said it had alerted the UK’s Charity Commission and begun its own investigation as well as hiring external consultants to look into its operations. It also decided not to use any of the £20m raised by the Gaza Crisis Appeal, run by the Disasters Emergency Committee, until it had established the truth behind the allegations.

The case of Islamic Relief highlights an increasingly common complaint from charities that the need to vet staff, partners, suppliers and beneficiaries is taking up an ever-increasing proportion of their resources. Ashmawey said the charity has screened all of its 2,500 employees for “terror links” using software that checks against 540 databases. The executive, who used to work for General Motors in the US, says he also checked the past 276 companies staff in the Palestinian territories had worked for.

He said only one employee was found to have a “problem” – and that was because he had worked for the Islamic University of Gaza, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation only by Israel. “The US gives it money,” said Ashmawey.

“Now we are contemplating resuming business because we are talking about 78,000 people – that is, orphans, widows, the elderly, the sick – and feeding them or caring for their health. These people have suffered over the past few months because of the Israeli ban.”

On Thursday night, the Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella group comprising 13 of the biggest UK charities, gave its backing to Islamic Relief. “The DEC has considered the independent audit report which reviewed Islamic Relief’s operations in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. We are satisfied that Islamic Relief has robust systems in place to ensure aid money is properly accounted for and spent appropriately. The DEC is not aware of any evidence that Islamic Relief has used aid funds inappropriately in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The charity has come under fire from sections of the press, notably a two-page article in the Jewish Chronicle that questioned the charity’s “historical presentational problem”, highlighting past links to extremist preachers and radical groups.

In both instances, Islamic Relief said its name had been used to bolster fundraising efforts without its consent. “Everybody wants to stick with Islamic Relief because the community trusts us. If we are guilty, it is that we are not aware of websites using our name without our permission. It’s something we are working on,” said Ashmawey.

However, last month the United Arab Emirates, a US and British ally, put Islamic Relief on a terror watch list along with 85 groups including al-Qaida and Islamic State. “It was shocking to us,” said Ashmawey, who thinks the charity has been caught up in the UAE’s battle against the Muslim Brotherhood, whose ideology of political Islam has been seen as a threat to ruling regimes in the Middle East.

Ashmawey said the problem was that a founder of Islamic Relief and a trustee, Essam al-Haddad, had left the charity in 2012 to join the then Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi in Egypt. After the army seized power in Cairo, Haddad was arrested.

“No point in denying history. Yes, this gentleman is one of the founders of Islamic Relief,” said Ashmawey. “And he served Islamic Relief as a trustee for so many years. He resigned on the day he joined Morsi. He was leading in the capacity of trustee with so many other trustees who have nothing to do with that particular group and they were making decisions in a democratic way for the benefit of mankind.”

He added: “No external organisation or political agenda influences, let alone controls Islamic Relief.”

“If this is a crime to have someone as a founder as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood they will have to close 50% of the mosques in the west because they also had founders from this group.”

Ashmawey said that Islamic Relief have 60 days to challenge the decision in the UAE courts, but was “still working to find a (local) law firm who is willing to fight our case. If we cannot find one then we may have to hire from London.”

The charity commission says that “Islamic Relief’s trustees have acted appropriately by informing the regulator proactively and promptly, both in relation to the designation and the more recent designation by the United Arab Emirates.”

While Britain continues to support the efforts of Islamic Relief – the charity has income of £3m this year from the Department for International Development – there is concern about how it can operate unhindered. The Israelis could enforce bans on travel and crucially transferring money.

Tom Keatinge from the Royal United Services Institute pointed out that states were alighting on the findings of the Financial Action Task Force – the inter-governmental body looking at how to stop terrorist funding – which earlier this year warned that non-profit organisations are particularly vulnerable to abuse, and the ones most at risk are those that operate in close proximity to an active terrorist threat.

Ashmawey acknowledges that such restrictions have already cost “hundreds of thousands of pounds” in trying to “clear our name”. “Israel can do these things (bar travel and cash transfers) but we do operate under the Palestinian Authority. We would welcome any help from ministers here.”

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy said it stood by its original designation of Islamic Relief, which he said “funnels millions of dollars a year to Hamas institutions. The decision to designate the charity as an ‘unlawful association’ is part of Israel’s action to curb Hamas terror activity.”



Palestinian boy looks at rubble of houses in Gaza. Photo by AFP.


Islamic Relief turns down Gaza funds after Israeli ban

UK’s biggest Muslim charity denies alleged link to Hamas but says it will not use Disasters Emergency Committee cash amid investigation

By Inna Lazareva and John Bingham, The Telegraph
September 03, 2014

Britain’s biggest Muslim charity has agreed not to use funds raised jointly with other charities for emergency relief in Gaza after Israeli claims that it was acting as a front for Hamas.

Islamic Relief said it had decided not to use cash raised by the Gaza Crisis Appeal, run by the Disasters Emergency Committee, until it had completed an investigation into the allegations from the Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

He placed the charity on a banned list in June, preventing it operating in Israel or the West Bank, claiming that he had evidence that it had been funnelling funds to Hamas. The Israeli offensive in Gaza began less than three weeks later.

The Birmingham-based charity, which is widely respected, strenuously denied that it had any links with Hamas and said it was “extremely surprised and concerned” by the minister’s claims.

But it said was investigating the allegations and had chosen to effectively suspend its involvement in DEC until the process was completed.

It has played a full part in the relief operation in Gaza during the summer, providing medical aid and emergency shelter but said it had chosen to use funds raised through its own appeal.

“As a responsible organisation we are looking into this matter thoroughly to ensure that our processes for aid delivery have been followed,” a spokesman for the charity said.

“Islamic Relief decided independently that it will not draw down any funds from the DEC Gaza Crisis Appeal until our review is completed.”

He added: “We also exercise the utmost prudence in how we operate and how we conduct financial transactions, ensuring that all money flows through the regulated financial sector.

“Our operations and offices in both territories have been subject to full statutory audits for the past five years, including a full external audit of our Gaza programme by an independent auditor mandated by a donor in 2013.

“We are acutely aware of the political circumstances in the region, and we take pride in the fact that we have been able to work in both territories for 16 years fully legally and with no impediment from the Israeli authorities.”

Last month the UK’s charity watchdog, The Charity Commission, issued special advice to donors concerned about events in Gaza, warning people not to send money directly and only to make donations to registered charities or through the DEC appeal.

But a spokeswoman for the commission, the charity watchdog, which has opened investigations into a series of religious charities, including several Muslim groups in recent months, made clear that this Islamic relief is not under any investigation.

“We can confirm that the charity submitted a serious incident report to us in June,” a spokeswoman said.

“The report explained that the charity had learnt, via news media, that the Israeli Defence Minister had issued a decree banning the charity from Israel.
“The charity has explained its response to this incident, which includes launching an independent internal investigation.

“At this time, we are satisfied that the charity is responding appropriately to the incident.”

2012 Annual Report Islamic Relief Worldwide pdf file

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