Support To Hamas in Lebanon
KindHearts officials and fundraisers are alleged to have ties to Hamas leaders and made contributions to Hamas-affiliated organizations. Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Usama Hamdan, a leader of Hamas in Lebanon, reportedly phoned a top fundraiser for KindHearts during a September 2003 KindHearts fundraiser. During the call, Hamas leader Hamdan reportedly communicated to the fundraiser his gratitude for KindHearts’ support. The KindHearts fundraiser reportedly also provided advice to Hamdan, telling him not to trust the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Information developed from abroad corroborates connections between KindHearts and Hamas in Lebanon. As of late December 2003, KindHearts was allegedly supporting Hamas and other Salafi groups in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Haytham Fawri was identified as a KindHearts official who reportedly collected funds and allegedly sent them to Hamas and other Salafi groups. Haytham Fawri is believed to be a reference to Haytham Maghawri, who has served as KindHearts’ manager in Lebanon, and is one of a number of HLF officials indicted by a federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas on charges of providing material support to Hamas. From 1998 -2000, during his tenure as Social Services Director for the HLF, Maghawri allegedly approved fifty wire transfers by the HLF in the amount of $407,512 USD, to nine zakat committees identified as being owned, controlled, or directed by Hamas.
According to the information source from abroad, KindHearts began working secretly and independently in the camps in Lebanon after the closure of the offices of the Sanabil Association for Relief and Development (Sanabil), a Hamas-affiliated entity in Lebanon that was named an SDGT in August 2003. KindHearts reportedly attempted to maintain a distance from Hamas to avoid drawing attention to its support for the terrorist organization. In early 2003, KindHearts president Smaili allegedly complained that scrutiny by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials was making it almost impossible for KindHearts to assist Hamas.
Between July and December 2002, and most importantly prior to Sanabils' designation, KindHearts allegedly sent more than $100,000 USD to the Lebanon-based SDGT Sanabil, according to information available to the U.S. Financial investigation revealed that between February 2003 and July 2003, and again prior to the designation of Sanabil, KindHearts transferred over $150,000 USD to Sanabil. KindHearts allegedly deposited the funds into the same account used by HLF when it was providing funds to the allegedly Hamas-affiliated Sanabil, according to FBI analysis. However, KindHearts asserts that none of its funds were given to any political or terrorist organization, but simply utilized this account to get money to its Lebanon offices for humanitarian projects.
Read more about this topic: Kind Hearts For Charitable Human Development
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