Following September 11, 2001, the federal government cracked down on Islamist charities that were diverting funds to various terrorist groups overseas. But the Obama administration has been notably less zealous in its efforts to shutter such charities. Sam Westrop explains the dangers:
Eight years of a more permissive attitude have afforded Islamist groups the chance for a resurgence. Islamist charities do not just provide a means to move money; they also offer legitimacy to American Islamist organizations struggling to free themselves from decades of allegations of extremism. Islamist charitable endeavors abroad serve to sanitize the Islamist agenda at home.
The most common terrorism link for American Islamist charities involves, unsurprisingly, the Palestinian territories. Where do charitable donations for the Palestinian territories end up? In the Gaza Strip, Hamas, which is designated a foreign terrorist organization, oversees every facet of society, especially the social services in which Western charities work. From the distribution of medicine to the running of schools, orphanages, and summer camps, Hamas rules the roost.
One example worth investigating is the Gaza-based Unlimited Friends Association for Social Development (UFA). At least eight prominent U.S. charities and, apparently, the taxpayer-funded United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are supporting this Palestinian group. A close examination of UFA shows that it is closely aligned with senior Hamas leaders, provides cash to the families of so-called martyrs in the Gaza Strip, and promotes virulent anti-Semitic rhetoric.
UFA claims to “provide relief, emergency and developmental services to marginalized areas and people in need.” And it probably does. . . . But [its] support for Hamas means support for a genocidal terror group that has pledged to eradicate Jews across the globe, that throws its political opponents off rooftops, oppresses women and homosexuals, fires rockets at Israeli schools and homes, and uses Palestinian children as human shields to advance its murderous cause.
Read more on National Review: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/443773/terrorist-groups-american-charities-fund-ufa-hamas-dawah-social-services