YUSUF Islam » Chinese Whiskers » Didn't He Support Hamas?

Chinese Whiskers (FAQs)

Didn't He Support Hamas?

I have never knowingly supported Hamas or directed money to them; and use my charity worldwide to help victims of war and natural disasters, particularly children and orphans.

Although it has never been officially acknowledged, it has been reported that the reason I was not allowed entry into the USA in September, 2004, was because of reports via Israeli sources that I was a supporter of Hamas. The truth is I never knowingly supported the activities of any organization called Hamas, and would even find it impossible, even today, to say I personally know anyone who claims to be a member of it, let alone when I visited the Holy Land back in the late eighties.

The source of the accusation I presume must go back to my second visit to the Holy Land in 1988 as a member of a British Muslim delegation to investigate for ourselves what was being witnessed by the world on TV, and distribute small amounts of charity.

On the news, we’d all seen footage of the Israeli soldiers openly breaking the bones of young Palestinians and harshly beating women and children. The world looked on, outraged by these unforgettable images. As far as I and many like me were concerned, the Intifada was a generic name given to a resistance from the people of Palestine themselves. Hamas at that time was a name unknown to me! [1]

The trip was arranged by people in London who had contacts in Jerusalem and other Palestinian areas; I had no idea any of our guides had any links to any movement. But according to Israeli viewpoint, whenever a person feels sorry for the poor victims of occupation including orphans, the disabled, widows and medical cases, if you try to help give charity to them – be warned, you may be considered a terrorist!

I was at that time the Chairman of Muslim Aid, a UK registered charity. Our policy was to deliver humanitarian relief to the most deserving. Every charity worker knows what it’s like in a time of crisis, you certainly don’t have time nor ability to distinguish which needy child’s father or brother belongs to this or that affiliation – that would defeat the whole concept and motivation behind delivering humanitarian aid which drives charity work.

[1] I subsequently learnt that back in 1988 the Israeli government and authorities had not even defined Hamas as a terrorist Group, and in fact, they had been – even though indirectly – supporting that movement as an opposition to Arafat’s PLO Party. Also, it is important to mention that suicide bombers had not been even heard of at that time.
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