The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) called on the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) to sever its ties with an Islamic relief organization linked to Hamas.This call to end the partnership came after recent revelations regarding Heshmat Khalifa, the trustee and director of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), and his posts on social media that have been labeled antisemitic and inciteful."IRW director Khalifa called Jews the 'grandchildren of monkeys and pigs'; called Egypt’s president a 'Zionist pimp'; and praised Hamas as 'the purest resistance movement in modern history,'” ZOA said in a statement on its website.Though Khalif has since resigned, his antisemitic posts are "merely the tip of the iceberg," ZOA stated, adding that IRW has been labeled a terrorist organization by Israel, as well as other nations and banks, due to its funding and ties of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.Other nations that have called out IRW for their ties to terrorist organizations include the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bangladesh, Germany and Sweden. In addition, the US Justice Department and USBC and UBS Banks have both called out the organization as well.This partnership between HIAS and IRW began in 2018 to aid Muslim migrants entering Greece. This partnership has continued in the following years.According to ZOA, this may in part be due to 99% of HIAS refugee clients being non-Jewish, with most of them being Muslim. "However, HIAS’s resettlement of Muslim and other non-Jewish refugees can be done without partnering with the terror-tied Islamic Relief," ZOA stated.in response, HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield issued the following statement: “Islamic Relief Worldwide has acted boldly and swiftly in response to antisemitic comments by a board member in the United Kingdom. The IRWW not only severed ties with this individual, but forcefully and publicly condemned this and all instances of antisemitism.”
“Beyond acting decisively in response to such antisemitism, Islamic Relief USA immediately reached out to HIAS to inform us of these developments with their parent organization and to offer IRUSA’s unconditional support. We deeply appreciate and are particularly proud of our innovative partnership with IRUSA, which has enabled our communities to unite and work together to help immigrants and asylum seekers around the world.”