Five months after a report by The Jerusalem Post revealed how South African banks provide platforms for Hamas-linked organizations, a source told the Post on Tuesday that Al-Quds Foundation South Africa was designated as a terror-related entity on World-Check, a database of politically exposed persons and heightened risk agents used globally to identify and manage financial, regulatory, and reputational risks.
Al-Quds Foundation SA, which, since the report, has vanished from the internet but whose activity continues nonetheless, described itself as the South African branch of the greater Al-Quds International Foundation, which was established in Beirut in 2001 by Hamas officials to raise funds for the terror organization through the guise of charity.
According to the US Treasury Department, all of the foundation’s affairs are run by Hamas members who serve on the board and other administrative committees, deciding on issues such as plans, budgets, and projects and handling its documents. Additionally, several senior Hamas officials, including Mousa Abu Marzook and Osama Hamdan, who are listed on the Specially Designated Global Terrorists register, have served on Al-Quds’ Board of Trustees.
The global QII is part of the extensive network of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organizations and was chaired until recently by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the most prominent Islamic scholar in the Sunni world for decades, who was also aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood axis, and who became notorious in the West for his infamous fatwa (an Islamic legal ruling) that endorsed and commended suicide bombings.
Suspected South African links to Hamas
Now, the South African branch is listed on World-Check as boasting suspected links to Hamas and is reportedly suspected of being involved in founding it, whereby the Post’s exposure is credited among the source links for this recognition.
In January, the Post revealed that major South African banks have been providing platforms to fund the South African branch of the Al-Quds Foundation through a series of interconnected organizations and bank accounts. Al-Quds Foundation South Africa is led by Sheikh Ebrahim Gabriels, an Islamic cleric affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Union of Good, an umbrella organization comprising faux charity groups designated as a front for the terrorist group, Hamas.
The African National Congress (ANC), which was the largest and sole ruling party governing South Africa since the abolition of Apartheid up until the recent elections, does not define Hamas as a terrorist organization. Instead, the ANC has shown stark support for Hamas in the past decade, hosting high-ranking officials and promoting its talking points and propaganda.
It remains to be seen whether the new and first-ever coalition government expected to be formed in South Africa will veer away from its support for the terrorist group, or not.