In Islam, ZAKAT — the alms required of every Muslim — can and should be given to further the jihad. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that there are so many jihad-linked charities.
“EU Commission accused of giving €52m to groups linked to Muslim Brotherhood,” by Jamie Prentis, The National News, January 27, 2022:
More than €52 million ($57.96m) in European Commission money was directly or indirectly given to organisations with alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood between 2007 and 2020, according to a new report.
The lion’s share of funding from the EU’s executive branch was received by controversial aid agency Islamic Relief Worldwide, with €36.2m, in a story first reported by French magazine Le Point.
Heshmat Khalifa, the former director of Islamic Relief, quit his role in 2020 after anti-Semitic remarks were discovered on his Facebook profile.
After investigating Islamic Relief, the UK’s Charity Commission concluded the charity “has overseen significant improvements to the recruitment and oversight of trustees and senior staff”. Islamic Relief denies it is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood despite claims to the contrary by some European politicians.
Islamic Relief is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UAE and Israel accuses it of having links to Hamas.
Commission data shows that nearly €1 million was given to Islamic Relief Worldwide, its international headquarters, in 2020 – the last year for which figures are available.
In September 2021, responding to a question about Islamic Relief’s branches in Germany and Sweden, the European Commissioner for aid Janez Lenarcic said: “As a matter of principle, the commission does neither discriminate on grounds of religion or beliefs nor classify partner organisations based on religious affiliation.
“The commission takes a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to any misconduct by partner organisations receiving EU funds, including support for terrorism, and will immediately take action should it become aware of any proven evidence in this respect by excluding from union financing entities guilty of terrorism financing or terrorism offences under the Early Detection and Exclusion System.”