by Deb­bie Schlus­sel
FrontPageMagazine.com | Sep­tem­ber 4, 2006

Mor­mons are among the most patri­otic Americans.

So, why are†they the new financiers of Islamic ter­ror­ism and instruc­tion for young chil­dren in beheadings?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mor­mon Church, is the sin­gle largest donor to the U.S. branch of Islamic Relief World­wide (IRW), also known as Islamic Relief. In the past year, it donated $1.6 mil­lion to the charity.

But Islamic Relief is not just any char­ity. The Israeli gov­ern­ment says it is a†Hamas front group. It is also under inves­ti­ga­tion by the Amer­i­can government.

IRW was founded in 1984 by Dr. Hany El Banna. He is a rel­a­tive of Has­san El Banna, founder of the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood ter­ror­ist group–from which Hamas, Yasser Arafat, and Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri emanated.

In May, Israel deported Ayaz Ali, IRW’s chief of oper­a­tions in Gaza, after three weeks in jail. Israel said Ali gave money to Hamas and Al-Wafa and Al-Tzalah, both out­lawed by Israel for laun­der­ing money to Hamas. He also stored images of Osama Bin Laden, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, Senior Ger­man Nazi offi­cials, Nazi swastikas, and a “God Bless Hitler” ban­ner on his computer.

Upon Ali’s depor­ta­tion an Israeli gov­ern­ment state­ment said:

He also admit­ted that he worked in Jor­dan and coop­er­ated with local Hamas oper­a­tives. . . . Incrim­i­nat­ing files were found on Ali’s com­puter, includ­ing doc­u­ments that attested to [Islamic Relief’s] ties with ille­gal HAMAS funds abroad–in the UK and in Saudi Arabia–and in Nablus.

The IRW’s activ­i­ties in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are car­ried out by social wel­fare orga­ni­za­tions con­trolled and staffed by Hamas oper­a­tives. The inten­sive activ­i­ties of these asso­ci­a­tions are designed to fur­ther Hamas’ ide­ol­ogy among the Pales­tin­ian population.

These asso­ci­a­tions’ edu­ca­tional and reli­gious insti­tu­tions incite against the State of Israel and advo­cate ter­ror­ist actions against it and its citizens.

In 1999, IRW’s British head­quar­ters received $50,000 from a Cana­dian group that the Trea­sury Depart­ment says is a Bin Laden front, accord­ing to the Los Ange­les Times.

Inves­ti­ga­tor Bill Warner notes that IRW’s reg­is­tered agent in the United States, Kazbek Soob­zokov, is the son of Nazi Waf­fen SS offi­cer Tscherim Soob­zokov and was the lawyer for deported accused ter­ror­ist and Islamic cleric, Imam Wagdy Mohamed Ghoneim. Regard­ing Ghoneim, Immi­gra­tion and Cus­toms Enforce­ment offi­cial Bill Oden­crantz said, “Frankly, our task is not to sit around and wait for peo­ple to blow up buildings.”

At an Islamic Relief fundraiser I attended last Fri­day, Mis­bah Shahid, the organization’s Detroit rep­re­sen­ta­tive, announced that IRW pub­lishes and dis­trib­utes school text­books to chil­dren in Pales­tin­ian refugee camps. But text­books dis­trib­uted in the camps are rid­dled with anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-American rhetoric, accord­ing to Molly Resnick of Moth­ers Against Teach­ing Chil­dren to Kill and Hate.

Shahid also told the audi­ence that his orga­ni­za­tion is one of the key Non-Governmental Orga­ni­za­tions cur­rently dis­trib­ut­ing aid to Pales­tin­ian refugee camps in Lebanon, includ­ing UN and U.S. aid. But those camps are known as breed­ing grounds for terrorists.

Given all this, why are Mor­mons pour­ing mil­lions into Islamic Relief? They aren’t alone.

Islamic Relief’s brochures show Mis­sis­sippi Gov­er­nor Haley Bar­bour accept­ing Kat­rina aid from IRW, last year. It is a con­sul­ta­tive mem­ber of the UN. It was founded in Britain with the con­tin­ued finan­cial aid and assis­tance of the British gov­ern­ment, whose ambas­sador to Israel con­vinced the Israeli gov­ern­ment to allow Islamic Relief to open its HAMAS-friendly Gaza office.

Almost five years after 9/11, we will never end ter­ror­ism if the West con­tin­ues to sanc­tion its funding.