Groups tied to terror use COVID-19 crisis for fundraising, positive PR

With the media focused on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic across the world, Islamist groups are using the virus to improve their public perception and raise funds. Using unrelated disasters to raise their own profile is standard operating procedure for Islamist groups, which can often pay dividends for years to come.

Several groups with ties to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood launched a National Muslim Task Force on COVID-19 on March 19^th to coordinate a response. Led by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the task force included both political organizations, such as CAIR, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), as well as community organizations such as the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), and charity organizations, including Islamic Relief. Islamic Relief has a long documented history of ties to terror finance, was founded by an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader, and is a designated terror financier in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. In 2006 Islamic Relief’s former Gaza coordinator was arrested for illicitly transferring funds to Hamas.

Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) has worked hard to promote its image in the wake of the pandemic, promising $2.5 million in aid to purchase food and other supplies which will be distributed by the group’s network of affiliated mosques. At least one of those mosques where Islamic Relief is coordinating aid, Dar al-Hijrah in Falls Church, Virginia has a long history of leaders with ties to Al Qaeda and Hamas.

Islamic Relief is also collecting money to provide aid to Hamas-run Gaza, and chaos-engulfed Syria and Yemen. When aid is sent to areas under terrorist control or where there is little governing authority, there is risk that some funds may be rerouted to terror finance increases. This risk is especially elevated during times of crisis, where charities linked to jihadist groups may be given a free hand by straining governments, as occurred in Pakistan during the 2015 Earthquake.

Islamist groups also exploit public relations opportunities by providing aid to legitimate non-Islamist charities. This is a demonstrated tactic of the Muslim Brotherhood, as FBI agent Laura Burns testified during the Holy Land Foundation trial. Burns quoted Holy Land Foundation leader Shukri Abu Bakr (now serving time in federal prison) describing how they supported non-Islamist causes in order to bolster their credentials,

“We must act as an American organization which is registered in America and which cares for the interests of the Palestinian people. It doesn’t cater to the interests of a specific party. Our relationship with everyone must be good, regardless.”

Ghassan Elashi says, “Including the Islamists, of course.”

And Shukri Abu Baker says, “The Islamists, of course. No, there is no problem, my brother. This is…we gave the Islamists $100,000 and we gave others $5,000.”

Burns proceeded to testify how the Hamas-funding HLF donated $5,000 in response to the 1994 Oklahoma City bombing for which the Brotherhood charity received public accolades.

Choosing to ignore the associations and bad behavior of groups offering aid during public emergencies is easy to do. But Islamist groups thrive on the positive public relations generated during such moments, and use the good will and respect earned to achieve future government funding, and blunt potential future investigations. Inside Muslim communities such distributions of aid and support also further solidify Islamist groups as the de facto social services for American Muslims, tightening the control Islamist groups are able to exercise on their co-religionists and further blunting assimilation efforts.