The Jerusalem District Court ruled to disband the NGO ‘Lejanat Zakat Al-Quds Al-Merkaziya’ for supporting terror. The association operated under the auspices of the Jordanian Waqf on the Temple Mount and was the focus of several investigative reports by Hakol HaYehudi. It served as a financial conduit for Hamas in Jerusalem for years, channeling millions to the organization.
One key finding was that the accountant for the organization for nearly 12 years was former Minister Issawi Fred of the Meretz Party.
After the indictment against the organization, the Nonprofits Authority filed a request to disband the organization with the Jerusalem District Court for supporting terror.
The court found in favor of disbanding the organization on Tuesday (Dec. 5th). This was in continuation of a separate indictment filed against the founders of the nonprofit, which showed that the organization was founded by Hamas activists and donated much of its funds to poorer families of Hamas activists and families of terrorists who were killed. Another charge said that the organization donated to orphans who were not affiliated with Hamas in order to increase support for Hamas among the public and recruit new activists in the fight against Israel. As part of this, it is estimated that tens of millions of shekels were used to advance the terror organization.
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Khaled Sabah, the director of the nonprofit, was noted in the indictment to be the head of Hamas in Jerusalem. Before that, he was responsible for Hamas’ finances in Jerusalem.
As the accountant of the organization, Frej, was not questioned during the investigation for reasons that remain unclear, but an employee from his office testified during Sabah’s trial. Faras Tutah, who provided large sums to the organization that were raised from the “Zakat" money (charitable donations) of various Hamas activists, was also recently convicted of terror-related crimes in the Jerusalem District Court.
The Lavi Organization, which petitioned the government legal advisor to disband the organization said to Hakol HaYehudi, “We are pleased that the Hamas affiliated NGO was disbanded, we thank Hakol HaYehudi for exposing the story and we expect a full investigation into former Minister Issawi Frej for his part in this story.”
The Justice Ministry said, “The Nonprofits Authority uses all of the tools available to it to prevent nonprofits from supporting terror or harming the State of Israel. The authority will continue to ensure that the public's trust in associations is maintained and even increased. The authority will continue to ensure that nonprofits’ funds are used for legal purposes that advance the public good.“
