A Hakol HaYehudi Investigation has exposed that Ra’am and its affiliated nonprofit, Support 48, have deep ties with the Turkish registered and Hamas-affiliated nonprofit Hir Ummah This includes involvement in incitement to terror, and extremist content within a summer camp operated by Ra’am and the Islamic movement.
Last week, we revealed that the Ra’am charity Support 48 transferred large sums of money and conducted joint activities with the Turkish nonprofit Hir Ummah, which is affiliated with Hamas. However, Ra’am officials claimed in statements and interviews to the media that they had no knowledge of the nonprofit’s ties to Hamas and that they thoroughly checked against the Ministry of Defense’s listing, where it was not defined as a sanctioned organization.
Ra’am also argued that the collaboration between Support 48 and Hir "strictly humanitarian and educational." This phrasing appeared on Ra’am’s official Facebook page and was also stated in an interview with the Kan broadcaster by the Ra’am Member of Knesset Waleed Taha.
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However, a HaKol HaYehudi investigation exposes these blatant lies and makes it clear that Ra’am representatives must of have known that Hir Ummah’s members were Hamas activists. Furthermore, the alleged "educational" content provided by senior Ra’am officials, including Nasibah Issa, a member of the Shu'ra Council, to children at a summer camp held jointly with Hir Ummah, including serious incitement.
The main activity in the collaboration between the two nonprofits is the "Al-Quds Camp," funded by Support 48 in collaboration with Hir Ummah. The camp was designed for Syrian refugee children residing in Turkey.
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A translation of the camp’s content by known translator Moran Tal shows that the camp's songs contain extremist content and incitement. More seriously however, was an incident at the 2018 presentation of certificates at the camp.
Nasibah Issa is the camp's director and the wife of Na’al Issa, a senior figure in Support 48. She is also the daughter of the founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Abdallah Nimr Darwish, who supposedly led a moderate faction of the movement. In addition, she serves as the head of the Women's Group of the Islamic Movement and within Ra’am and is considered the most senior female figure in the party.
In a recording, Nasibah can be seen leading the camp's ceremonial presentation of certificates and then inviting a local sheikh to the stage while participants chanted, "A nation whose leader is Muhammad will never be humiliated."
The sheikh himself then takes a few steps forward. He addresses the children and the educators and explains the goal of the camp.
"The hope of this nation is to return to Jerusalem with the flags of Islam and with rifles," declares the sheikh. "Because our enemies do not understand the language of the weak but the language of the rifle... The future belongs to Al-Aqsa, not the Oslo Accords! The future belongs to the tunnels of Gaza, not the tunnels of Oslo! The future is of marches returning to the land of Gaza, not of marches of oppression and humiliation."
In conclusion, he says, "The Quran is our constitution, Al-Aqsa is the direction we pray to, jihad is our path, and death for the sake of Allah is our dream." As he shouts these remarks, the children and educators applaud.
Before the sheikh's address, a song was performed by the camp's children. The song describes a Palestinian girl who states that the "Zionists" killed her father and occupied her land. The song then tells how the girl picks up a stone and throws it at one of the "Zionists," who then arrest and imprison her.
Another song in the camp is dedicated to the "Heroes of Palestine," and the lyrics speak for themselves. "Peace and blessings to the heroes of our great land, peace to all the knights, symbols of glory and honor, adherents to Islam, who attack the enemy without fear... Let us praise again the (victorious battles' victories) of Yarmouk, and Hittin... Soon we'll meet again in Arab Jerusalem. Oh Allah, grant victory to all of the Muslims, all over the world, and give them Salah Al-Din who will liberate the land of Al-Aqsa."
The camp itself, as well as the distribution of aid and food packages by Support 48 members to refugees in Turkey, have a clear goal – to strengthen the Palestinian identity of children whose grandparents may have been born in Israel and dream of the Right of Return. Hir Ummah is deeply involved in this issue, and videos of Syrian children in Turkey show them declaring that they are from Haifa, Acre, and Tarshiha.
The children travel in a car depicting the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Ali Katani, the chairman of Support 48, later distributed food supplies to "needy Palestinian families" from the same car.
All of the above describes the alleged ‘educational activity’ of the summer camp.
After seeing the activities at the camp they managed and led, it's difficult to believe that members of Support 48 didn't know who Hir Ummah was representing. However, we further investigated the activities of Hir Ummah as shown on their website and on social media. Even from a cursory glance, Hir Ummah’s connection to Hamas can be spotted from miles away.
A visit to the association's website and Facebook page show their partners, which include the Turkish terror organization IHH - a designated terror group in Israel and other countries, most famous for leading the Mavi Marmara flotilla.
Another listed partner is the Palestinian Researchers Association, a prominent Hamas-affiliated body. Likewise, reviewing the list of events by Hir Ummah raises clear red flags. Among the events are protests against Israel, commemorations of the Nakba, and demonstrations in support of Hamas in Istanbul.
Many of the events are also attended by the favored sheikh of Hir Ummah - Hassin Ouada - a senior Hamas figure who was expelled in 1993 by then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to Lebanon. Until his death from coronavirus, Ouada served as a leading religious leader for Hir Ummah.
For example, he can be seen in a protest organized jointly by Hir Ummah and the Palestinian Researchers Association, and at a symposium held for the Palestinian Nakba Day in 2017 under the slogan "Palestinian Prisoners." The Hamas-affiliated sheikh can be seen standing next to the Hir Ummah logo, with a poster next to him displaying pictures of Gilad Shalit, including one of him in Hamas captivity and another of him being led as part of a prisoner release deal by Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari. Another picture shows Palestinian prisoner and murderer Abdallah Barghouti, responsible for the deaths of over 60 Jews.
All this is clearly visible on Hir Ummah’s Facebook page, its website, and in many social media posts.
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If that's not enough, we also investigated the heads of Hir Ummah to identify them.
Abed Al-Jabar Shalabi, the director and founder of the nonprofit, is listed in various online forums as the leader of Hamas in the Latakia district in Syria, which has 650,000 residents. In 2010, he led a convoy from Latakia to Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Incidentally, he also served as a teacher at an UNRWA school in Syria. He was later imprisoned several times the Syrian regime and moved to Turkey, where he established the nonprofit.
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Ibrahim Al-Najji is a Hir Ummah activist who together with a teacher in Ein Mahel, was planning an attack on a sensitive Elbit factory. Al-Naji is also considered a central Hamas activist in Turkey. For example, he participated in a Zoom panel of 15 senior members of terrorist organizations, including Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, former Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, and Mahmoud al-Hindi - number 2 in the Islamic Jihad.
Al-Naji’s Facebook account, as well as that of fellow Hir Ummah activist Suhaib Abu Hashim, has posts containing incitement against Jews, support for terrorists, and Hamas propaganda. Both Al-Naji and Abu Hashim participated in events organized by Hamas in Turkey, and both worked at the Support 48 summer camps.
Let’s now return to the claims of Support 48 that they didn't know about Hir Ummah. Is it possible that they never read the website or saw their collaborator’s Facebook page, despite transferring hundreds of thousands, even millions of shekels over the years? They never wanted to know about the group whom they sent so much money to? Also, when they met the Hir Ummah activists every year at the summer camp for several weeks, it somehow never came up that they were supporters of Hamas?
A HaKol HaYehudi investigation shows that the collaboration between the groups began just shortly after the establishment of Hir Ummah in 2016. For years, Support 48 delegations went to Turkey to participate in joint events every few months. The activists of the two groups held joint Iftar meals together, toured throughout Turkey together, and then during the Al-Quds camp they worked together for 10 days.
Naal Issa, who led the collaboration, even attended the wedding of Hamas activist and Hir Ummah employee Suhaib Abu Hashim, along with other Support 48 activists.
At the wedding, one of the guests of honor who delivered a speech was the same sheikh who we encountered earlier spewing incitement at the summer camp calling to march on Jerusalem with rifles.
The investigation also reveals that many senior members of Ra’am and the Islamic Movement donated to or collaborated with the Hamas-affiliated Hir Ummah.
On Ra’am’s official Facebook page, we found three posts from 2020 highlighting their donations to Hir Ummah.
Among the donor include Raazi Issa, a senior member of Ra’am best known for his appearance in a photo with Bennett and Lapid after leading Ra’am’s negotiations to join their coalition. Issa regularly shared updates about joint activities between Support 48 and Hir Ummah.
Also, Hamad Abu Dabis, formerly head of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement, and his replacement Sofat Freij, former chairman of the Al-Aqsa Nonprofit, supported donating to Hir Ummah.
Other individual’s seen supporting or funding Hir Ummah include activists of the Islamic Movement, such as Nimr Abu Luz, chairman of Support 48 Ali Katani, Salah Al-Salah, a senior member of the Al-Furqan Association for Quranic Studies, and of course Naal Issa.
The activities described and documented here raise serious suspicions of criminal violations including contact with a foreign agent and funding of terrorism by senior members of Ra’am and Support 48. The support offered by these Ra’am officials is similar to that provided by the teacher from Ein Mahel who was recently indicted for donations he raised for Hir Ummah.
The legal argument that they didn't know it was a Hamas association is not credible given the findings of our investigation.
Time will tell if the Attorney General, the State Prosecution, and the Israeli police decide to prosecute senior members of Ra’am and Support 48.
