The arrest of Muslim doctors in recent terror plot should come as no surprise. Islamists have been using the medical profession for years to wage jihad and raise money for terrorist organisations. Others exploit their positions in the health profession to recruit non Muslim volunteers to go overseas to treat jihad fighters while first aid workers turned suicide bombers have used ambulances to travel to their targets. Jihadist doctors have not been limited to those abroad -one group of doctors have raised millions for terrorist activities while others in the United States have been jailed for aiding and abetting jihadists. In a video shown on the BBC last week a UK medical student in Afghanistan was shown to be actively earning doctors to use their skills for jihad. The video, made several years ago, showed that doctors were actively being recruiting for terrorism. The terror attacks in the UK had been hinted at by an Al Qaeda chief in Baghdad according to a this account:
MIM:What better facade for terrorists then the medical profession following in the foot steps of Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahari (who used the guise of doctor on a humanitarian mission and travelled and the auspices of the International Islamic Relief Organisation [IIR0] and continues to be both personal physician and second in command to Osama Bin Laden?
Another recent example of "doctors of terror" is Abdulaziz Rantissi -The pediatician head of Hamas who was killed in a targetted Israeli raid. According to his obituary from a pro Hamas website:
"He trained as a doctor in Egypt, and later became a paediatrician working in Gaza. During his time in Egypt, Rantissi was influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood and he returned to Gaza a committed Islamist. Throughout the 1980s he was at the forefront of tax strikes and other low-key forms of protest. He spent several years in Israeli prisons, and was a founder member of Hamas in 1987.
A married man with six children, he declined to use safe houses. After the Yassin assassination, he remarked that everyone had to die sooner or later. "It's death, whether by killing or by cancer. Nothing will change. If by Apache [helicopter] or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache," he said."
For more see: " Dr. Abdel Al-Rantissi "The Pediatrician of Death" in his own words:http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000199.html
MIM: Jihadist doctors have also been arrested and convicted in the United States. One of them Rafiq Abdus Sabir an emergency room doctor and convert to Islam living in Boca Raton Florida was sentenced to 30 years in prison for swearing an oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda and scouting locations in Long Island to set up a jihad camp. Oncologist Rafil Dhafir who was jailed in 2004 on terrorism charges [and health insurance fraud). Dhafir fundraised for his Iraq "charity" at the Islamic Center of Boca Raton where Sabir was a congregant. Another doctor who visiting the Islamic Center of Boca Raton was Kassan Baiev whose claim to fame is saving the life of Chechen leader Shamil Basayev who masterminding the Beslan massacre. Baiev wrote a book about his experiences as a doctor in Chechnya called "The Oath- A Physician Under Fire" and became a minor celebrity. Left wing and anti Israel campaigner Vanessa Redgrave helped him raise money for a "children's charity".
" Vanessa Redgrave's fundraising for Chechyna (read Kavkaz) together with a doctor who boasts about operating on terrorist Shamil Basayev, who masterminded the Beslan massacre, is more proof of how the far left and Islamo facism have openly aligned to help Al Qaeda by cynically exploiting 'humanitarian' causes. Baiev's fundraised at the terror linked Islamic Cultural Center of London while in the UK. An account of his operation on Chechen jihadist Basayev was posted on the Salaam.org website whose webmaster Iqbal Asaria is a known Al Qaeda operative. http://www.salaam.co.uk/charities/10-10-05.php
Even more perverse is that the doctor Baiev who helped Basayev , who caused the deaths of more then 300 children and their parents, is campaigning for a scam 'charity' with the name ' International Committee for the Children of Chechnya.
( In 2003 Baiev fundraised in the United States at the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, where a congregant who was also a doctor was arrested for having sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda.} See above http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1421
MIM: A group of doctors in Hernando, Florida admitted to providing millions of dollars in terrorism funding and several were connected and jailed in the Sami Al Arian case. Al Arian is awaiting deportation after being convicted for being head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and responsible for orchestrating attacks which killed one hundred people and killed scores of others. In addition Al Arian brought Ramadan Abdullah Shallah to the University of South Florida. In 1995 Shallah left Florida to take over leadership of PIJ after the previous leader Fathi Shikaki was killed by the IDF.http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3028
MIM:According to the wife of Dr.Mohammed Adel Eldin, the 65 physicians in and around Hernando County "haven't killed anyone" but they have aided and abetted those that did with millions of dollars.Dr. Ghada Eldin's mendacious assertion went unchallenged by the press.
A simple Google search reveals that several local physicians and their employees have used their positions and practices to fund raise for terrorism. Funds were also raised for terror related groups by the members of the mosque which had received county aid that Mary Ann Hogan objected to. Members of the mosque had rallied around Al Arian, despite his documented ties to terrorism and the fact that he had been videotaped a Islamic Association of Palestine rally where he shouted "Let us damn America,let us damn Israel, let us damn them and their allies". Not surprisingly Al Arian was also active in CIAIR..http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=671
MIM:Illinois' [tax] records show Brooksville orthopedic surgeon Imad "Ed" Tarabishy [a founder of the Hernando mosque, who also teaches there] has been the most generous Florida benefactor of Global Relief and Benevolence International Foundation [BIF], in the past five years giving at least $786,000 dollars.
"Two Muslim charities in particular - the Global Relief Foundation and the Benevolence International Foundation - received $1.3-million from 15 local doctors…Imad Tarabishy, a local orthopedic surgeon who sometimes delivers the weekly sermon at the mosque, gave nearly $800,000 alone." [source, St. Petersburg Times, http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/18/Hernando/Muslims_find_strength.shtml]
More then a dozen other current and former physicians at Brookville's Oak Hill Hospital where Tarabishy is on staff, gave another $521,750. That included $110,000 from Tarabishy's brother, a Florida-licensed surgeon who practices in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates [source, http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/525] BIF has been designated as a terrorist funding group by the U.S. Department of Treasury, under Executive Order 13224 and also by the United Nations.
"Benevolence International Foundation (BIF-USA), incorporated in the State of Illinois in 1992, was a U.S., tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization whose stated purpose was to conduct humanitarian relief projects throughout the world. BIF-USA's financial accounts were blocked pending investigation in December 2001, and the charity was fully designated by the United States on November 19, 2002, and in the United Nations on November 21, 2002 The three closely linked but separately incorporated entities of BIF-USA, Benevolence International Fund (BIF-Canada), Bosanska Idealna Futura (BIF-Bosnia), and their branch offices were all designated simultaneously. BIF operated around the world in Bosnia, Chechnya, Pakistan, China, Ingushetia, Russia, and other nations. Enaam Arnaout, BIF's Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, has been convicted in the United States for operating BIF as a racketeering enterprise. Arnaout claimed that he did not know bin Laden personally, yet substantial evidence documented the close relationship between Arnaout and Usama bin Laden." [source - http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/key-issues/protecting/charities_execorder_13224-b.shtml]
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2539
MIM:Some of the Hernando area doctors and assistants who are documented as helping to fund and facilitate terrorism are Hatim Fariz, Dr. Ayam Osman, Dr.Samir and Dr.Samar Shakfeh and surgeon Imad Tarbaishy. Dr. Tarabishy is also on the board of the North American Islamic Trust, an institution aimed at spreading Wahhabist (fundamentalist) Islam in North American.He was among the doctors who founded the Barclay Street mosque together with doctors Nazir Hamoui, Husam Shuayb, Mahmaljy.
( Another organisation connected to NAIT, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) issued a statement after Sami Al Arian's arrest condemning the U.S. government.)
Not surprisingly, all of these doctors worked on behalf of Sami Al Arian and the PIJ via their mosques and Islamic centers and some Hernando doctors were named at the terror trial and were also included in the indictment as having raised money for the terror group run by Al Arian, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
According to an article on Tampa Muslims ties to to terrorism:
Samar, (Shakfeh) along with physician Ayman Osman, run two area medical centers. Their business came under scrutiny, when it was discovered that the manager of the facilities, Hatem Fariz, was working with Sami Al-Arian to finance overseas suicide operations for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Osman, who had previously given over $30,000 to the Global Relief Foundation – a large Islamic charity shut down by the U.S. for funding Al-Qaeda and Hamas – has been questioned for his ties to Al-Arian, as well. Osman was on the Board of Directors of the children's school founded by Al-Arian, the Islamic Academy of Florida (IAF). IAF had its government funded student vouchers revoked, in 2003, for being part of the "PIJ enterprise." Shakfeh's parents, whose names appear on courtroom documents with regard to the Al-Arian trial, were also active in IAF. Samar was President of the academy's PTA, and both had donated thousands of dollars to the school. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21884
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2518
Name: Hatim Naji Fariz
Background: Born in Puerto Rico, a resident of Spring Hill and a manager for a medical clinic. Fariz was an alleged PIJ member and he allegedly ran an Illinois-based charity called the American Muslim Care Network.
http://reports.tbo.com/reports/alarian/
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGB5LTWHC8E.html
Charity Said To Have Ties To Terror
By MICHAEL FECHTER
A Palestinian charity at issue in the terror-support case against Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants was designated as a terrorist front Wednesday by the U.S. Treasury Department.
The Elehssan Society distributes medical supplies and other relief in the Occupied Territories.
In a news release, the Treasury Department said it has seen information showing the society keeps a list of families tied to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad that receive payments, including relatives of suicide bombers.
"Elehssan masquerades as a charity, while actually helping to finance Palestinian Islamic Jihad's acts of terror against the Israeli people and other innocents," Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey wrote.
Much of the material cited in the Treasury Department's news release appears to come from documents seized by Israel. The statement refers repeatedly to "information available to the U.S." in explaining the charity's designation.
Al-Arian and the co-defendants are accused of helping to finance and organize the terrorist group, which is responsible for more than 100 deaths in attacks, including at least three Americans. Their trial is scheduled to begin May 16.
The indictment calls Elehssan "the fund-raising arm of the PIJ in Gaza and the West Bank" and claims it used an Internet site to solicit donations.
The charity received hundreds of thousands of dollars from abroad in mid-2002, the statement said. Some went to a summer camp allegedly used to recruit suicide bombers.
In a June 2002 conversation prosecutors say was picked up on secret wiretaps, defendants Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Ballut discussed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member's desperate financial state, the indictment said, with Fariz blaming Elehssan and other groups "because they know who their members are and they are supposed to take care of them."
The indictment also cites a November 2002 wire transfer by Fariz, Ballut and Al-Arian to a man linked to the charity.
Federal Public Defender Fletcher Peacock, who represents Fariz, and Al-Arian's attorney William Moffitt could not be reached for comment.
In an affidavit for a related immigration case signed in October 2000, Palestinian scholar and legislator Ziad Abu Amr said the Ihsan Charity was among a number of nonviolent political and social institutions run by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Abu Amr's statement is the basis for an obstruction of justice count in the indictment.
This story can be found at: http://news.tbo.com/news/MGB5LTWHC8E.html
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http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/actions/20050504.shtml
05/04/2005
The following [SDGT] has been added to OFAC's SDN list:
ELEHSSAN (a.k.a. AL-AHSAN CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION; a.k.a. AL-BAR AND AL-IHSAN SOCIETIES; a.k.a. AL-BAR AND AL-IHSAN SOCIETY; a.k.a. AL-BIR AND AL-IHSAN ORGANIZATION; a.k.a. AL-BIRR WA AL-IHSAN CHARITY ASSOCIATION; a.k.a. AL-BIRR WA AL-IHSAN WA AL-NAQA; a.k.a. AL-IHSAN CHARITABLE SOCIETY; a.k.a. BIR WA ELEHSSAN SOCIETY; a.k.a. BIRR AND ELEHSSAN SOCIETY; a.k.a. ELEHSSAN SOCIETY; a.k.a. ELEHSSAN SOCIETY AND BIRR; a.k.a. ELEHSSAN SOCIETY WA BIRR; a.k.a. IHSAN CHARITY; a.k.a. JAMI'A AL-AHSAN AL-KHAYRIYYAH; a.k.a. THE BENEVOLENT CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION), Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestinian; AL-MUZANNAR ST, AL-NASIR AREA, Gaza City, Gaza, Palestinian; Jenin, West Bank, Palestinian; Ramallah, West Bank, Palestinian; Tulkarm, West Bank, Palestinian; Lebanon; P.O. BOX 398, Hebron, West Bank, Palestinian [SDGT]
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/594
Children's charities have also been used for facades for terrorism supporting activities.Most notorious of all is the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund - run by Riad Hamad, whose medical supplies coordinator Rosemary Lewis aka Shadya Hantouli ran a website gloryifying suicide bombers called "Palestine4Ever". The PCWF logo with a child showing the V sign was on the home page of the website. The site was shut down after an article appeared sparking public outrage. Lewis aka Hantouli is also the spokeswoman for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund [PCRF] run by Steve Sosebee.The Palestine 4 Ever site was also connected to the Islamic Center of Boca Raton via Lamyaa Hashim -the co wife of the then Imam Ibrahim Dremali who ran a Hamas "charity" called Health Resource Center Palestine" [HRCP] which fundraised for Hamas. Hashim wrote poetry lauding suicide bombers which were placed on the Palestine4Ever website.]
According to the article "Recruiting for JIhad":