[R-G] Bush Administration Moves against US Branches of Iran-based Charity

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Now, bad news. . . . -- Yoshie

<http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=84071>
Bush administration moves against US branches of Iran-based charity
Treasury department claims organization funding Hizbullah

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Bush administration took action Tuesday against an Iran-based
foundation, including its US branch, for allegedly providing support
to Hizbullah, which the United States has blamed for bloodshed in
Lebanon. The Treasury Department's action covers the Martyrs
Foundation and Goodwill Charitable Organization of Dearborn, Michigan,
which the government identified as a fundraising office for the
foundation.

"We will not allow organizations that support terrorism to raise money
in the United States," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's
undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Two Lebanese - Qasem Aliq and Ahmad al-Shami - were also covered by
Tuesday's order.

The US identified Aliq as a Hizbullah official who was once the
director of the Martyrs Foundation's branch in Lebanon. The US says he
is currently a director of Jihad al-Bina, a Lebanon-based construction
firm allegedly formed and operated by Hizbullah.

Shami had worked for the foundation in Lebanon and has been in
"frequent contact" with the Goodwill Charitable Organization, the
department said. Goodwill Charitable Organization sent him money to
distribute to the Martyrs Foundation, the department said.
                The action means that any bank accounts or other
financial assets found in the United States that belong to those
identified on Tuesday must be frozen. Americans also are forbidden
from doing business with them.

There was no current telephone listing for the Goodwill Charitable
Organization (GCO).

The department called the  GCO "a Hizbullah front organization that
reports directly to the leadership of the Martyrs Foundation in
Lebanon.

"Hizbullah recruited GCO leaders and had maintained close contact with
GCO representatives in the United States," the department alleged.

The Goodwill Charitable Organization has allegedly provided "financial
support to Hizbullah directly and through the Martyrs Foundation in
Lebanon," the Treasury said.
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"Hizbullah's leaders in Lebanon have instructed Hizbullah members in
the US to send their contributions to the GCO and to contact the GCO
for the purpose of contributing to the Martyrs Foundation," it added.

"Since its founding, the GCO has sent a significant amount of money to
the Martyrs Foundation in Lebanon," it said.

The department alleged that the Martyrs Foundation channels financial
support from Iran to Hizbullah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
as well as other terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, Israel has arrested an Israeli Arab woman suspected of
aiding Hizbullah in Lebanon, the security services said Tuesday, in a
rare case of alleged espionage among Israel's large Arab minority.

Shin Bet said it arrested the woman on June 30 at the Allenby border
crossing between Jordan and Israel.

The woman, whose name was kept secret by court order, told
interrogators she was recruited by Hizbullah while she was a
university student in Jordan, the agency said in a statement. She was
told that as a member of Hizbullah, she would be assisting in the
transfer of cellular phones and memory cards

from Jordan into Israel.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that her indictment says that upon
completing her studies, the suspect was given a portable device to
transfer into the hands of Hizbullah operatives working in Israel and
the territories. The transfer was never completed because no one came
to pick up the device.

The suspect has visited Jordan several times since then, and has
maintained contact with the woman who allegedly recruited her. She was
arrested upon returning from her last visit.

Shin Bet has previously arrested less than a dozen Israeli Arabs on
espionage charges. Officials said the agency believes the
Lebanese-based group has an entire branch dedicated to drafting spies
in Israel, particularly among its Arab citizens who make up some 20
percent of the population. - Agencies
--
Yoshie