A potential Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity (SDGT) working in Congress

By Olivier Guitta

Mustafa Khalfi, the editor in chief of At Tajdid, the main Islamist publication in Morocco, is among other things working on the Hill for Congressman Jim Mc Dermott. Researching with my colleague Ilan Weinglass this story, we found out that At Tajdid has a direct link to organizations classified by the U.S. Treasury as SDGTs because of their affiliation to Hamas. Therefore Khalfi could in theory be designated himself as an SDGT.

This should have come as no surprise since At Tajdid clearly supports Hamas and has an anti-Semite and anti-American line. Over a month ago, we supplied the US Treasury with all the relevant information regarding this case. We also contacted numerous people, including for instance Senator Lugar and Lee Hamilton, involved in the choice of Khalfi as a Fulbright scholarand a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. So far no one responded to our queries...

Here is an excerpt of the piece we wrote for Front Page Mag (here is the full article):

A Moroccan Islamist and apparent terrorism supporter has been getting treatment in Washington D.C. that most graduate students can only dream of. Mustafa Khalfi, editor-in-chief of the Moroccan newspaper At-Tajdid (Renewal), is the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright/American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellowship. This honor has afforded him the honor of working for Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), taking a course at Johns Hopkins University, and receiving a visiting scholarship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

At-Tajdid’s connection to terrorism:

At-Tajdid’s website has a permanent link to the Union of Good, an umbrella organization of Hamas-funding charities. Five of these organizations have been listed by the U.S. Treasury Department as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities (SDGTs):

The Al-Aqsa Foundation, Belgium and Holland Branches
Interpal
Comité de Benfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP)
Sanabil al-Aqsa
The Palestinian Relief Society, Switzerland

In addition, two more groups, The World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), and the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), have been accused in a lawsuit filed by families of the 9/11 victims[1] of being “connected to Osama bin Laden and two of his top operatives.”

The Union of Good was established in October 2000 and is presided over by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi and run by Essam Yussuf, a prominent figure in Interpal, a British Hamas front organization. Even the Palestinian Authority considers the Union of Good as a body supporting Hamas.

Clicking on the link to the Union of Good on the At-Tajdid website gives the reader a choice of English or Arabic. The English site takes the reader to the donations page of Interpal, a British-based charity that is designated by the U.S. as an SDGT. According to U.S. law, this is an indication that Khalfi himself should be designated a SGDT. A check of archived At-Tajdid websites shows this link to be a permanent feature since at least February 2003.

In August 2003, when the U.S. Treasury Department designated Interpal and several other Union of Good charities as SDGTs, it determined that “they provide support to Hamas and form part of its funding network in Europe.” In other words, Mustapha Khalfi is the editor of a newspaper that knowingly solicited funds for a SDGT.

Executive Order 13224 is very clear about the criteria that the Secretary of the Treasury may use to designate an entity as a SDGT. Anyone determined to “act for or on behalf” of a listed entity or to “provide financial…support for, or financial services to or in support of…entities designated in or under the Order” or “[t]o be otherwise associated with certain individuals or entities designated in or under the Order” may be designated a SDGT. In other words, soliciting funds or even being associated with an SDGT is enough to get someone designated an SDGT.

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