Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| HLF dispels myths following media attacks |
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| Kashif |
| 09/01/00 at 03:42:29 |
| HLF dispels myths following media attacks The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and development, the largest Muslim charity in America, held a community meeting last night to dispel myths following an article by New York Times writer, and infamous Islamophobe, Judith Miller. In Miller's article, she conveniently cited unnamed sources in the State Department who demanding that US Agency for International Development(USAID) remove the Foundation from its list of charities who are approved and registered to receive funds from the government for development projects around the world. This same unnamed source also made defamatory statements against the Foundation, claiming they were a "bad" charity, and suggesting that people donate to other charities instead of the Foundation. Following Miller's article, and reprints from The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Foundation received feedback from the community that began to concern the charity's officers. Some community members were led to believe that the charity was shut down, while others were led to believe that the charity was under investigation. Both myths were dispelled last night. Shukri Abubaker, the Foundation's CEO, spoke to a group of over 75 community members at the Foundation's headquarters in Righardson, Texas, announcing that despite Miller's attempts to give the impression that the Foundation is in trouble with the State Department, the Foundation is in full compliance with the law. "This is not about law, this is about civil rights and the future of Muslims in this country," said Abubaker. "I am here to say that HLF is not in trouble... yes, we did save lives, we did feed people, we did send children to school, and we did anger a lot of bigots with a political agenda to starve Palestinians to death." Israeli officials claim that the Foundation is feeding orphans of Hamas activists, and by doing so encourage activists to carry out suicide bombings because the activist know that if they die, their family will be supported. One attendee of the meeting, shocked to hear this new Israeli logic, stated that this goes beyond civil rights and bigotry against Muslims and proclaimed this is a human rights issue. "If a man commits murder in this country, do we execute his children too?" the attendee questioned."Are we to ask for a family history before giving food to needy people? There is no organization that has as their requirement who will get food and who will starve based on family history." The Foundation, which raises over $6.5 million yearly without the help of USAID, is hoping to increase its development efforts in Palestine by building and expanding medical facilities and schools. Abubaker also stated that, as of yet, the Foundation has not been removed from the USAID list of approved charities, although the list has been removed from public access on the USAID web site -- a move resulting from pressure applied by the State Department. "USAID has really been generous in spreading development all over the world," said Abubaker. "We thank USAID for standing with us so far." This is not the first time the State Department has pursued Muslim charities. USAID, under pressure from the State Department, revoked two grants totaling $4.2 million awarded to the Islamic African Relief Agency, which is based in Columbia, Missouri. The charity has since challenged the action as unlawful. "Now they are coming for our charities," Abubaker continued. "Next it's going to be the masjid and the [Islamic] school!" |
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