In early May, Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) sponsored an online event featuring Omar AbdelKafy, an Egyptian cleric with a history of extremist remarks. According to the event notice:
Join IRUSA in partnership with MAS on Sunday, May 3rd at 4PM (ET), for a special online event with featured guest Dr. Omar AbdelKafy.
About this Event: Please join Islamic Relief on Sunday, May 3rd at 4PM (EST), for a special online event benefiting orphans around the world. Our featured guest is Dr. Omar AbdelKafy.
Help us lend a hand to these vulnerable and disenfranchised children during this blessed month.
In November 2015, the GMBDW reported that AbdelKafy, was scheduled to speak at an annual Belgian event that featured numerous Global Muslim Brotherhood figures. Evidence of AbdelKafy’s extremism includes:
- In January 2015, an Israeli NGO reported that following the Paris terror attacks at that time, Abdelkafi said: “This play, to which the Muslims are subjected ad nauseam across the world, is the sequel to the comedy film of 9/11.”
- In 2018, a US State Department report included AbdelKafy as an individual with a “history of anti-semitic remarks.”
- In April 2018, a Canadian NGO reported on a series of AbdelKafy’s anti-semitic remarks including a TV program where he accused “Zionists” of collaborating with Freemasons to “spread corruption on Earth” and quotes repeatedly from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious anti-semitic forgery first published in 1903.
In October 2017 the GMBDW reported on a new congressional measure aimed at cutting US government funding for IRUSA. Other GMBDW reporting on IRUSA has included:
- In August 2011, we reported that IRUSA had a “collaborative partnership” with the USDA’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and that IRUSA had pledged to host 50 sites as part of a Michelle Obama initiative.
- In November 2011 we reported that a northern Virginia man was suing a US intelligence agency alleging that it revoked his security clearance because his wife attended the Islamic Saudi Academy and worked for IRUSA.
- In October 2012, we recommended an article titled “Islamist Adviser to the State Dept and USAID Exposed” which examined the CEO of IRUSA and his appointment to a State Department Working Group.
- In November 2014 we reported on a June 2014 leadership change at IRUSA related to financial misdoing at the charity.
Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) is headquartered in the UK where until recently, it’s chairman of the board of trustees was Ibrahim El-Zayat, a leader in both the European and the German Muslim Brotherhood. Sometime in 2016, El-Zayat was replaced as Chairman by South African national Tahir Salie, a former IRW Treasurer while El-Zayat remains as a trustee of the UK branch of Islamic Relief. The new IRW Chairman Tahir Salie has his own connections to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas.