Qatar Charity foundations … a legal cover for terrorists in Europe

Hussam Al-Haddad

“Influence within Muslim societies in the West is a key component of Qatar’s soft power. Qatar used its money to mobilize its Brotherhood members to organize Rallies in front of the Qatari embassy in the United States, to protest against the Gulf boycott of Doha.

Qatar will continue to finance and support terrorist groups in Syria, Libya and Somalia.

Sandy Report

The foregoing was a summary of Ronald Sandy’s latest reports on terrorism and the countries that support it, providing new evidence about Qatar’s support for militant groups in Europe.

In 2006, Sandy moved to the United States to become the director of research at the Niva Foundation -NGO- aims to reveal the facts related to the events of 9/11. In 2013, he began working as a Special Adviser and Senior Global Jihad analyst at Kronos Consulting.

Sandy is also a co-founder and CEO of Blue Water Intelligence (a Netherlands-based investigation firm). He is often asked to express his opinion on terrorism and extremism by local and international media, especially: Sky News, BBC, CNN, and The New York Times.

Qatar Charity… a legal hatchery of terrorism

In this recent report, published in more than one foreign journal, Sandy confirms that it is noticeable that evading not only distinguishes the geopolitical plays in Qatar, but also directs Doha’s relations and influence with Muslim communities abroad and with terrorist movements and groups as well.

It is not difficult to see how Doha adopts the ideology of the Brotherhood, as well as how the Qatari media promote the terrorist group and other Salafi movements around the world, as Doha uses what it calls “charitable institutions” in order to provide a legal cover for the different strains of terrorist activities; For example, the Brotherhood receives support through the government-affiliated Qatar Charity Foundation, while other Salafi groups receive various kinds of support from the Eid Charity Foundation.

These two institutions not only provide financial support for terrorist activities, but also serve as a cover for the activities of many branches of extremist groups, as information indicates that the “Qatar Charity” and “Eid Charity” organizations are remarkably active in Asia, Africa and Europe, and they engage exclusively with organizations Public or secret brethren. As part of its operations in Europe, Qatar Charity established its own foundation in London in March 2012 under the name “Qatar Charity – UK” and carried the acronym (QCUK).

The Foundation has mixed members of its board of directors in the United Kingdom with well-known Brotherhood figures, including Youssef Al-Kuwari, Executive Director of Qatar Charity in Doha, as well as Youssef Alkawary, Executive Director of “Qatari Diar” affiliated to the structure of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund.

After establishing its office in London, Qatar Charity expanded its activities in other parts of Europe with rapid and steady steps, including France, Belgium and Italy. It has embarked on supporting well-known Brotherhood organizations in European countries that operate under the umbrella of the “Union of Islamic Organizations in Europe” and carry the abbreviation (FIOE), the umbrella organization that brings together all European Brotherhood networks. What is striking is that Qatar Charity in the United Kingdom recently started operations in the United States, and has started financing the construction of a Brotherhood center in Tennessee, named after the “Memphis Islamic Center”, led by prominent American Muslim Brotherhood Salafist Yasser Qazi. Qatar Charity – the United Kingdom also embraced larger projects, which included financing the building of Muslim Brotherhood centers under the cover of “Islamic centers” in European countries, which led to the growing European supervision over their activities.

Nectar Trust … a threat in Europe

As a result, Qatari board members have been replaced with the intention of excluding the Qatari character in one form or another. The Foundation also changed its official name in 2017 from “Qatar Charity – UK” to “Nectar Trust”. The parent organization in Doha works closely with the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, Youssef Al-Qaradawi, and with its various institutions based in Doha. Qatar Charity also cooperates with everyone who targets the Saudi government and seeks to tarnish the image of the Kingdom. For example, the Foundation worked to recruit Saudi cleric Salman al-Awda within the framework of al-Qaradawi’s “World Federation”, and was handed over by a prominent project manager in one of the “Qatar Charity” operations. , Before the Saudi authorities noticed it. Eid Charity and Extremist Salafists The “Eid Charity” with a Salafi mentality has been active in Asia and Africa on a large scale, but has dramatically increased its activities in Europe in recent times.

Eid Charity was founded by Qatari Abdul Rahman Al-Nuaimi, who is listed on the Global Terrorism List (SDGT) since 2013 because of his funding for al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria. In Europe, Eid Charity cooperates closely with Salafi organizations in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Kosovo, but recently launched its own projects in Kosovo, Albania, Germany, and the Netherlands, all working to spread radical Islamist messages addressed mainly to Europeans. It is noted that Al-Naimi used to organize multiple meetings that included terrorists from the Brotherhood and their allies, during which deceptive rhetoric slogans based on “anti-Islam resistance” were used, with the aim of calling for “raising funds for the resistance in the face of the West.” The information confirms that the government of Qatar is financing the activities of “Eid Charity”, while Turkey provides a geographical incubator for all of its annual conferences. Erdogan’s personal adviser, Yassin Akti, has become the coordinator of all Brotherhood meetings and other Islamic organizations on Turkish soil.

In February 2016, the Qatari Foundation organized an international conference in Istanbul, which was dubbed “Al-Aqsa” as a cover for gathering popular support and justifying its convening. Indeed, the conference attracted large numbers of Salafi activists, jihadists, and well-known brothers.

Pictures of the conference show that among the participating official figures are the Salafists associated with Al Qaeda, who are close to Osama bin Laden, Ahmad Rifai Taha and Muhammad al-Islambouli. Also among the pro-Brotherhood participants are Wajdi Ghoneim, who is close to bin Laden, and Hassan bin Ali Sharif al-Kettani, leader of the Salafi-jihadi movement in Morocco. What attracts attention is what was revealed by recent documented information about the involvement of Ahmed Rifai Taha and Muhammad al-Islambouli deeply in terrorist operations in Idlib Governorate in Syria, shortly after the 2016 conference. The two men assumed executive leadership positions in the Khorasan jihadist groups, directly linked to al-Qaeda .

Shortly before Rifai was killed in an air strike on April 5, 2016, it was reported that he had sought, along with Islambouli, to unite the terrorist groups “Ahrar al-Sham” and “Al-Nusra”. It is reported that the “Nusra” and “Ahrar Al-Sham” and the individuals associated with them receive large donations from Qatari individuals. Al Qaeda operatives also enjoyed direct support from prominent Qatari personalities, and there is evidence that the former Qatari interior minister invited al-Qaeda leader Khaled Sheikh Muhammad in the mid-1990s to move from Bosnia to live in Qatar. Khaled Sheikh accepted that offer, and he lived in Qatar for two years, before moving to Pakistan with a Qatari passport.