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Hamas Sent FBI-funneled Money To Charities: Agent
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"These people were hungry; they were nearly out of food," said Ellen
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WASHINGTON,
October 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A former FBI
operative in the occupied Palestinian territories revealed that
Palestinian groups had given U.S. money funneled to them under the
guise of donations to charitable organizations and not used them for
"terrorist activities," a leading U.S. newspaper reported
Tuesday, October 7.
Harry
Ellen, an Arizona businessman who was used by the FBI to make
contributions to Palestinian charities with the aim of tracking
whether the money would end up in the hands of "terrorist
groups," unveiled that late Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab
"distributed (the cash) to at least four charitable groups,"
The Washington Post said.
"I
assume they used it for charitable purposes…These people were
hungry; they were nearly out of food," the daily quoted him as
saying, adding that Abu Shanab did not want the money for himself.
Israel
assassinated
Abu Shanab on Thursday, August 21, drawing the group’s declaration
of ending the truce unilaterally declared by the main Palestinian
groups on June 29.
Ellen,
who converted to Islam in the 1980s and changed his name to Abu
Youssef, said his FBI handler, Kenneth Williams, proposed giving Abu
Shanab a sum of money to see where it ended up.
He
recalled that on a trip to Gaza in July 1998, Williams gave him
between $3,000 and $5,000 in $100 bills, the Post said.
In
1994, he began assisting the FBI and had worked for U.S. intelligence
since
the 1970s.
His
work started in Latin America and also involved China and the Middle
East, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper said.
"I
agreed to cooperate with the FBI in the facilitation of the peace
process that would lead to an independent Palestinian state, stopping
the half-century of violent and oppressive occupation," it quoted
Ellen as saying.
"During
that period of time I never did anything nor would I cooperate in any
way to harm the Palestinian or Israeli people."
The
Israeli daily also quoted Ellen as testifying that Abu Shanab
distributed the FBI money to Palestinian orphanages and health care
facilities.
Unprecedented
Access
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A Palestinian orphan |
Ellen
recalled that by 1996 his humanitarian work, monitored consensually by
the FBI, had won him unprecedented access to Palestinian resistance
groups and even Palestinian President Yasser Arafat himself, Haaretz
added.
The
paper added that he also created a foundation named al-Sadaqa to
further his work by bringing sewing machines, eyeglasses and other
assistance to
Palestinians.
Ellen
said the operation ended abruptly in early 1999 when he and Williams
had a series of disagreements.
The
Israeli daily further revealed that the Clinton administration was not
inofrmed of the operation.
"We
were not aware of any such operation," said Sandy Berger,
Clinton's national security adviser.
The
FBI said the operation was carried out in cooardiantion with the
Israeli authorities.
"This
was done in conjunction with permission from the attorney general for
an ongoing operation, and Israeli authorities were aware of it,"
the bureau said.
In
August, thousands of Palestinian orphans and destitute families took
to the streets of Palestinian cities to protest the Palestinian
government's move to freeze the bank accounts of 18 charities
suspected of having links with the Palestinian resistance movement
Hamas.
The
move came hard on the heels of a White House decision to
freeze and block the assets of six Hamas leaders and five
pro-Palestinians charities in Europe and Lebanon.
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