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(DCNF) President Joe Biden’s National Security Council (NSC) hosted the head of , a health nonprofit that has collaborated with Hamas on multiple occasions, the Washington Examiner reported.
Shadi Zaza, CEO of Biden administration-funded @rahmaworldwide, presents gifts to Hamas politburo member Ghazi Hamad, who has called for October 7 attacks to be repeated again and again. Read our investigation here: https://t.co/UIPyQCPre4 pic.twitter.com/npZwcfPNBQ
— Sam Westrop (@samwestrop) September 20, 2024
The NSC met with Shadi Zaza, Rahma Worldwide’s CEO, and other Syrian-American community leaders on Sept. 11 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to discuss how the U.S. can best counter the Assad regime in Syria, the Examiner reported. Zaza’s group, however, signed a cooperation agreement with Hamas in August, and Zaza himself was photographed alongside Hamas officials days before the terrorist organization carried out attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The White House insisted to me it was not aware of the Hamas ties of Rahma Worldwide CEO Shadi Zaza
But Rahma’s partnerships and hobnobbing with Hamas officials are well-documented. Zaza has, for instance, met and partnered on aid initiatives with senior Hamas official Ghazi…
— Gabe Kaminsky (@gekaminsky) September 20, 2024
“We have spoken at length about our condemnation of Hamas and the horrible atrocities they committed on Oct. 7,” an NSC spokesperson told the Examiner, stressing that they were not aware of Rahma’s links to Hamas. The staffers who allowed an individual “openly supporting a foreign terrorist organization like Hamas to enter the Eisenhower Executive Office Building are either grossly incompetent or fully support Hamas,” an anonymous senior Republican Senate staffer who works on national security issues said to the Examiner.
4b)Walz Admin Gave $2 Million to al Qaeda-Linked Charity:
In a now-deleted Facebook post,Rahma Worldwide Pres Shadi Zaza said his charity is collaborating on an aid initiative w/the Islamic Heritage Revival Society of Kuwait,a US-designated terror group sanctioned for funding AQ
— Mila (@Milatrud11) August 19, 2024
White House leadership was not at the NSC meeting, which was run by “working-level staffers,” a source familiar told the Examiner.
Rahma signed an agreement with Hamas’ Gaza Health Ministry in August for a blood drive in Gaza, according to Palestinian media reviewed by the Examiner. The organization’s website shows that it has been highly active in Gaza, distributing food, hygienic goods and medical supplies to people in the region.
About a year prior, officials from the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Development were photographed alongside Rahma staffers and Zaza for an aid initiative targeting low-income families in Gaza, the Examiner reported. The meeting with Hamas officials happened at roughly the same time Rahma received approximately $175,000 through a Department of Health and Human Services subgrant to carry out a vaccine program, federal records show.
“That Rahma officials are meeting and partnering with senior Hamas figures in the same week they receive government funding is appalling,” Sam Westrop of the Middle East Forum told the Examiner. “The federal government is subsidizing terror.”
IANA fundraises for Rahma Worldwide, a Michigan-based charity claiming to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Rahma Worldwide President Shadi Zaza said his charity is collaborating on an aid initiative with the Islamic Heritage Revival Society of… pic.twitter.com/VxlFSkUAh6
— Rickash (@Rickash100) August 18, 2024
Rahma, however, denies being linked to terrorism, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that “any suggestion of collaboration with political groups or militant factions is entirely false and misleading.”
“Rahma Worldwide is a strictly humanitarian organization that works in full compliance with international standards of humanitarian aid,” a Rahma official told the DCNF. “Our work in Gaza and elsewhere is focused solely on providing essential services, such as medical aid, food distribution, and support to vulnerable communities.”
The spokesperson stressed that Rahma “must coordinate with local governments and the security apparatus on the ground purely to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches those in need.”
Rahma has history of close proximity to Hamas, with Zaza meeting with Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official at the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development, in 2021, according to a social media post.
If the federal government determines that Rahma is actively working with Hamas, that could spell trouble for its tax-exempt status.
“As such, they not only would be liable in criminal and civil litigation for providing material support to terror and aiding and abetting a foreign terror organization, they would be in violation of IRS 501(c)(3) rules and should have their tax-exempt status revoked,” Zachor Legal Institute attorney Marc Greendorfer told the Examiner.
The White House and the NSC did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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