Major South African banks provide platform to fund Hamas

Research conducted by The Jerusalem Post staff and several sources uncovered what appears to be a network of several South African organizations and straw man companies deeply involved with funding Hamas activities through the Al-Quds Foundation, an international group sanctioned by the US and outlawed by Israel, using accounts registered in major local South African banks: Standard Bank, Nedbank, and Absa.

The global Al-Quds Foundation

The Al-Quds International Foundation (a.k.a. Al-Quds International Institute or QII) was established in Beirut in 2001 by Hamas members to raise funds for the terror organization through the guise of charity. According to the US Department of Treasury, the Hamas leadership runs all of the foundation’s affairs through Hamas members who serve on the board and other administrative committees, while all documents, plans, budgets, and projects are drafted by Hamas officials. Additionally, several senior Hamas officials, including Specially Designated Global Terrorists Mousa Abu Marzook and Osama Hamdan, served on Al-Quds’ Board of Trustees.

The foundation is part of the extensive network of Muslim Brotherhood affiliated organizations and was chaired until recently by sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the most prominent Islamic scholar of the Sunni world in the past decades, who was also aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood axis, and who was made notorious in the West for his infamous fatwa (an Islamic legal ruling) endorsing, and commending suicide bombings.

Today, the foundation is headed by Sheikh Hamid bin Abdullah Al-Ahmar, a Yemeni businessman based in Turkey, who is a leading figure at the Al-Islah party in Yemen, which is a political tributary of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in the country.

The foundation was sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury back in 2012 for their “being controlled by and acting on behalf of Hamas,” with sanctions including the freezing of any assets held by the foundation under US jurisdiction, and the barring of on all US citizens from engaging in transactions with it. Israel also outlawed the foundation as early as 2009 for similar reasons.

Activities and covers in South Africa

Sanctioning by the US and Israel notwithstanding, the foundation continues its operations across the globe, featuring roughly thirteen branches in different countries, sometimes holding different names. In South Africa, a registered organization named “Al-Quds Foundation SA” also exists which openly admits on their new website that they are “a branch of Al-Quds foundation with headquarters in Lebanon.”

The organization itself boasts about its fundraising activities, claiming funds would be transferred to the needy in Gaza. The foundation’s website lists Sheikh Ebrahim Gabriels as its director, leading the South African branch since 2019.

Prior to that, Gabriels was the former president of the Muslim Judicial Council of South Africa (MJC), and of the United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA). According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, MJC forms part of the Union of Good, an umbrella organization comprised of over 50 alleged charity organizations worldwide which engage in fundraising and funding for Hamas activities, also designated as a terror group under US law since 2008.

In 2017, Gabriels met with a Hamas delegation led by members of the Hamas political bureau Mohammad Nazzal and Maher Obeid. He also met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza in 2011 after joining the flotilla journey to Gaza.

Additionally, in 2008, he visited Israel and met with leader of the Muslim affiliated Islamic Movement’s Northern Branch, Raed Salah. In other instances, he could be spotted in pictures in Beirut (2016) and in South Africa (2014) alongside QII leadership.

 Moreover, in 2022 Gabriels published a picture of himself with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Nelson Mandela, alongside a short obituary to Qaradawi, reading: “One of the greatest scholars of our era Sh[eikh] Yusuf al-Qardawi has passed on.” The two met during Qaradawi’s visit to South Africa in 2010, where Gabriels was among those who welcomed Qaradawi upon landing.

 Using a proxy to bypass problems

Nevertheless, the South African chapter of the Al-Quds Foundation appears to have been faced with a sort of roadblock when it comes to transferring funds to Hamas, a source said. Reaching out to a contact within the foundation, the speaker commented that there were “some problems” with Al-Quds Foundation’s bank account registered in Absa bank, and so to accept funds from abroad, they used an account belonging to another group, named the Baitul Maqdis Foundation instead.

This organizational cover is further reinforced by a poster from October 2023 showing banking details for a donation to Al-Quds Foundation SA, which uses a Standard Bank account by the name of Baitul Maqdis, and according to sources, processes transfers in US Dollars as well as South African Rands:

The Baitul Maqdis Foundation claims to be a registered NPO. However, no organization by that name or number was found on official records, and its name appears virtually nowhere in an online search, except for an nearly blank Facebook page. Additionally, no information could be found regarding the founders, workers, or board members.

In addition to the Standard Bank account appearing above, Baitul Maqdis also owns a bank account in Nedbank, which they also use, as a source verified, for the sake of transferring funds from abroad to Al-Quds Foundation South Africa.

In their short Facebook presence, Baitul Maqdis has spread antisemitic and ahistorical conspiracy theories, such as blaming Jewish extremists for a Christian pilgrim’s attempt to set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969, and attributing false quotes to Israeli leaders regarding alleged schemes in Jerusalem.

It is worth mentioning that the name Baitul Maqdis (or Bayt Al-Maqdis) is another traditional Islamic name for Jerusalem, alongside the more well-known Al-Quds. This means that both organizations refer to themselves as the Jerusalem Foundation by a rough translation.

In other words, the dubious Baitul Maqdis Foundation provides a cover for the Al-Quds Foundation in their efforts to transfer funds to Hamas through their accounts in Standard Bank and Nedbank – instead of through their Absa account, which they admit faced some “problems.”

It is worth mentioning that all three banks are ranked within the top four banks in South Africa in terms of assets, with Standard Bank topping the list with roughly $170,000 million worth in offices, collaborations and shares in banks in the UK, Argentina, Turkey, and all across the continent of Africa.

A source said that the aforementioned Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar is responsible for the entire operation of transactions from South Africa to the Lebanese hub of the Hamas-affiliated group. He is a prominent businessman from Sanaa, Yemen. On his personal website, he mentioned that he has served as owner of the Saba’ Islamic Bank and Yemeni telecommunications group Sabafon, was the vice president of the Arab tourism company in the Gulf and Yemen areas, a member of the Oil and Development Committee at the Yemeni Parliament, and even Finland’s Honorary Consul General in Yemen.

Al-Ahmar is a staunch supporter of terror groups. On October 8, one day after the Hamas massacre, he called upon the Houthis in Yemen to provide assistance to Palestinians and “turn statements into an act of support for the struggle and sacrifices of the Palestinian people.” Further, in 2006, he reportedly congratulated Hamas for its victory in Gaza in the Palestinian elections and donated $1,000,000 to a joint Palestinian-Yemeni company on that occasion

He also enjoys strong ties to the Hamas leadership: in 2013, he hosted a Hamas delegation led by Osama Hamdan, a leading figure in the Hamas political bureau, on the occasion of his children’s weddings. Additionally, in September 2021, Hamas leader Haniyeh delivered a eulogy for Al-Ahmar’s brother following the latter’s passing, and Haniyeh and Al-Ahmar were featured in several photos together over the years.

Nedbank could not confirm, due to banker-client confidentiality, whether Baitul Maqdis is a client. It said in response that Nedbank has a “comprehensive risk management and compliance program” that is “aligned with international standards to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.” It added that Nedbank “strictly adheres to sanctions and related legislation and is confident that [their] risk management controls and reporting obligations are robust.” Should the bank become aware of “any illegal or suspicious activity in client accounts,” moreover, the bank “would not hesitate to take the necessary actions in terms of [their] processes and in line with the relevant legislation.” 

Due to banker-client confidentiality, Nedbank is not at liberty to confirm whether or not the aforementioned is a Nedbank client, nor can it comment on any client details or accounts."