In a groundbreaking victory in the war on terror, credit card companies shut down the ability to make donations to an Arizona-based charity accused of giving donations to a Palestinian terror group.
Arizona-based charity Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) has announced it is no longer able to accept on-line donations, following reports alleging that the organization has been providing ‘material support’ to a Palestinian terror group.
AFGJ, which has an annual budget of over $50 million, acts as a fiscal sponsor to a host of far-left, progressive groups, including Black Lives Matter and Popular Resistance.
Specific concern however had been raised for some time over AFGJ’s support for the group ‘Samidoun’, which according to its website is a “Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network” coordinating “an international network of organizers and activists working to build solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for freedom.” Many of these prisoners, however, have also been convicted of various terror-related offences in Israel.
In 2021, Samidoun was formally designated by Israel as a terrorist organization, over its ties to ‘Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)’, a US-designated terror group with connections to Iran. PFLP has been responsible for numerous terror attacks and airplane hijackings in Israel and abroad, that have also resulted in the murder and injury of American citizens.
According to the Israeli designation, “Representatives of the [Samidoun] organization are active in many countries in Europe and North America, led by Khaled Barakat, who is part of the leadership of PFLP abroad. Barakat is involved with establishing militant cells and motivating terrorist activity in Judea & Samaria and abroad.”
In 2019 and 2020, major financial institutions and credit card companies, including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal stopped the use of their platforms and processing operations to make direct donations to Samidoun, over the organization’s alleged links to violence and terror.
AFGJ has denied accusations it supports terrorism or raises money for Palestinian terrorist groups.
However, according to Arsen Ostrovsky, an attorney and CEO of the International Legal Forum (ILF), a global network of lawyers combating antisemitism and terror in the international arena, shutting down the ability to make direct online donations to groups like Samidoun, represents “a groundbreaking victory in the war on terror.”
ILF has been at the forefront of the international legal campaign to close down the ability of groups with terror links to circumvent funding loopholes to raise money, and was instrumental in having Visa, Mastercard and PayPal close down their donation processing to Samidoun earlier. In the last three years, ILF has maintained the pressure on financial institutions to close any remaining loopholes, saying that “by turning their backs to the activities of groups like Samidoun and continuing to process their donations, could place financial institutions in breach of federal anti-terrorism legislation.”
Speaking to Breitbart, Ostrovsky said, “the ILF applauds the principled decision of credit card companies shutting the ability to make online donations to AFGJ, which has been masquerading as a charity, but serving as a financial conduit and primary fiscal sponsor for the Samidoun Palestinian terror organization.”
“Money is like oxygen for terror groups and by severely impairing their capacity to fundraise, we remove their ability to raise funds for the purposes of carrying out acts of terror and violence,” Ostrovsky added.
At present, AFGJ is instructing would-be donors to instead mail checks to its Tucson headquarters, but Ostrovsky insists that his organization “will not rest until every last loophole and monetary lifeline is closed of terrorist groups like Samidoun to raise money.”
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