The Global Coalition for al-Quds and Palestine, a Türkiye-based advocacy group, hosted a two-day conference in Istanbul this week to rally support for the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Among the speakers at the conference, titled “Victory for Gaza is the Responsibility of the Ummah [Muslim community],” were several U.S.-sanctioned Hamas leaders. And the Global Coalition itself, Kharon research shows, has at least two senior Hamas leaders among its management. It ended the conference by nominating a new president who manages a range of charities working with sanctioned Hamas institutions.
The conference was the latest of several that Hamas leaders and representatives have held in Istanbul since the October 7 attacks in Israel. It reinforces the close connections between Hamas and a span of Middle Eastern charities and advocacy groups that have not faced sanctions scrutiny.
Among the speakers at the conference, titled “Victory for Gaza is the Responsibility of the Ummah [Muslim community],” were several U.S.-sanctioned Hamas leaders. And the Global Coalition itself, Kharon research shows, has at least two senior Hamas leaders among its management. It ended the conference by nominating a new president who manages a range of charities working with sanctioned Hamas institutions.
The conference was the latest of several that Hamas leaders and representatives have held in Istanbul since the October 7 attacks in Israel. It reinforces the close connections between Hamas and a span of Middle Eastern charities and advocacy groups that have not faced sanctions scrutiny.
Senior Hamas official Basim Naim, right, speaks at the Istanbul conference. (Meta)
Backdrop: The Treasury Department marked October’s one-year anniversary of the attacks by designating three individuals and what it called a “sham charity” in Italy for serving as “prominent international financial supporters of Hamas.”
The U.S. and U.K. previously had sanctioned an online fundraiser and its partners for providing Hamas, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, with material support.
“Treasury remains committed to degrading Hamas’ ability to finance its terrorist activities, including through online fundraising campaigns that seek to funnel money directly to the group,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a news release at that time.
Inside the conference: The Global Coalition was established in January 2011 in Istanbul to mobilize people “in supporting Jerusalem and Palestine, its cause and people, its land and holy sites,” according to its website.
The Turkish organization has management ties to Hamas going back years, Kharon found. Its secretary general, Munir Said Jarada, was a member of the office of Arab-Islamic relations for Hamas, according to a 2019 press release from a website for Hamas. Its outgoing president, Sound Sallem Abou Mahfouz, is a founder and former director of the Hamas-controlled and US-designated al-Quds International Foundation. Hani al-Dali, who according to social media is a spokesperson for the Global Coalition, is a member of Hamas’s Department of National Relations Abroad.
The group has hosted a “Pioneers Conference” annually since its founding. This time, senior Hamas official Basim Naim spoke at a symposium titled "Political Developments and the Role of the Nation in Supporting the [Al-Aqsa] Flood," while senior political Hamas official Usama Hamdan gave remarks as well.
The U.S. and U.K. previously had sanctioned an online fundraiser and its partners for providing Hamas, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, with material support.
“Treasury remains committed to degrading Hamas’ ability to finance its terrorist activities, including through online fundraising campaigns that seek to funnel money directly to the group,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a news release at that time.
Inside the conference: The Global Coalition was established in January 2011 in Istanbul to mobilize people “in supporting Jerusalem and Palestine, its cause and people, its land and holy sites,” according to its website.
The Turkish organization has management ties to Hamas going back years, Kharon found. Its secretary general, Munir Said Jarada, was a member of the office of Arab-Islamic relations for Hamas, according to a 2019 press release from a website for Hamas. Its outgoing president, Sound Sallem Abou Mahfouz, is a founder and former director of the Hamas-controlled and US-designated al-Quds International Foundation. Hani al-Dali, who according to social media is a spokesperson for the Global Coalition, is a member of Hamas’s Department of National Relations Abroad.
The group has hosted a “Pioneers Conference” annually since its founding. This time, senior Hamas official Basim Naim spoke at a symposium titled "Political Developments and the Role of the Nation in Supporting the [Al-Aqsa] Flood," while senior political Hamas official Usama Hamdan gave remarks as well.
"This conference has played a significant role over the past 14 years,” Hamdan said, according to the Global Coalition’s website. “Today, let us consider how to elevate the level of Gaza's sacrifices and consider how to introduce new factors into the battle, so that the occupation realizes that its battle will not be limited to the Palestinian people, but will be a battle with the entire ummah.”
Connecting the dots: The Global Coalition’s new president, Algerian national Ahmed Brahimi, serves as the president of El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work, which is headquartered in Algeria but has a branch in Türkiye. That charity group was established in 2015 in Algeria, with the stated aim of “supporting and advocating for oppressed peoples and providing distinguished relief and development programs.”
On several documented occasions, its work has intersected with Hamas.
Connecting the dots: The Global Coalition’s new president, Algerian national Ahmed Brahimi, serves as the president of El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work, which is headquartered in Algeria but has a branch in Türkiye. That charity group was established in 2015 in Algeria, with the stated aim of “supporting and advocating for oppressed peoples and providing distinguished relief and development programs.”
On several documented occasions, its work has intersected with Hamas.
In 2022, according to a Facebook post by El Baraka, it supported and contributed to the “sponsorship” of a TV series produced during Ramadan by Hamas’s official media outlet Al-Aqsa TV. Following the October 7th attacks, El Baraka launched an “Active Promise Campaign” to fundraise for Gaza, directing its followers to donate money to a bank account registered in Algeria. El Baraka has since established a Turkish branch that maintains several bank accounts in Türkiye.
In February 2024, according to posts by El Baraka on social media, Brahimi and an El Baraka delegation met with Naim and Yusuf Hamdan, the head of Hamas’s political office in Algeria, to discuss the current situation in Gaza.
Soundbite: "The battle our people in Gaza are waging today is one of patience. There is no room for apologies or hesitation. Our duty now is to provide all necessary materials and supplies to those there,” Brahimi said in remarks at the conference. “Don't ask us about our methods of access, but rather ask us: What do our people need so that we can stand by them?"
Read more from the Kharon Brief:
In February 2024, according to posts by El Baraka on social media, Brahimi and an El Baraka delegation met with Naim and Yusuf Hamdan, the head of Hamas’s political office in Algeria, to discuss the current situation in Gaza.
Soundbite: "The battle our people in Gaza are waging today is one of patience. There is no room for apologies or hesitation. Our duty now is to provide all necessary materials and supplies to those there,” Brahimi said in remarks at the conference. “Don't ask us about our methods of access, but rather ask us: What do our people need so that we can stand by them?"
Read more from the Kharon Brief:
