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U.S. State Dept. prevented ban on Qatar charities with terror links

LONDON — U.S. government documents revealed the State Department’s role in preventing sanctions on Muslim charities in Qatar for funding groups deemed terrorist.

The documents pointed to allegations that the Qatari charities were helping the Palestinian movement Hamas, which since 2007 has controlled the Gaza Strip.

“To designate these organizations now, individually or as a group, without apparent cause or justification, would send a strong negative signal to the GOQ [government of Qatar] and the Qatari public about the bilateral relationship,” a State Department cable said.

The cable, drafted by then-U.S. ambassador to Doha, Maureen Quinn, acknowledged that several of Qatar’s leading charities were linked to Hamas. But in the July 2003 cable, released by WikiLeaks, Ms. Quinn said the embassy had failed to warn the Gulf Cooperation Council emirate of any U.S. ban.

“Absent concrete information specifically linking these organizations to terrorist activity, post has not engaged the GOQ regarding them,” the cable said.

The cable identified four major charities in Qatar as suspected of helping Hamas or other organizations deemed terrorist. They were the Qatar Charitable Society, Sheik Eid Bin Mohammed Charitable Society, Qatari Joint Committee for Relief and the Qatar Red Crescent Society.

The Qatar Charitable Society was identified as having possible contacts with Hamas. The charity was deemed the largest in Qatar and conducts most of the emirate’s fundraising efforts.

“Qatar Charitable Society has kept an office open in the Palestinian territories given the plight of the Palestinian people,” the cable said. “This office might have some contacts with Hamas. If Washington agencies have specific information in that regard, we would want to share it with the GOQ for investigations and any appropriate action.”

In September, the administration of President Barack Obama acknowledged that Kuwait and Qatar were being used to fund Muslim insurgency organizations. The U.S. Treasury Department said neither Doha nor Kuwait City has sufficiently responded to Washington’s concerns.

In arguing against sanctions, Ms. Quinn warned that the Qatar Charitable Society was close to the ruling Al Thani family. The chairman of the charity, Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Al Thani, was also involved with the U.S. company Microsoft.

“Post [U.S. embassy in Doha] believes engaging the GOQ directly and privately regarding our concerns for these three organizations’ connections to Hamas is the best way to achieve desired results,” the cable said.