Harper Government Brands Charity Aiding Palestinians Orphans A 'Terrorist Organization'

[Jefferson23]

Yves Engler: Canadian government attacking aid groups aiding needy Palestinians while giving tax-exempt status to organizations bankrolling Israeli settlement expansion, considered illegal under international law - 39 min ago

Bio

Yves Engler is a Canadian commentator and author. His most recent book is The Ugly Canadian - Stephen Harper's Foreign Policy, and previously he published The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy and Canada in Haiti: Waging War on The Poor Majority

Transcript

Harper Government Brands Charity Aiding Palestinians Orphans A 'Terrorist Organization'SHARMINI PERIES, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries in Baltimore.

In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided the offices of a Canadian aid group, IRFAN. And it labeled this a terrorist organization.

Here to talk about all of this is Yves Engler. Yves Engler is a Canadian commentator and author, his most recent book, The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper's Foreign Policy.

Yves, what's going on in Canada?

YVES ENGLER, AUTHOR AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Well, this is a big step forward in the Conservative government's extreme pro-Israel policy, labeling a Toronto-area Muslim charity a terrorist organization--only the second time that a domestic organization has been labeled a terrorist organization, added to Canada's terrorism list. This is a campaign, a decade-long campaign that the Conservative government has been waging, Conservative Party has been waging against this, the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy, which is a--operating in numerous countries around the world, obviously including Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza. And before coming to office, then Conservative official Member of Parliament Stockwell Day in 2004 claimed that IRFAN was a front for Hamas.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11814

[PDJane]

1. That man is such a nasty creep.

He's a racist of the most vile sort, he's a fascist, and I am grateful that he has absolutely no charisma to speak of.

[Jefferson23]

3. The policy reflects the man, I think. n/t

[azurnoir]

2. Here are what these charges are based on

There was a--the Canada Revenue Agency looked into the matter back then, did not find that was the case. Once the Conservatives took office in 2006, once again the Canada Revenue Agency was prodded to look into IRFAN. They, after a long investigation, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating the organization. They concluded that IRFAN was in fact providing resources to Hamas. The main evidence against IRFAN was that it had delivered a dialysis machine to a hospital in Gaza. The hospital in Gaza fell under the Health Ministry. When Hamas won elections in 2006, of course they took control of the Health Ministry in Gaza, hence claim that IRFAN was supporting Hamas. Also, IRFAN continued to provide support for orphans in Gaza. The money was channeled through the post office. The post office, again, when Hamas won elections in 2006, was overseen by Hamas. So you have the Canada Revenue Agency claiming that this money was--because a dialysis machine and money through the post offices, which are operated by or overseen by Hamas, therefore IRFAN was supporting Hamas.

absolutely shameful on the part of the Harper government

[Jefferson23]

4. I don't know how they sleep at night. n/t