Obama Hacks Urge Followers to Donate to Charity with Strong Links to Terrorism
The so-called “pod bros” have decided it’s high time to come out for the forces fighting Israel — even if they happen to be terrorist organizations or anti-Semitic charities.
If you’re not familiar with liberal podcasting, I’m speaking of Crooked Media, the company founded by former Obama aides and general fratty annoyances Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor. The three are hosts of the studio’s flagship show, “Pod Save America,” described by The New York Times in 2017 as potentially being “the left’s answer to conservative talk radio.”
While that potential panned out for a bit, it’s nowhere near as influential as it was; the show isn’t in the Chartable global top 200 podcasts as of Thursday, while Ben Shapiro’s show was at number two. That said, it still holds some gravitas, so when Crooked Media tells its listeners to donate to certain causes during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one assumes liberals listen.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, if they did, they’d be giving to an Islamic charity that funnels money to Hamas and one which the Trump administration’s State Department cut ties with after a spate of anti-Semitic statements.
The call came in a Tuesday tweet, now deleted. “Here’s who’s doing great on the ground work to aid the people of Gaza,” it read. “Support them if you can.”
Granted, if you were donating to these organizations, you were pretty certain what “great on the ground work” was, at least to some extent. Crooked Media doesn’t pretend to be non-partisan, and that includes its sympathies toward the Palestinian cause. In addition to tweets from the official Crooked Media account, Vietor has accused Israel of using too much force.
Airstrikes by Israeli forces have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, we spoke with @InesAbdelrazek. The House passed an anti-Asian hate crimes bill. Plus @elisewho fills in for Akilah Hughes. #WhatADay “The Crisis On The Ground In Gaza” out now: https://t.co/Vp3EoQNeit pic.twitter.com/ICYaojGVuE
— Crooked Media (@crookedmedia) May 19, 2021
On this week’s #PodSaveTheWorld dive into the latest on the fighting between Israel and Hamas and what the Biden administration has and hasn’t said about it. https://t.co/pdBI8Po4RZ pic.twitter.com/ozl0VjioIU
— Crooked Media (@crookedmedia) May 19, 2021
I don’t think that Netanyahu or US politicians realize how acutely focused the world is on what’s happening in Gaza right now, and how much damage is being done to Israel’s standing. These rallies, blunt statements from @AOC and others – the politics are moving beneath our feet. https://t.co/lRNZXvYrfv
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) May 15, 2021
However, its Tuesday tweet singled out an organization that was “doing great on the ground work to aid the people of Gaza” that was doing some pretty awful things, instead. That would be Islamic Relief Worldwide, which has been accused by Israel of sending money to Hamas and has praised the terrorist group on its social media accounts.
In January, two days before the Trump administration turned over the keys to President Joe Biden, it cut off all ties with Islamic Relief Worldwide, which had been a partner organization that received hundreds of thousands of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
“Anti-Semitism watchdogs have been sounding the alarm on IRW for years. IRW was an official State Department partner in the Obama administration and, for a time, in the Trump administration, despite evidence the group’s senior leadership engaged in persistent anti-Semitism, including social media posts from the organization’s senior leaders praising Hamas leaders and calling Jews the ‘grandchildren of monkeys and pigs,'” the Free Beacon reported.
“Israel has designated IRW as a supporter of terrorism. The outgoing administration’s decision to publicly chastise the charity sets down a marker for the Biden White House as it assesses U.S. humanitarian priorities abroad. The next administration could restore ties with IRW, though it is unlikely given the current State Department’s rare elevation of anti-Semitism claims against the organization.”
“Now that the State Department has issued this warning about the anti-Semitic Islamic Relief, it would be a very worrying step back if the incoming Biden administration, like Trump, rejected European concerns and started to fund this dangerous charitable franchise once more,” said Sam Westrop, a Middle East researcher and director of Islamist Watch, a group which has studied organizations like IRW for years.
While the IRW official who called Jewish individuals “grandchildren of monkeys and pigs” was forced to resign, there remained numerous other red flags with the group.
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The IRW reportedly maintains connections with Egypt’s extremist Muslim Brotherhood. A report on the organization from conservative think-tank Gatestone Institute has also claimed IRW is linked with al-Qaida and noted Russia believed them to be allied with Chechen terrorists.
However, it’s mostly the group’s ties to Hamas that have drawn the most negative attention.
“The charity was founded by the Union of Good, a U.S.-designated terror organization that Hamas created to funnel money to its terrorist activities, according to NGO Monitor,” the Free Beacon reported.
“In 2006, an IRW employee in the Gaza Strip was arrested by Israeli authorities on charges of transferring funds to Hamas. The employee also reportedly admitted to working directly with Hamas members.”
While Crooked Media didn’t respond to requests for comment by the Free Beacon, the tweet was deleted and a similar call for help was issued. Look what’s not on there:
Here’s who’s doing great on the ground work to aid the people of Gaza. Support them if you can!
–@theimeu https://t.co/bWXfUyKBZJ
–@MedicalAidPal https://t.co/jKSi1uFmvf
–@ThePCRF https://t.co/thfiMIwg0B
–@PalestineRCS https://t.co/pRPiDFlyoU
–@UNRWA https://t.co/ST1K8LhIh1 pic.twitter.com/lFhPjOVws4— Crooked Media (@crookedmedia) May 19, 2021
Perhaps we should give them a mulligan on this one. It’s not like these were political operatives in the Obama administration who could have made themselves familiar with Islamic Relief Worldwide or contacted other officials who were.
Oh, wait. Never mind.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
