Terror-related groups take advantage of a tragedy.

As a result of last month’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, individuals and groups are coming forward to assist the families of the victims. Some are donating money. Others are donating blood. Yet, others are donating ‘blood money.’ South Florida radical Muslim organizations are contributing money to this cause, in a cynical attempt at gaining the favor of the community, most likely so that the community, in turn, will overlook the groups’ own connections to terror and violence.

On the afternoon of February 14, 2018, 17 students and faculty at Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Florida were gunned down by former student, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. The attack reverberated around the nation, sparking mass debate as to how to stop such incidents in the future. Millions of dollars have been raised to help the victims’ families in their time of need.

One organization, the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), under the banner of ‘Florida Muslims United for Victims of Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting,’ has raised, as of this writing, over $16,000 through the online crowdfunding site, LaunchGood. On its LaunchGood page, the group placed photos of grieving and devastated students and family members.

The Muslim Federation is an umbrella organization for terrorist-related institutions.

One of the Muslim Federation groups cited in the fundraiser is the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). ICNA was founded in September 1968 as the American affiliate of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), South Asia’s largest Islamist group. JI’s militant wing, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), owned the Pakistani compound where Osama bin Laden was living and eventually killed in. ICNA, itself, has been linked to terrorist financing and has used the internet to promote terror organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. A former ICNA Secretary General, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, was sentenced to death for his role in the murders of 18 people as a death squad leader during Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence.

Another SFMF group cited in the fundraiser is Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA). Islamic Relief’s ties to terror are well known. The Russian government has accused Islamic Relief of supporting terrorism in Chechnya. Israel has banned the group, labeling it a Hamas front and arresting the organization’s Gaza Program Manager, Ayaz Ali, in 2006, for providing assistance to Hamas. At the end of 2014, Britain’s HSBC bank cut ties with Islamic Relief over concerns about “terrorist financing.” Reports show that Islamic Relief has sent millions of dollars to and received tens of thousands of dollars from groups related to al-Qaeda. The Chairman of IRUSA is Khaled Lamada. Lamada has used social media to advocate for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Yet another group cited in the fundraiser is the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA). AMANA is the brainchild of anti-Semite and Hamas supporter Sofian Zakkout. Zakkout regularly refers to Jews as “monkeys and pigs.” In February 2016, he circulated on social media a report claiming “the Holocaust was faked.” In July 2014, Zakkout organized a pro-Hamas rally in downtown Miami (ICNA was a co-sponsor), where rally goers repeatedly shouted, “We are Hamas” and “Let’s go Hamas.” After the rally, Zakkout wrote, above photos from the event, “Thank God, every day we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel!” In July 2010, Zakkout and his group AMANA were condemned by the ADL.

Other SFMF members are: the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that was founded, in June 1994, by Hamas activists; the Muslim American Society (MAS), whose National Executive Director, Mazen Mokhtar, has served as an administrator for an al-Qaeda recruitment website and has pledged his support for Hamas and suicide bombings; the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR), whose founding directors include Syed Khawer Ahmad, a Hamas web designer, and current ICBR President Bassem Alhalabi, who was charged by the US Commerce Department with illegally shipping a $13,000 thermal imaging device to Syria; and Darul Uloom, a mosque that has had at least a half-dozen al-Qaeda terrorists pass through it.

The terrorist and extremist ties of the organizations mentioned above are significant. Their ill intentions within the United States and elsewhere have been widely reported. Donating money to a decent cause, such as helping the families of the victims of the Stoneman Douglas HS shootings, may seem like a good way to mask their sinister history (and present) and gain the trust of the community, but nothing can erase so many years of overwhelming involvement and/or support for terror. This is especially the case when dealing with the United States, which has suffered through the September 11th attacks and other terror-related atrocities.

Any monies received from the South Florida Muslim Federation should only be considered ‘blood money’ and should be swiftly handed back to the donor organization. One can take an example from former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who returned a $10 million dollar donation made to the families of 9⁄ 11 victims by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who blamed the attack on American foreign policy and support for Israel.

Those who have suffered so much death and bloodshed must never take a donation which has been built and raised upon bloodshed, itself.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.