by Mathilda Heller
HEAL Palestine links to Hamas were first unveiled by a far-right conspiracy theorist - a deeper investigation by The Jerusalem Post uncovered the truth.
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The US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which brings injured Gazans to the United States for treatment on tourist visas, has ties to pro-Hamas organizations, The Jerusalem Post found on Wednesday.
The Post was first alerted to the situation by far-right conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed investigative journalist Laura Loomer, who tweeted about a conversation with Congressman Randy Fine in which the two agreed on the need to investigate HEAL’s acquisition of the visas.
Last week, the US State Department said it was halting all visitor visas for Gazans while it conducted “a full and thorough” review after Loomer said Palestinian refugees were entering the US.
HEAL Palestine and other rights groups criticized the State Department’s decision to stop visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, saying it would harm wounded children seeking medical treatment on short-term US visas. On August 17, HEAL Palestine said it was “distressed by the State Department’s decision to stop all visitor visas from Gaza.” The statement added that HEAL was a “medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program.”
According to an August report by TRT, 62 children to date have been granted access to US medical facilities on tourist visas thanks to HEAL.
What is the issue with the organization?
The Post confirmed that HEAL Palestine is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity in Ohio (Employer Identification Number: 88-2454707). It is a 170(b)(1) charity, which means it receives substantial support in the form of grants and contributions from governmental units, the general public, and other public charities, according to the Internal Revenue Service.It is notable that HEAL filed a Form 990-N in 2022 and in 2023. The Form 990-N (or the “e-Postcard”) is a simplified annual return that US tax-exempt organizations can file if their gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less.
However, as a prominent X/Twitter account Data Republican pointed out, HEAL has received multiple grants over this amount.
In fact, on its website, it states that over $4 million has been raised to support HEAL Palestine’s mission. As mentioned, by filing a Form 990-N, HEAL is essentially certifying to the IRS that its gross receipts (income before expenses) are normally lower than $50,000 for the year. If, as it claimed, it actually raised $4 million (even across three years), that by far exceeds the $50,000 threshold and would constitute a false filing to the IRS.
THE FOUNDER and head of HEAL Palestine is Ohio-born Steve Sosebee. He previously founded and ran the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), a charity that aims to provide medical treatment for children in the Middle East.
Sosebee, a former journalist, was married to Huda al-Masri, a Palestinian social worker, until her death from cancer.
He has a problematic social media history. He recently wrote on X that his “service to Palestine began as a journalist during the First Intifada,” going on to refer to it as “a legitimate national liberation movement in Palestine.” The First Intifada (December 1987-September 1993) resulted in the murder of 160 Israelis, the majority civilians, via stabbings, lynchings, and shootings.
On July 20, Sosebee tweeted, “We’ve entered the Schindler’s List phase of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
On August 12, Sosebee reposted a post by Ghassan Abu Sitta (a British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has previously been criticized for lauding PFLP terrorists) saying, “We are the indigenous population of that land called Palestine. We are being wiped out by European settlers. Like they wiped out many indigenous populations before us. Their genocidal tools are slaughter, diseases, and famine. How little have they evolved.”
As mentioned, Sosebee previously founded and ran the PCRF, which has established ties with the Holy Land Foundation, a former Islamic charity that was designated a terrorist organization in 2001 by the US government. The five heads of the HLF were also convicted of aiding Hamas.
Sosebee previously raised money for the HLF in a joint fundraising effort.
In an interview with the Dallas Observer in July 1996, viewed by the Post, the HLF contacted Sosebee after seeing an article about a child with burns to whom the PCRF had provided medical aid. The foundation told Sosebee that if he brought the child and other war-wounded children to Dallas, Texas, the HLF would handle all scheduling and prospective donors. The two then agreed to split the takings, with HLF getting 60% and PCRF taking 40%.
Even at the time, the Dallas Observer article raised the reported Hamas ties of the HLF, noting that one of the organization’s main donors was Mousa Abu Marzouk, Hamas’s first chairman.
According to Joe Kauffman in Front Page in 2003, PCRF’s ties to HLF dated back to 1991. He wrote that the PCRF considered two entities its “assisting organizations”: the HLF and the Global Relief Foundation. Both were raided and closed down by the US for funding terror groups in 2001. Another of the PCRF’s assisting organizations, the International Islamic Relief Organization, was raided by the FBI for funneling money to al-Qaeda and Hamas.
In 2003, the United States Department of Justice published a bulletin claiming that “the unofficial Hamas website… contained a hyperlink to the official Hamas site, as well as to several United States-based charities, including… the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.”
In 2004, the HLF asked the US Treasury Department for permission to transfer $50,000 to the PCRF.
According to NGO Monitor, the Hamas-run Social Development Ministry cooperated with the PCRF to distribute 700 aid packages in Beit Hanun in May 2021. The PCRF also partnered with the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry in 2019 to open a pediatric cancer department.
As social media users have pointed out, much of HEAL appears to be the PCRF with a new face. On its board are Naseem Tuffaha (chairman), Tania Nasir (co-founder and vice chair), Mohanned Awad (treasurer), Dr. Zeena Salman (co-founder), Dr. Gregory Stocks, and Ali Alireza – all of whom previously held leading positions at the PCRF. Salman is also the wife of Sosebee.
Mathilda Heller
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-864820
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