Crooked Media, a company founded by former Obama White House officials Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, encouraged its followers on Twitter to donate to an anti-Semitic organization linked to terrorism in wake of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, a report from the Washington Free Beacon shows.
In the now-deleted tweet, the Democrat-led media group encouraged followers to donate to pro-Palestinian charities including Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) which is banned in multiple countries for its ties to terror groups
“Here’s who’s doing great on the ground work to aid the people of Gaza,” Crooked Media wrote. “Support them if you can.”
The tweet was quickly deleted and replaced with a new version excluding the IRW.
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
IRW claims to be a “faith-inspired humanitarian aid and development agency working to save and transform the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people,” but evidence from multiple investigations suggests otherwise. One review by the Gatestone Institute in 2013 found that the organization was actually a “hub for donations from charities accused of links to Al Qaeda and other terror groups.” Israel’s Shin Bet security service in 2014 also claimed it had “incriminating information against IRW” that linked it to terrorist groups which warranted a ban in both Israel and in the West Bank
In addition to being promoted by anti-Israel legislators such as Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who has a long track record of making anti-Semitic statements, IRW was cut off from receiving taxpayer dollars by the U.S. State Department in January after its leaders repeatedly expressed anti-Semitism and sympathised with terrorist groups like Hamas.
