Wiesenthal Center Urges Investigation: Are U.S. Funds Being Used To Support Hezbollah?

July 25, 2006

ARE U.S. FUNDS BEING USED TO SUPPORT HEZBOLLAH?    

 

Wiesenthal Center Calls On U.S. Government To Investigate Whether Some Recent Iraqi Government Donations To Lebanon Are Supporting Hezbollah

 

 

The Wiesenthal Center is calling on the U.S. Government to investigate and clarify whether some recently reported Iraqi government donations to Lebanon are supporting Hezbollah.

Center officials learned that the Iraqi television station, Al Furat, recently reported that the Iraqi Government has donated 20 million U.S. dollars to Lebanon.  It also provided a list of private donations made by key ministers and organizations in Iraq, including a 10 million Iraqi dinar donation pledged by Hezbollah in Iraq.

“In view of the statement made today by the head of the Iraqi parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani who said in Cairo that his parliament supports Hezbollah as an ‘honest and legitimate resistance movement,’ we call on the United States government to investigate that the donations announced are not U.S. funds and are not being used to benefit the terrorist organization,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  “The United States did not spend trillions of dollars to liberate Iraq so that they could turn around and use American money to support the terrorist activities of Hezbollah.  This should be investigated and clarified” he concluded.

 

Below is a partial list of funds donated from Iraq thus far as reported on Al-Furat:

Name	Donation
Government of Iraq	20 million U.S. Dollars
Hezbollah in Iraq	10 million Iraqi Dinar
President Talabani	100 million Iraqi Dinar
Vice President Abdulmahadi	50 million Iraqi Dinar
Finance Minister Sulagh	5 million Iraqi Dinar
Baghdad  Governor	5 million Iraqi Dinar
The Shrine Martyr Org.	10 million Iraqi Dinar
Buratha Org.	10 million Iraqi Dinar

                                                                                                                      
                                                                                               
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS and the Council of Europe.

For more information, contact the Center’s Public Relations department, 310-553-9036.