Info:
The Al-Ansar Charity Association is an Islamic charity operating in the Gaza Strip. It is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ);
The Iranian Bonyad Shahid, also known as the Martyrs Foundation, which was designated in 2007, provides millions of dollars through the Gaza-based and PIJ-affiliated Al-Ansar Charity Association (Al-Ansar) for the families of terrorists affiliated with Hamas and PIJ. Al-Ansar claims to provide funds to families affiliated with these terrorist groups as an extension of Iranian support to the Palestinian people, but the funding ultimately serves as a recruiting tool for terrorist activities. Some of the funds have been provided through the branches of Gaza-based Islamic National Bank, which was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 in 2010 for being controlled by Hamas.
Nasser Al Sheikh Ali (Al Sheikh Ali) is the director of PIJ-affiliated Al-Ansar and has announced financial awards from the Martyrs Foundation given to the families affiliated with Palestinian terrorist groups. Al Sheikh Ali has publicly acknowledged Iran’s support from the Martyrs Foundation to Al-Ansar, intended to provide financial assistance to families of Palestinian terrorist groups that have conducted terrorist attacks targeting Israel.
In late January 2020, the Al-Ansar Charity Association, affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), distributed Iranian financial support to families of shaheeds killed from the beginning of the Second Intifada (2000) until Operation Protective Edge (2014). The funds were delivered to the association by the Iranian Martyrs Foundation, which is used by the Iranians as a channel for funneling funds intended for social institutions supporting the terrorist organizations. The amount distributed in the Gaza Strip among the families of shaheeds was not specified. However, in the ITIC’s assessment, similarly to 2018, the total amount was close to $2 million, paid to about 4,800 families (each family received the sum of $300-600);
The association deals, inter alia, with the transfer of Iranian financial support to families of Palestinian shaheeds in the Gaza Strip and Judaea and Samaria, mainly those who were killed from the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. In recent years, the association has also begun to distribute financial support to families of shaheeds from the Gaza Strip killed during Operation Protective Edge. In addition, it provides financial support to families of prisoners incarcerated in Israeli prisons, and to families whose homes were destroyed as a result of IDF activity. The support funds, which have been transferred from 2002, originate from Iran. In total, the Al-Ansar association in Gaza provides financial support from Iran to about 7,000 families of Palestinian shaheeds;
On January 26, 2015, the Al-Ansar Charity Association inaugurated its new building in Gaza, after the association’s building had been attacked by the Israeli Air Force in 2004 and once again in 2008, during Operation Cast Lead. The association released a series of photos from the construction phase until the end of the construction of its building (it is presented in a video on the association’s official Facebook page). Close-ups in the video reveal that the new building owes its construction to the financial assistance of the Palestinian Martyr’s Foundation, by which funds are transferred from Iran through Lebanon;
Also Known As:
Al-Ansar
Arabic: جمعية الأنصار الخيرية
AL-ANSAR CHARITABLE SOCIETY
Organization Established Date:
2001
Address:
Al-Nasr Street in Gaza City
Phone:
08-2867556
E-mail:
info@alansar.ps
Person of interests:
Nafez al-A’raj
Reason for the color:
» Added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on October 27, 2023 pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, the U.S.-designated Martyrs Foundation, Hamas, and PIJ;
» Iranian support for Palestinian terrorism;