U.S. Muslim Groups Want Obama to Make Charitable Giving Easier

This story from ‘The Public Record’ whose moniker claims “In-depth, Incisive, Independent Reporting.” This article seems bereft of those characteristics, ignoring the Los Angeles-based, virulently anti-Israel, Hizbollah-supporting group, MPAC, behind this effort to make it easier for Muslims to support the pillar of Islam known as zakat – which has been proven to fund jihad, as it is intended. A profile  of MPAC can be viewed here and here.

As Andrew McCarthy, former lead prosecutor in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case noted:

Do we really have “rules on charitable giving” that, as the president claims, make it especially difficult for Muslims — as opposed to others — to give? No. What we have are federal laws against material support for terrorism. These were enacted by Congress in 1996. They have been the bedrock of the DOJ’s anti-terrorism enforcement ever since.

By William Fisher

While President Barack Obama conceded in his speech in Cairo last month that U.S. rules on charitable giving “have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation,” civil rights advocates are pressing the president to turn his words into action.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council has joined other nonprofit organizations in urging Obama to follow up on his commitment to work with Muslim Americans to revise charitable giving rules.

In a letter to the president, the organizations said, “We are seeking a meeting with you and the appropriate representatives of your administration to provide background information on how current national security rules create problems for all U.S. charities and to provide recommendations for change.”

It outlined a set of principles for new rules governing charitable giving and operations, and said government policy “must address systemic problems.”

Read it all via U.S. Muslim Groups Call on Obama to Revise Charitable Giving Rules. (rules or laws?)

The Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines referred to in the article are “voluntary” guidelines (click to view PDF) which contain best practices for charitable giving. They are however, voluntary.