UK Muslim charity wins libel case against Jewish body

[sonz]

The top Jewish body in Britain apologized for calling a Muslim charity a “terrorist organization”.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews had published an article on its website on Sept. 2003 in which it referred to “terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Interpal”.

Interpal, one of the biggest Muslim charities in Europe, launched a libel action against the Jewish group, due in the High Court next year.

In an out-of-court settlement, the Jewish group published a retraction and a public apology on its website, saying that it should not have described the London-based Interpal in this way.

"We would like to make it clear that we should not have described Interpal in this way and we regret the upset and distress our item caused," the Jewish group said in a statement.

Interpal, raises funds for humanitarian, educational and medical projects in the Palestinian territories. The organization, which spends about £5m a year, insists that it keeps records and audit trails of how its Palestinian partners spend the money.

The row with the Jewish body started after the U.S. Treasury Department claimed that Interpal funds Hamas, the strongest resistance group in the Palestinian territories. Washington also said it would freeze the charity’s assets in the U.S. and banned its citizens from dealing with the organization.

The Charity Commission, Britain’s watchdog, froze the charity's assets and opened an investigation. It later cleared Interpal, saying the U.S. hadn’t been able to prove its claims.

However, the U.S. Treasury has kept Interpal on its list of suspected organizations.

“We are extremely pleased to have won such an important and long-running battle - all that we ever wanted was an apology to clear the charity's name”, said Ibrahim Hewitt, chairman of Interpal.

"We are glad that we can now put the Board of Deputies' attack upon the charity behind us and can focus our energies entirely upon Interpal's essential relief work."

[Muezzin]

Heh, nothing like sticking in to a liar.

The Charity Commission, Britain’s watchdog, froze the charity's assets and opened an investigation. It later cleared Interpal, saying the U.S. hadn’t been able to prove its claims.

I find this ironic. After all, it's not like they needed proof weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq :p

However, the U.S. Treasury has kept Interpal on its list of suspected organizations.

Next charity on Washington's hit-list - Oxfam. :p