Hiding in Plain Sight: A Playbook for Combating Hamas in South Africa

Hamas has found a friend in South Africa. The country’s historically dominant African National Congress (ANC) political party maintains close ties with the terrorist group and provides Hamas with crucial diplomatic and political cover. This allows Hamas to raise funds and advance its ideology in Africa and beyond. All of this is compounded by the systemic corruption plaguing South Africa.

This is not the South Africa the world once celebrated — the country that dismantled apartheid and peacefully transitioned to democracy under Nelson Mandela’s leadership. That South Africa inspired hope. Today’s South Africa enables terror, fuels corruption, and aligns with authoritarian regimes. Its embrace of Hamas marks the clearest break from South Africa’s promise, turning a symbol of freedom into a shield for terrorists.

The U.S. government should respond to this challenge with a combination of diplomatic pressure and targeted sanctions that would restrict the operations of key Hamas supporters in South Africa. Likewise, the United States should pressure the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to keep South Africa on its grey list at its upcoming plenary session in October. The illicit finance watchdog added South Africa to its grey list in 2023 for deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counterterror financing regimes.¹

Decades of ANC Support for Hamas

Shortly after Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, ANC-led South Africa became one the few countries to forge ties with the Hamas-led Palestinian government.² ANC officials still regularly host and meet with high-level delegations from Hamas.

Nearly a decade later, in 2015, ANC leaders welcomed senior Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Mousa Abu Marzouk for the signing of a letter of intent aimed at strengthening ties between the two groups.³ While in South Africa, Mashaal spoke at an ANC-organized conference and promised that Hamas would continue its wave of “Jerusalem intifada” attacks against Israel.⁴ Three years later, in 2018, the groups signed a memorandum of understanding to advance the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.⁵ The ANC also committed to working in South Africa’s parliament to downgrade its embassy in Israel. South Africa has not had an ambassador in Israel since signing its 2018 agreement with Hamas, prompting it to later shut down the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv in 2023.⁶

Additionally, just 10 days after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel, South Africa’s then Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor spoke by phone with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.⁷ She has said that the purpose of the call was to discuss humanitarian aid in Gaza. Soon after, in December 2023, members of a Hamas delegation — including Emad Saber, Basem Naim, and Khaled Qaddoumi — met with senior figures from the ANC at the party’s headquarters.⁸ The general secretary of the South African Communist Party, Solly Mapaila, also participated.

Then, in January 2024, South African Ambassador to Qatar Ghulam Hoosein Asmal (himself a member of the ANC) met with and received a formal letter of appreciation from representatives of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), a group that Israel designated in 2022 as a Hamas proxy.⁹ The letter praised South Africa’s lawfare against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Dated January 16, 2024, the letter was presented on the same day that Asmal met with a delegation of Palestinian families whose relatives included “martyrs, prisoners, and wounded” individuals.¹⁰

The Sanctions and Pressure Playbook

The United States should respond to South Africa’s growing support for Hamas with targeted economic sanctions aimed at the organization’s key enablers on the ground. Likewise, the United States should investigate the individuals and entities whose actions suggest alignment with Hamas, if not direct support. Lastly, the United States should increase diplomatic pressure on South Africa through bilateral and multilateral channels to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Sanction Hamas Representative Emad Saber

Emad Saber serves as Hamas’s official representative in South Africa and is the organization’s international relations director for East, Central, and Southern Africa.¹¹ Saber publicly defended Hamas’s attacks on October 7, 2023, claiming the group was engaged in legitimate resistance and denying that it targeted civilians.¹² He has appeared at high-profile political and solidarity events in South Africa, including meetings with ANC members such as then Foreign Minister Nalendi Pandor and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema.¹³ Saber’s participation in these engagements underscores his role as a central liaison for Hamas in South Africa. Saber has also been active in international Hamas-linked groups, such as the Israeli-sanctioned PCPA.¹⁴

Designating Saber would create greater sanctions risk for Western-linked financial institutions in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent implicated in Saber’s Hamas-related activity.

Designate Al-Quds Foundation South Africa

Al-Quds Foundation South Africa (AQFSA) is a branch of the Al-Quds International Foundation (AQIF). The U.S. Treasury designated AQIF in 2012 for being controlled by and acting on behalf of Hamas.¹⁵ AQFSA, formally registered as a nonprofit in South Africa since 2009, engages in fundraising and political activities aligned with Hamas’s interests. It advertises rallies supporting “martyrs” and Hamas leaders, promotes speeches by notable South Africans like Mandla Mandela (a grandson of Nelson Mandela) urging support for Palestinian “resistance,” and circulates Hamas propaganda through social media. AQFSA joined the ANC in 2015 in hosting a Hamas delegation led by then Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.¹⁶ AQFSA’s fundraising efforts have reportedly directed donations to accounts at Western-linked financial institutions. Its activities appear to directly benefit Hamas by raising money for orphans and widows of Hamas fighters and publicizing pro-Hamas messaging.

Designating AQFSA as a branch of AQIF would prevent the group from accessing traditional financial channels and signal that groups like AQFSA operating under the AQIF umbrella will face significant pressure from the United States for operating on behalf of Hamas.

Sanction Ebrahim Gabriels

Ebrahim Gabriels, the director of AQFSA, is a prominent South African cleric and longtime Hamas supporter who has provided material and ideological support to the group for decades. He previously chaired the Al-Aqsa Foundation of South Africa, which the United States sanctioned in 2003, and served on the board of the Union of Good, a Hamas-controlled network designated in 2008.¹⁷ He was previously president of the Muslim Judicial Council, which is a member of the Union of Good, according to material on the union’s website from 2003.¹⁸ Gabriels openly praises Hamas and its October 7 attackers, describing them as devout Muslims whose actions were righteous and connected to Allah.¹⁹ He has hosted Hamas leaders in South Africa, including Meshaal, and used public speeches and social media to defend Hamas as a legitimate resistance movement.²⁰ As director of AQFSA, Gabriels facilitates fundraising and public advocacy for Hamas-linked initiatives.

Designating Gabriels would block his access to the international financial system and disrupt his leadership of pro-Hamas activities in South Africa.

Investigate the Media Review Network and Its Leadership

Founded in 1995, the Media Review Network is a South African “think tank” and advocacy group whose mission is to “dispel the myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding among the diverse people of our country.” MRN’s ties to Hamas have been clear for more than two decades. In 2001, members of the MRN wrote about how members of its team visited with Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin in Gaza.²¹ In 2024, MRN founder Firoz Osman was pictured with Haniyeh at a meeting in Turkey.²² After the meeting, MRN posted, “The MRN believes that the immense courage, dignity and determination of the just cause of the Palestinians will end in victory and the demise of the Zionists.”

On October 7, 2023, MRN posted a message from Saber, the Hamas representative in South Africa, in which he encouraged MRN readers to support Hamas financially and congratulated the Muslim Judicial Council and other South African organizations for their support.²³ That same year, when the Hamas delegation visited South Africa, MRN published a phone number for anyone interested in conducting interviews with senior members of Hamas.²⁴ MRN has also published a Hamas pamphlet and distributed it at a conference in South Africa, saying it was doing so “in solidarity with Hamas.”²⁵ Additionally, in April 2025, MRN supported a failed effort to delist Hamas as a terrorist group in the United Kingdom.²⁶

Treasury should investigate the extent to which South Africa’s Media Review Network and its leadership, including Osman, may be acting or purporting to act on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas.

Investigate Mandla Mandela

ANC member Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela is the tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and the grandson of Nelson Mandela. He has been very vocal about his support for Hamas and antagonism toward Israel. He has also been repeatedly pictured with various Hamas senior leaders, including Mashaal and Marzook.²⁷ In a February 2025 meeting in Doha, Mandela met with Hamas senior leadership to discuss South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. He has also served as a board member for the League for Parliamentarians for Al Quds and Palestine, a Turkish-based organization whose leader Hamid Abdullah Hussein al Ahmar was recently designated for his ties to Hamas.²⁸ In August 2024, he attended Hamas leader Haniyeh’s funeral in Qatar.²⁹ In October 2024, the United Kingdom denied Mandela entry, reportedly due to his support for Hamas.³⁰

Treasury should investigate the extent to which Mandla Mandela may be acting or purporting to act on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas.

Investigate Imtiaz Sooliman and Gift of the Givers

Imtiaz Sooliman, founder and director of Gift of the Givers, was recently appointed to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s National Dialogue.³¹ Gift of the Givers calls itself “the largest disaster response, non-governmental organisation of African origin on the African continent,” and claims to have distributed $320 million in 47 countries over 32 years.³² However, Gift of the Givers was identified as part of the Union of Good as early as November 2002, according to the union’s website.³³ The United States sanctioned the Union of Good six years later, noting that “the leadership of Hamas created the Union of Good in late-2000, shortly after the start of the second intifada, in order to facilitate the transfer of funds to Hamas.”³⁴ In 1991, prior to founding Gift of the Givers, Sooliman founded the South African branch of the Al-Aqsa Foundation.³⁵ The United States sanctioned the Al-Aqsa Foundation and its South African branch in 2003.³⁶ Sooliman also received an honor from leading Muslim Brotherhood-aligned cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi in 2011, and has repeatedly made antisemitic statements, alleging that the “Zionists … run the world with fear. They control the world with money.”³⁷

Treasury should investigate the extent to which South Africa’s Gift of the Givers and its leadership, including Sooliman, may be acting or purporting to act on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas.

Pressure South Africa to Designate Hamas as a Terrorist Group

South Africa does not maintain its own list of terrorist entities, instead opting to follow the UN Security Council list, which does not include Hamas. This gap has allowed Hamas to operate freely on South African soil. Washington should pressure Pretoria to sanction Hamas as a terrorist organization and cease its provision of political and diplomatic support to Hamas officials.