Treasury Sanctions a Hamas-Supporting Nonprofit With Ties to South Africa

“The South African government does not have any relationship with Hamas.” The South African ambassador to Qatar, Ghulam Hoosein Asmal, made this claim in 2024 despite having met with a delegation from the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA).

On January 21, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the PCPA, a senior PCPA official, and six other nonprofits for supporting Hamas. Asmal might want to revisit the 2024 letter of appreciation he received from the Hamas-supporting nonprofit before claiming that South Africa has no ties to the Iran-backed terrorist group. He might also recall that South Africa hosted Hamas delegations in 2015, 2018, 2023, and 2024 for an anti-Zionist conference that was attended by PCPA and officials from the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Treasury Designates Hamas-Linked Nonprofits

Treasury responded to “Hamas’s insidious practice of operating behind civilian organizations” by designating six nonprofits for supporting Hamas’s military operations. Treasury also sanctioned the PCPA and senior PCPA official Zaher Birawi (though not the EuroPal Forum that he heads), stating that the group serves as part of Hamas’s international outreach and that Hamas assisted with funding for the PCPA’s inaugural meeting. Treasury noted the PCPA’s involvement in the flotilla campaign to “break Israel’s security cordon around Gaza.” Treasury previously sanctioned Hamas individuals involved in the PCPA, while Israel sanctioned the PCPA in 2021.

PCPA’s South African Angle

Asmal, Pretoria’s envoy in Doha, met with PCPA representatives, including Hisham Abu Mahfouz and Ziad Al Aloul, in the Qatari capital in January 2024. The PCPA delivered a letter of appreciation to Asmal offering gratitude for his country’s lawfare campaign against Israel. Asmal responded by thanking the PCPA for its encouraging words. On the same day as his meeting with the PCPA, Asmal met with a delegation of the families of Palestinian terrorists killed, wounded, or imprisoned by Israel for their offenses.

A PCPA delegation including Mahfouz and Al Aloul traveled to South Africa in May 2024 to participate in an anti-Zionist conference at which Birawi spoke. Members of the ruling ANC, of which Asmal is a member, attended the conference as well. At the conference, the then-South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor was spotted rubbing elbows with Emad Saber, Hamas’s representative to South Africa. Saber previously appeared on a PCPA panel in Istanbul in 2019.

The South Africa-Hamas Nexus

South Africa’s relations with Hamas extend well beyond Asmal’s meeting with the PCPA. Just 10 days after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, Pandor spoke with Hamas’s leader to discuss aid delivery to Gaza.

South Africa also hosts a network of organizations with apparent ties to Hamas. At the center of this web is Ebrahim Gabriels, the leader of Al-Quds Foundation of South Africa. Gabriels is a former leader of the Muslim Judicial Council — the president of which has declared “,We are all Hamas,” — and the Al-Aqsa Foundation of South Africa. Treasury sanctioned the Al-Aqsa Foundation and its South African branch in 2003 for supporting Hamas. Similar sanctions for support of Hamas were imposed on the Al-Quds Foundation — though not its South African branch — in 2012.

Additional Hamas Targets

While the sanctions announcement was a welcome development, Treasury should consider designating other individuals and entities for operating on behalf of Hamas. These should include Ebrahim Gabriels and Emad Saber, as well as the PCPA’s Hisham Abu Mahfouz, Mohammed Mushanish, and Ziad Al Aloul. Treasury could also update the Al-Quds Foundation’s listing on the Specially Designated Nationals list to include the group’s South African branch or specifically designate the Al-Quds Foundation of South Africa for being controlled by, and acting on behalf of, Hamas.

The United States should also warn South Africa about its diplomats being overly cozy with individuals linked to a U.S.-designated terrorist group. The State Department should consider investigating the extent to which South Africa’s diplomatic corps may maintain ties to other Hamas-linked individuals and entities.

David May is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Melissa Sacks is a senior research analyst. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow David on X @DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.