An NGO affiliated with the Palestinian terror organization Hamas is likely to be accredited to operate at the United Nations, Gerald Steinberg, president of the watchdog organization NGO Monitor, wrote today in The New York Post. Adding to the scandal, the move to have the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) join the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is sponsored by Sudan, whose leader Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Court for genocide.

Acceptance of the PRC to the council would mean that “the group’s leaders would receive open access to UN facilities in New York, Geneva and elsewhere, as well as the right to participate in committee meetings (including at the Human Rights Council).” The PRC, which is based in London, has close ties to Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who congratulated the group when it passed a preliminary vote to join the council.

But the links between Hamas terror operations and the PRC go much deeper than that. In December 2010, then-Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared the PRC to be an “unlawful association” for its involvement “in initiating and organizing radical and violent activity against Israel in Europe, while de-legitimizing Israel’s status as a nation among the European community.” …

According to detailed reports published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Information Center, Majed al-Zeer is a “Hamas activist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain. He is the PRC’s General Director and a member of its Board of Trustees . . . He was a Hamas activist in Judea and Samaria after the movement was established. As far as we know, he maintained relations with Hamas after he settled in Britain.”

[Sheikh Majdi] Akeel, a member of PRC’s board of trustees, is also an activist with Interpal, which sends money to Hamas. Interpal is designated as a terror organization by the United States. Ghassan Faour is also on Interpal’s board of trustees.

Given recent terror attacks in European cities, Steinberg warned, “steps in legitimizing groups associated with Hamas, the Islamic State and Hezbollah add to the threat.” He called upon the democracies on the council, including as the United States, to vote against accepting PRC in ECOSOC in order to prevent Hamas from taking “a disturbing step toward international legitimacy.”

[Photo: promich / Flickr ]