Over $29K In Donations Came from Gaza To Obama Campaign

Atlas Shrugs broke this story last week about the questionable donations by a Monir Edwan of Rafah, GA to Barack Obama’s campaign.

There is no Rafah, Georgia. It’s Rafah, GAZA. And the donations exceeded the allowed limits.

Pamala promised to file a complaint with the FEC “either alone or through an organization”.

Aaron Klein of WND picked up the story:

The Edwans’ donations are listed in both FEC filings and other election filing sites, such as CampaignMoney and donordata.org.

Monir made 20 donations ranging from $717 to $2017.50 from October through November 2007. His donations totaled $24321.41. Hosam made seven donations ranging from $508.63 to $1725.96, totaling $5,200.13, all in October 2007.

Mind you, donations of this kind violate election laws, including “prohibitions on receiving contributions from foreigners and guidelines against accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election” according to a Federal Election Commission official contacted by Klein.

A WND investigation tracked down the Edwans, who are brothers living in the Tal Esaltan neighborhood of Rafah, a large refugee camp in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The Edwans are a large clan that include top Hamas supporters.

Speaking to WND, the two brothers praised Obama and admitted giving the money online to his campaign. They said they are not U.S. citizens or green card holders but are citizens of “Palestine.”

The Edwans denied they are affiliated with Hamas. Palestinian sources in Gaza confirmed the Edwans in question are secular, but could not say whether they supported Hamas.

Monir and Hasam Edwan denied their financial transactions online – listed as donations in U.S. government election filings – were actual donations to Obama’s campaign. Instead they claimed they purchased about $30,000 in Obama T-shirts from the presidential candidate’s online store – a contention that did not hold up during a WND interview, when they changed their story several times.

“My brother Hosam and I knew that Obama will be a big hit even before he became a candidate. We knew the guy would be a celebrity in Gaza so we decided to invest the amount of $29,000 to buy Obama T-shirts from his website and sell them in Gaza,” Monir Edwan told WND, speaking by cell phone from Gaza.

“I know on the back of this story Obama rivals will present our business as a donation and they will try to use this story to let Obama fall, but I’m telling you, we bought T-shirts,” Edwan maintained.

Edwan said any profit made from purportedly selling the Obama T-shirts was not returned to the Obama campaign.

“We have nothing to do with the Obama campaign. We just like Obama and believe he will be the best for the Palestinians and for the world.”

At first Monir Edwan claimed he sold the T-shirts in Gaza for around $9 and that a profit was made.

“Some young men even bought the T-shirts for 60 shekel ($17.29), which is a lot to spend in Gaza on a T-shirt, but that is how much Gazans like Obama,” Edwan claimed.

But it was pointed out to Edwan the T-shirts for sale on Obama’s website are listed as $20.08 and that selling the merchandise for less would not yield a profit.

“Maybe we sold the shirts for a lot more. I can’t remember now,” said Edwan.

Asked why he would purchase T-shirts at such a high rate and pay the cost of shipping when he could pay a company to produce T-shirts for less, Edwan replied, “We wanted the shirts to come from the campaign.”

Ooooookay. That, ladies and gentleman, I believe, is an example of what they call taqiyya. And it is being used by the Edwan brothers to defend the candidate of their choice, Barack Obama.

What is it, do you suppose these Gazans like so much about Obama?

Stop the ACLU, and Weasel Zippers have also picked up this story.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE:

Now the Wall Street Journal is covering it.