To Nayfa Shatat, the widowed mother of 11, Hebron’s biggest Islamic charity is a lifeline: It schools her daughters and helps feed her family. To Israel, the Islamic Charitable Association is a front for the Islamic militant group Hamas, promoting the movement’s violent ideology in its schools and funding extremist activity against Israel.
Early Wednesday, Israeli soldiers raided a sewing workshop run by the association, seizing sewing machines and bolts of cloth, witnesses said. The army said the workshop was used to raise money for militants.While the association denies any links with Hamas, the military says it plans to close all the charity’s operations, which include a boarding school for 600 disadvantaged children, several day schools and a bakery.
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