In Yemen, for the second year, the radio station SAM FM (a Houthi-owned station) conducted a fundraising campaign for the Houthi rebels during Ramadan. MEMRI.org has a lengthy account of that fundraising here.
During the campaign, the station devotes a daily program to fundraising, which according to the pro-Houthi Yemeni press, is very popular and has even scored top ratings. The campaign is also widely advertised by the station, on its two Telegram channels, each of which has over 2,000 members (the station’s Facebook page has been shut down). It is also advertised on billboards in the Houthi-held areas, and the station has circulated a telephone and Whatsapp number (770991991) for the campaign.
Donations can be made to a Postal Bank account no. 555555, and can apparently also be handed to activists who collect them on the streets. In addition to cash, gold, and even vehicles have been donated for the benefit of the Houthi fighters as well. According to the Houthi rebels’ news agency, last year’s campaign and this year’s together have yielded a total of over 200 million Yemeni rials (about $800,000), about 30,300,000 ($120,000) of which was collected during the first 10 days of this year’s campaign, which focused on supporting the Houthi military industry, missile units, drones, air defense forces, naval forces, and coast guard. To demonstrate that the donations have indeed been deposited in the campaign account, the station director, Hamoud Muhammad Sharaf, posted a photo of the deposit receipt on his Facebook page.
On the 19th day of Ramadan SAM FM launched another fundraising campaign, dedicated to Hezbollah. Station director Sharaf said that devoting part of the fundraising to Hezbullah would be “a surprise and a painful blow for the Zionist entity, enemy of the Arab and Muslim nation… [and would] have an immense impact in terms of strengthening the resistance axis.” He assessed that the response would be extensive, saying: “We have great faith in the Yemeni people’s sense of responsibility towards the issues of the [Islamic] nation... and in its belief in the principle of being loyal towards those who showed it loyalty amid the oppressive aggression and the criminal siege we have been facing for the past four years… The Yemeni people will never disappoint the leader of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah. This is in accordance with the statements of the commander of the [Houthi] revolution, [‘Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi], who declared [on July 7, 2017] that ‘we are loyal’ and expressed the willingness of the Yemeni people to dispatch troops to [participate in] any future military confrontation [waged by] Hizbullah in Lebanon or in Palestine with the Israeli enemy.” Sharaf confirmed the reports about the economic crisis Hezbollah is suffering due to the U.S. sanctions on it and on its sponsor Iran, saying that the organization is in financial “distress” because it is being punished for supporting the Palestinian cause and the Yemeni people.
According to the anti-Houthi Yemeni website Yemen60.com, the station presenters exhort the audience to support “the leaders of jihad in the world [and] the world’s purest people, Hizbullah,” by asking: “Are you a Yemeni? Are you among the loyal? If you are, be part of attaining the victory. In the spirit of the jihad fighter Hassan Nasrallah and based on the principle that loyalty deserves loyalty, we call upon all the Yemeni people to take a large and active part in the popular donation campaign [for Hezbollah].” The station also took advantage of International Qods Day, which is marked by the supporters of Iran’s Islamic Revolution on the last Friday of Ramadan, to promote the campaign.
It seems that, contrary to the organizer’s expectations, the response to it was sparse. A week after the start of the campaign for Hezbollah, the station posted on its Telegram channel a receipt for 43,300 rials (about $173) that had been deposited in the postal bank account. The small yield apparently motivated the station to extend the campaign, which was supposed to end on the last day of Ramadan, until June 30, “in response to popular demand.”
173 dollars! How many weapons will that ludicrous sum buy the Hezbollah fighters? One rifle? One pistol? How much fear will that amount of fundraising instill in the “Zionist entity”? The campaign has been extended, to run beyond the 19th day of Ramadan to the end of June, because of “popular demand.” So the fundraising campaign for Hezbollah began on May 24, and now runs until June 30 — a total of five weeks. Let’s suppose $173 is raised in each of those five weeks, which would bring the total raised among the Houthis for Hezbollah to $865, not enough to pay for even one rifle. The IDF is unlikely to lose much sleep over that.
Hezbollah must now be frantic. Such a comical result of the fundraising on its behalf in Yemen makes clear that the terrorist organization is now very much on its own. Its main financial backer, Iran, is itself reeling financially from the re-imposition of American sanctions, and has since the beginning of 2019 drastically cut back on funds for Hezbollah. Its fighters have seen their salaries cut, first by a third, and now in half, with more cuts undoubtedly to come. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has been reduced to having its members manning donation buckets on street corners. In Europe, as Hezbollah’s military wing has now been banned everywhere, it is unable to conduct a fundraising campaign to support Hezbollah fighters and pay for weapons. And in Yemen, as we have just seen, where the Houthis are always preaching Shi’a solidarity, the fundraising for Hezbollah on the Houthi radio station, and on billboards, amounted in its first week to a flabbergasting $173.
Hezbollah’s remaining sources of income are drug trafficking and money laundering. Hezbollah has long been involved in the heroin trade in Asia’s Golden Triangle, but now it is even more extensively involved in the cocaine trade, receiving drugs from South American suppliers, chiefly in Colombia (the Colombian-Lebanese drug lord, Ayman Jourmaa, has been linked both to Hezbollah and to the Mexican drug gang Los Zetas), and delivering them to American and European distributors. Hezbollah has also been involved in smuggling Lebanese, not necessarily Hezbollah members or even Shia, for money, into the United States. It has been able to smuggle its own operatives into the U.S., by obtaining from the Maduro government false papers showing them to be Venezuelan citizens. Once in the U.S., among their other tasks, these operatives raise money among wealthy Shi’a that is then transferred back to Hezbollah in Lebanon,.
A key figure in the false-papers effort, as well as in Hezbollah’s cocaine trafficking and money laundering, is one of Maduro’s closest confidants, Venezuelan Industry Minister Tareck El Aissami. He has been investigated for his alleged ties to the country’s criminal underworld and to Hezbollah, which years ago expanded its presence beyond the Triple Frontier area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay to include operations within Venezuela.
Leaked documents from the American government say that El Aissami and his family helped move Hezbollah operatives into Venezuela, worked with a drug lord, and shielded 140 tons of chemicals believed to be used for cocaine production from authorities.
Testimony of informants in files provided to the New York Times by one of Venezuela’s most senior intelligence officials claimed that El Aissami and his father recruited Hezbollah members to expand spy and drug trafficking networks in the region. If Maduro is overthrown, El Aissami will have to face trial for aiding drug traffickers and internationally-recognized terrorists. Most likely he will flee the country, and return to Lebanon, with whatever loot he can manage to seize from Venezuelan government coffers.
Hezbollah does not smuggle only hard drugs, heroin and cocaine; it has also been the main producer of hashish in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, which is exported to Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. As a profitable sideline, it runs one of the largest cigarette smuggling operations in the Western Hemisphere.
If the Maduro government is finally overturned, and is replaced by a constitutional democracy headed by Juan Guaido — who has expressed support for Israel and a desire to shut down Hezbollah’s Venezuelan connection — he will promptly end the false-papers program, and also be able to identify for American authorities those Hezbollah members, now in the U.S., who had been provided by Maduro’s people with Venezuelan passports, birth certificates, and other false papers. The roundup of such operatives will shut off one more source of Hezbollah funds, the money raised by the “Venezuelans” from wealthy Shi’a in the U.S. Hezbollah has bet the farm on Maduro (given their longstanding ties, they could hardly abandon him now), coming out — like so many of the Arabs — in full support of his ruthless dictatorship. If he falls, and Guaido shuts down Hezbollah’s drug smuggling, money laundering, and false-papers production in Venezuela, it will be a great loss to the group.
But let’s look on the bright side. In Yemen, the loyal Houthis answered the call to support their Hezbollah brothers, and provided them — in only their first week of fundraising! — with a grand total of $173. I am sure that Hassan Nasrallah was deeply impressed. I know I was.
mortimer says
Worldwide, about 15% of Muslims express support for Islamic terror groups. In Yemen, it must be somewhat higher. Statistics might be hard to get there due to a war going on.
It only takes a large minority of a population to make a revolution as long as they are strongly motivated. That is why Western governments should start undermining the beliefs of Islam through clandestine means. Muslims can be deprogrammed if we will make the effort, but it must come from the top and have the approval of Western governments in concert. We must MATCH and EXCEED (in counterjihad) what the Organization of the Islamic Conference is doing in terms of their jihadist propaganda.
We MUST NOT allow the Muslims to make propaganda against us unopposed.
CRUSADER says
In bigger money, also having to do with Shia forces,
$100 million U.S. drone shot down by Iran….
https://www.foxnews.com/world/us-navy-drone-shot-down-by-iranian-missile-over-strait-of-hormuz-source
Angemon says
What are the odds that a large portion of the donations was “lost” into the organizer’s pockets on its their way to the bank account?
smooth lee says
“a large portion of the donations was “lost” into the organizer’s pockets”
Nooooo, that sort of thing wouldn’t happen there; that would be dishonest.
gravenimage says
In cases of Jihad terror, it is actually better if someone is just pocketing some of the take.
WPM says
It is interesting that Hezbollah main source of income is drug traffic between drug producing countries and getting the drugs into Europe and North America .The world,s largest drug shipment( over a Billion dollars worth) of cocaine was intercepted the other day in ship at Philadelphia P.A. Port was on its way to the Netherlands it pick up the coke in Peru . I hope if it was connected to Hezbollah that it is made public .Our new fresh faces(AOC and the two Jihadist newly elected from the Midwest ) in congress trying to paint these terrorist groups as freedom fighters is getting old fast .
mortimer says
Islam sees nothing wrong with giving drugs to corrupt the dirty kufaar.
gravenimage says
Spot on, Mortimer.
Paul N Silas says
Actually Hezbollah has a very large group of men in Venezuela and Columbia helping out FARC with the drug trade and murdering any pro-freedom protesters.
smooth lee says
I at first thought $173 was probably a headline typo, thinking it was supposed to have been $173K. Hahaha, $173, that is funny, though there’s noting funny about hateful, savage, murderous Hezbollah and the Houthi.
CRUSADER says
Also chump change is the currency given to Farcebook “monitors”….
Here is a horrific story:
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“We were bodies in seats. We were nothing to them — at all.”
A dozen current and former Facebook moderators described a filth-ridden, emotionally disturbing, high-stress work environment where they received little support from managers and an extreme amount of pressure to accurately moderate the never-ending firehose of despicable hate speech, graphic violence against humans and animals, and child pornography on the social network — often leaving them with post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions.
The contractors, part of Facebook’s army of about 15,000 content moderators worldwide, work for a company called Cognizant, and receive about $28,000 per year to police the site as part of the Mark Zuckerberg-led company’s two-year, $200 million contract with the tech giant, a source told The Verge. The New Jersey-based Cognizant has a market capitalization of $34.6 billion and is one of several large firms that provide digital moderation services to Silicon Valley players.
The ubiquitous social network, which has faced criticism from all corners for its content moderation mistakes and for the massive rulebook that guides moderators, relies on contract labor for most content policing. Moderators are expected to maintain a 95 to 98 percent accuracy rate while reviewing more than 1,000 posts per week to see if they violate Facebook’s community standards.
Keith Utley, a former Coast Guard lieutenant commander who worked an overnight shift moderating content at one of Cognizant’s sites in Tampa, Fla., faced that same pressure to meet the accuracy target in removing content that’s in violation.
The night of March 9, 2018, Utley slumped over at this desk. His colleagues reportedly performed CPR, but by the time the ambulance arrived at the office complex, which is set back from the main road, the 42-year-old had already begun to turn blue. He died shortly thereafter at the hospital, leaving behind a wife and two daughters.
“The stress they put on him — it’s unworldly,” one of Utley’s managers told The Verge. “I did a lot of coaching. I spent some time talking with him about things he was having issues seeing. And he was always worried about getting fired.”
Utley’s death is one of several horror stories current and former moderators shared with The Verge; at least three broke their non-disclosure agreements in order to do so.
At the site in Tampa, on top of all the disturbing video-watching, workers reportedly faced two separate bed bug infestations, saw “bodily waste” regularly at workstations, witnessed menstrual blood and feces smeared on bathroom walls, saw numerous verbal and physical altercations break out, witnessed an employee threaten to “shoot up the building” in a group chat, and described an atmosphere that was like a “sweatshop.”
Facebook bans white nationalism and white separatism / Video —
Another moderator who was interview by The Verge, 23-year-old Shawn Speagle, made $15 per hour moderating between 100 and 200 posts per day. Some of what he told the Verge he had to watch: puppies being thrown into a raging river, teenagers smashing an iguana onto the ground to kill it, putting lit fireworks into dogs’ mouths and chopping off a cat’s face with a hatchet.
“The iguana was screaming and crying,” Speagle said, adding that he used to volunteer at animal shelters. “And they didn’t stop until the thing was a bloody pulp.”
The iguana post was allowed to remain on Facebook.
“For our associates who opt to work in content moderation, we are transparent about the work they will perform,” a Cognizant spokesman told The Verge. “They are made aware of the nature of the role before and during the hiring process, and then given extensive and specific training before working on projects.”
A different group of content moderators employed by Cognizant in Phoenix, Ariz., reported PTSD-like symptoms in February from the horrifying images and fringe content they viewed as part of their work. Regardless of how Cognizant responds to moderators’ complaints, Facebook will continue to use a combination of artificial intelligence and human-powered judgment to distinguish between what is and is not allowed on its platform.
“I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to work there,” KC Hopkinson, an attorney who represents several former and current Cognizant employees, told the tech news site. “It’s a terrible, terrible environment.”
The attorney also said that when her clients have reported incidents to Cognizant’s human resources department, they’ve been ignored or retaliated against. (“We take allegations such as this very seriously,” a company spokesman told The Verge. “Cognizant strives to create a safe and empowering workplace.”)
In the past, Facebook has said the working conditions described at these sites do not correctly reflect the daily lives of the majority of its workers. The tech giant reportedly plans to launch a new audit system for its contractor sites this year and in May announced that it will raise contractor wages by $3 per hour, make on-site counselors available during all hours of operation, and develop further programs for its contractor workforce.
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/facebook-moderator-dies-horrific-videos-others-share-disturbing-incidents
Walter Sieruk says
No matter how much money that violent and deadly jihad organization, Hezbollah, is able to raise its still fated to fail in its Islamic agenda of destroying the State of Israel and replacing with Islamic “state.” The reason that Hezbollah will lose in the end and lose hard is because the members of those jihad terror entity are striving against the Will of God. The members who make up Hezbollah might be too ignorant to know this; nevertheless, the truth is the God had given all land that now composes the State of Israel, including all of the Golan Heights as well as the West Bank, to the Jewish people. This may be found in the Bible, as seen in, for example, Genesis 28:13-15. 35:10-12. Deuteronomy 32:48,49. Psalm 105:7-11. In other words the Jews have all this land by Divine Right. Furthermore, the Jewish people should have this land by historic rights as shown in First Kings 4:20,21, 24,25. 8:55, 56.
As the Bible informs its reader in Psalm 135:4. “For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself. Israel for His special treasure.” [N.K.J.V.]
David says
Here is some good news, all the way from China: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-china-48696184/faith-in-ruins-china-s-vanishing-mosques