Nicholas Woode-Smith – Sooliman must come clean
Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, has been lauded as a humanitarian but faces allegations of antisemitism and ties to terrorism. Critics point to his inflammatory rhetoric against Israel, support for Hamas, and lack of financial transparency. Questions over his charity's connections to Hamas-linked organizations and its operations in Gaza have raised concerns. To address these, Sooliman must allow an independent audit to clear doubts about funding misuse and extremist sympathies.
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
The seventh BizNews Conference, BNC#7, is to be held in Hermanus from March 11 to 13, 2025. The 2025 BizNews Conference is designed to provide an excellent opportunity for members of the BizNews community to interact directly with the keynote speakers, old (and new) friends from previous BNC events – and to interact with members of the BizNews team. Register for BNC#7 here.
By Nicholas Woode-Smith
Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, has cultivated a reputation as a humanitarian. An organiser of aid to the needy, and a generous individual who cares for his fellow man. Unless, of course, that man is a Jew.
Sooliman has been an outspoken critic of Israel since long before October 7th, where thousands of terrorists invaded Israel and committed rape and slaughter of innocents on a mass scale.
Sooliman has participated in Jew-hating marches, sharing podiums alongside open Hamas, ISIS and Hezbollah supporters, as he spouts conspiracy theories about how Zionists (a sneaky way of referring to Jews) control the world and the financial system. He has poo-pooed accusations of antisemitism as "boring", and paints the war against Israel as a just fight against oppression, ignoring historical facts.
He proudly declared on 5 October 2024: "We are all Hamas."
Rather than call for peace, Sooliman has repeatedly celebrated what he believes to be the inevitable obliteration of Israel. He has openly supported terrorist organisations that partake in orchestrated and planned rape and attempted genocide of Jews. On 7 October 2024, Sooliman demonstrated his contempt for peace and order, by stating:
"I don't follow international law or human law. I follow Koranic law. I'm a Muslim. I don't need any permission from anybody in the world to tell me what to do. I break the laws all the time."
And now, it seems that Sooliman may have been putting his money where his mouth is. Questions have arisen over Gift of the Givers' lack of transparency with their finances, refusal to publish financial statements or submit to independent audits, and the organisations ties to highly questionable organisations.
Sooliman himself founded the Al Aqsa International South Africa in 1991, an organisation founded to funnel money for Palestinian causes. South Africa and international intelligence agencies have recognised the link between Al Aqsa and Hamas, with the former acting as a cog in a money laundering scheme to direct funding towards a brutal terror group. In fact, in 2000, the contact number for Gift of the Givers and Al Aqsa were the same.
Gift of the Givers was founded soon after by Sooliman, where he ingratiated himself into South African civil society. Despite the reputation that Sooliman had cultivated for Gift of the Givers, it still worked closely with Al Aqsa, and the international Union of Good, an organisation designed to covertly funnel money to Hamas, and designated as a terrorist funder by the United States Treasury
It is not unusual for criminals and terrorists to use charity to cultivate a rapport with the population and governments to avoid conviction. Like Pablo Escobar's charity in his hometown, Sooliman has used charity internationally and in South Africa to draw attention away from his sympathies for Hamas, and his ties to Hamas-associated organisations.
Sooliman's associations don't end there. Gift of the Givers has a hefty presence in Gaza, where it has been involved in healthcare facilities that have been proven to be bases of operations for Hamas.
With the sheer scale of the military operations being undertaken from these bases disguised as hospitals, it is incredibly naïve to believe that Gift of the Givers officials did not know something, and chose to remain silent as Hamas used hospitals and patients as human shields to hide their bunkers under healthcare facilities.
What makes matters worse is that many Gift of the Givers staff members participated in the violent marches of return in the years leading up to October 7th.
Malik Regeila, Gift of the Givers' regional head, an avowed sympathiser of Hamas and hater of Israel, coordinated funding for Al Shifa Hospital – which has since been proven to be a base of operations for Hamas.
Sooliman has not tried to hide his skills at moving money, bragging: "We know how to move cash." A skill he has used to raise money for Gaza's relief effort, and likely being redirected to his associates in Hamas' infrastructure.
Due to Sooliman's refusal to come clean about his financials, and to rather hide behind a vitriolic and dogmatic hatred of Israel, and his connections to politicians and influential figures, we cannot be sure if Gift of the Givers is merely sympathetic to terrorism, or actively funding it.
What is clear is that if Sooliman wants to clear his name, he cannot keep arrogantly asserting that Zionists deserve all his scorn, but rather must allow an independent audit of his organisation, where he accounts for every cent.
As it stands, his rhetoric, and his questionable connections paint a dark picture. One where a charity organisation has been used to fund terror. And possibly, even paid for some of the bullets fired on October 7th 2023. The bullets that started this whole violent affair, and which Hamas and its allies are responsible for every death that followed.
Read also: