The Raben Group and Islamic Relief Worldwide

The Raben Group has a long history of working with diverse organizations committed to improving the lives of people at risk. We have fought to end gun violence. We have fought for gay marriage.  We have fought to reduce obesity.  And we have been on the front lines in Congress on behalf of millions of African Americans, Latinos, Jewish Americans and LGBT Americans.   

We are selective about who we work with and take great pride in our many clients who spend their days helping others and working to protect and advance freedoms both here and abroad.   

{mosads}Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), a UK- based non-profit organization, provides humanitarian assistance in over forty countries, including the United States. 

Just like the Red Cross, they provide food, shelter and clean water to families and children around the world, often in dangerous conflict zones.   

IRW has robust protocols in place, including the use of the Thomson Reuters screening tools, to ensure that the resources it provides to its beneficiaries are not inappropriately diverted to other purposes.  IRW’s work is recognized and supported by many international and national bodies, including the governments of Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and the UN World Food Programme which is working with IRW in seven countries.   

IRW partners with CARE International, Lutheran Worldwide International, Oxfam, Save the Children, World Vision, and many other humanitarian organizations on a regular basis.  Neither the United States government nor the European Union have placed them on any list of proscribed organizations.  And their partner in the U.S., IR-USA, works with Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Despite these facts, we have been subject to a disgusting smear campaign by a New York publicist, who the Atlantic Monthly’s Jeffrey Goldberg dubbed “the most disreputable flack in New York City” who “represents the lunatic fringe.” He is waging his own jihad against my firm claiming I support terrorism because we have helped IRW. 

I will not stand for it.

My family and I have been Jewish for 6000 years, tortured in Spain, turned to ashes in Poland, and faced who knows what other horrors, because we are Jews.  I have worked in the cotton fields of a Kibbutz near K’far Saba during the 1982 Lebanon war, and contributed countless dollars to the State of Israel and charities there.  I do not endorse, condone, support, or come near any form of violence, period. 

It is sad that there are organized interests that spend so much time demonizing Muslims, religious and hard-working people who are mandated to give charity, just like Jews, to those in need. Though our work with IRW is complete, I will continue to work on behalf of people in need here in the United States and abroad.

Raben is president and founder of The Raben Group, a lobbying, consulting and public affairs firm based in Washington D.C.