Hello all,Well, this is an announcement I never wanted to make

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

Hello all,

Well, this is an announcement I never wanted to make.

We discovered today that one of members, who, although he is from Gaza and a victim of genocide, has nevertheless not represented his current situation honestly. And I have had the terrible task of removing them and one of our new members, a friend of his, from Gaza Verified.

Now, before I tell you what happened, I want to stress this:

I am not saying they are not from Gaza or have not suffered from this genocide. What I am saying is that they have not been honest with us and thereby are no longer a part of the Gaza Verified group. If anyone needs verification that they are from Gaza, you can link to this post that states that we believe that they are.

The accounts are:

• @ahmedosama
• @ayaa7

And here’s what happened:

While trying to understand why Ahmed couldn’t connect to group video chats in Signal, I ended up looking up his IP address to check if he was using a VPN and saw that he was in Egypt. When I asked if he was using a VPN, he told me no. When I confronted him and asked if he was in Egypt instead of Gaza, he confessed. He stressed, however, that he did send the $1,200 we raised for him for a tent and land back to his family in Gaza. But it was not, as he had stated, because he and his son had evacuated from North Gaza to the South and needed shelter.

He had been in Egypt this whole time.

And that is unacceptable.

(We do have members from Gaza who are in Egypt and have family in Gaza but they have told us this openly and it is not a problem as we want to help support the evacuations of their families.)

His friend Aya, who is in Egypt and has family in Gaza, had just joined the group and knew of this deception. They are friends and both in Egypt.

In any case, a chain of distrust works the same way as a chain of trust, only in reverse.

I am taking great pains to do everything as openly and transparently as I possibly can. And that includes things like this.

Going forward, we are also implementing additional protocols for our verification process.

I have told Ahmed that I will take no further action against his Mastodon account or fundraiser if he updates his profile and his fundraiser to accurately present his current situation and he has agreed to this.

I have removed Ahmed and Aya from the Gaza Verified web site and they are no longer allowed to display the link. Should the links remain up, their verified status should expire when the Mastodon server/app caches for their profiles expire.

I am quite hurt by this personally but also angry as it means that I have lost today to dealing with this instead of preparing the campaign for next week and the last thing I want is families hurt because of it. Time is of the essence as families are being bombed by Israel nightly.

I will draw a line under this now and start afresh with preparing for next week’s campaign tomorrow.

Please, if you can, keep supporting us and our effort to save the families in the danger zone in the North and get them to relative safety in the South.

https://gaza-verified.org/emergency/

I will update you on my progress again tomorrow.

[professor_stevens@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@aral @ahmedosama @ayaa7

That is the kind of crystal clear transparency that lets real integrity show through. Money's a bit tight for me these days, but I sent a few dollars in response to this display of sincerity and honesty. The world needs more of it.

[ahmedosama@mastodon.social]

@aral @ayaa7

I sincerely apologize for my mistake. When asked if I was in North Gaza, I panicked and said yes, that was wrong. All donations I received were sent to my family in Gaza for displacement, a tent, and safety. I can provide proof and will return any amount if required. I am in Egypt with no income after losing my wife, three children, home, and work. Please don’t change your view of me or of Gaza. Thank you for your understanding.

[nizarus@mastodon.tn]

Thank you @aral for what you are doing and the transparency.
I'm sure that @ahmedosama and @ayaa7 need help and deserve to be helped, but there was no need to lie like that...

[ahmedosama@mastodon.social]

@nizarus @aral @ayaa7
Thank you. I admit my mistake, and admitting a mistake is not a shame. I am fully prepared to return any donation I have received, just give me some time. Please note that I transferred all the money to my family in Gaza for displacement. My dignity is above everything.
No amount of money can compensate me for the loss of my wife and my three children.

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

@ahmedosama @nizarus @ayaa7 Ahmed, there is no need to return the donations. I do believe you. And I had personally donated $1,000 so let’s say that’s what you received and you and your family have it with my blessing. Please give my love to Mohammed and your family and I wish only the best for you all.