United Association for Studies and Research

The United Association for Studies and Research (UASR) was a think tank founded in Chicago in 1989. The group stated that it was committed "the study of ongoing issues in the Middle East, such as the Arab–Israeli conflict". Founded by Hamas politburo member Mousa Abu Marzook, the group has been described as a front operation for Hamas.^{[citation needed]} The organization is defunct.^[1]

Leadership

Marzook also founded the Holy Land Foundation, which was the subject of one of the country's largest and most successful terrorist financing trials.^[2]: 184

Ahmad Yousef served as the executive director of UASR and also as the editor of its quarterly journal, The Middle East Affairs Journal.^[3] He is the author of The End of the Jewish State: Just a Matter of Time.^[2]: 400

Controversy

In a 1993 New York Times article, Muhammad Salah, a Hamas terrorist convicted in Israel, stated that the political command of Hamas in the U.S. was the UASR. He also named Ahmad Yousef as the director of UASR and Mousa Abu Marzook as the political chief.^[2]: 195

In early 2000, the think tank was based in Springfield, Virginia.^[4]

In 2003, the Senate Finance Committee asked the Internal Revenue Service to provide its records on UASR and other Muslim groups as part of their investigation into non-governmental organizations and terrorist networks in the United States.^{[citation needed]}