Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:34, 29 December 2024

Revision as of 12:36, 29 December 2024

Line 23:

During the 1990s, American politicians, including [[Chuck Schumer]] and [[Eliot Spitzer]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/spitzer-seeks-fed-probe-of-hamas-charity/|title=Spitzer Seeks Fed Probe of 'Hamas' Charity|website=[[The Jewish Week]]|date=October 1999}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-1996-06-13/html/CREC-1996-06-13-pt1-PgE1081-4.htm|title=Congressional Record, Volume 142 Issue 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)|website=www.govinfo.gov}}</ref> alongside the [[Cabinet of Israel|Israeli government]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/12/05/us-seizes-assets-of-3-islamic-groups/ad196eda-0bfc-4259-84f6-89d4ee60b888/ |title=U.S. Seizes Assets of 3 Islamic Groups |date=2001-12-05 |author1=Mike Allen |author2=Steven Mufson |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref> and Steve Emerson,<ref name="Fear, Inc.">{{cite web |url=http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/report/2011/08/26/10165/fear-inc/ |title=Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America |publisher=[[Center for American Progress]] |date=August 26, 2011 }}</ref> lobbied the U.S. government to take action against the Holy Land Foundation.<ref name=br>{{cite web |last=Bridge Initiative Team |title=Factsheet: Holy Land Foundation |url=https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-holy-land-foundation/ |website=Bridge: A Georgetown University Initiative |publisher=Georgetown University}}</ref> In December 2001, the U.S. designated HLF a terrorist organization, seized its assets, and closed the organization. At the time it was the largest Muslim charitable organisation in the United States. It had been under [[FBI]] surveillance since 1994, authorized under the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] ("FISA").<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2008/november/hlf112508|title=FBI — Holy Land Foundation Convictions}}</ref><ref name="ca5.uscourts.gov">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions%5Cpub%5C09/09-10560-CR0.wpd.pdf|title=Revised January 13, 2012 "The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit" United States of America vs Mohammad El-Mezain; Ghassan Elashi; Shukri Abu Bakr; Mufid Abdulqader; Abdulrahman Odeh; Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, also known as HLF. " No. 09-10560, Filed December 7, 2011, pg. 7}}</ref> In 2004, a federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas, charged HLF and five former officers and employees with providing material support to [[Hamas]] and related offenses. The government's assertion was that HLF distributed charity through local [[zakat]] (charity) committees located in the [[West Bank]] that paid stipends to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers and Hamas prisoners; that Hamas controlled those zakat committees; that by distributing charity through Hamas-controlled committees, HLF helped Hamas build a grassroots support amongst the Palestinian people; and that these charity front organizations served a dual purpose of laundering the money for all of Hamas's activities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions%5Cpub%5C09/09-10560-CR0.wpd.pdf|title=Revised January 13, 2012 "The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit" United States of America vs Mohammad El-Mezain; Ghassan Elashi; Shukri Abu Bakr; Mufid Abdulqader; Abdulrahman Odeh; Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, also known as HLF. " No. 09-10560, Filed December 7, 2011, pg. 8}}</ref>

Simultaneously, in November 2004, a U.S. [[Magistrate Judge]] Arlander Keys ruled that HLF, along with the [[Islamic Association of Palestine]] (IAP), were liable for athe 1996 killing of 17-year-old David Boim in Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-11-11-0411110231-story.html|title=3 Islamic fundraisers held liable in terror death|last=Cohen|first=Laurie|date=November 11, 2004 |website=chicagotribune.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref> This decision was the first time U.S. citizens or organizations were held liable under a 1990 federal law that permitted victims of terrorism to sue for civil damages.

The first trial, in 2007, ended in the partial [[acquittal]] of one defendant and a [[hung jury]] on all other charges. At a retrial in 2008, the jury found all defendants guilty on all counts. The 2008 trial of the charity leaders was the "largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history."<ref>[[Agence France-Presse]][https://web.archive.org/web/20110529023526/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQhamE6J-SM-obuNztsdmJD9imHQ November 24, 2008]</ref> In 2009, the founders of the organization were given sentences of between 15 and 65 years in prison for "funnelling $12 million to Hamas."<ref>[http://jta.org/news/article/2009/05/28/1005480/holy-land-founders-get-life-sentences#When:10:32:00Z "Holy Land founders get life sentences."] ''[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency|JTA]]''. May 28, 2009.</ref>