Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:45, 22 June 2025

Revision as of 14:46, 22 June 2025

Line 22:

}}</ref> The organization's mission was to "find and implement practical solutions for human suffering through humanitarian programs that impact the lives of the disadvantaged, disinherited, and displaced peoples suffering from man-made and natural disasters."{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

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 organisationorganization 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, U.S. [[Magistrate Judge]] Arlander Keys ruled that HLF, along with the [[Islamic Association of Palestine]] (IAP), were liable for the 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.

Line 45:

=== Terrorism designation (2001–2008) ===

On December 4, 2001, under [[Executive Order 13224]] issued by President [[George W. Bush|Bush]], the Holy Land Foundation was designated a Domestic Terror OrganisationOrganization and closed down.<ref>Peled. p. 84</ref> According to the [[United States Department of Treasury]], HLF was making donations to Hamas run charities, ("[[zakat]] committees") and to schools "that served Hamas's ends by encouraging children to become [[suicide bomber]]s and to recruit suicide bombers by offering support to their families".<ref name="13224-e">{{cite web |url=http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/terrorist-illicit-finance/Documents/designationsum-.pdf |title=Additional Background Information on Charities Designated Under Executive Order 13224 |publisher=Ustreas.gov |access-date=2014-10-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602150934/http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/terrorist-illicit-finance/Documents/designationsum-.pdf |archive-date=2013-06-02 }}</ref>

In December 2005, the European Union froze its European assets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2005/l_340/l_34020051223en00640066.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-01-07 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060107142924/http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2005/l_340/l_34020051223en00640066.pdf |archive-date=January 7, 2006 }}</ref>

Line 95:

== The civil case ==

Following the closure of the HLF offices, Shukri Baker and Ghassan Elashi lodged a civil case to unfreeze HLF assists and reverse the designation of the HLF as a Terrorist OrganisationOrganization. The case was held before Judge [[Gladys Kessler]], a [[Bill Clinton]] appointment. The Executive Order was based on an "administrative record" explaining the reasons behind the decision to designate the HLF as a terrorist organisationorganization. The report claimed that the HLF was a front for Hamas.

The report contained a number of documents including one that claimed Shukri Baker was a member of Hamas. None of the statements quoted were taken under oath. The key claim was a list of 70–80 orphans who had received support from the HLF and that they were children of Hamas fighters. Baker and Elashi's lawyers analysed the list and found that only three of the fathers were involved in armed resistance. They had been killed preparing a bomb. They also noted that the list contained children of 11 men killed by Hamas for collaborating with the Israeli secret services. Another document contained a statement from a former manager of the HLF Jerusalem office which the lawyers were able to prove was a fabrication.<ref>Peled. pp. 102, 103</ref>