Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:13, 27 August 2025

Revision as of 22:13, 27 August 2025

Line 16:

Headquartered in [[Richardson, Texas]], and run by [[Palestinian-Americans]], the organization's stated 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."<ref name="usblock">{{cite web |date=November 20, 2008 |title=Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons |url=http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/t11sdn.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081109195856/http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/t11sdn.pdf |archive-date=November 9, 2008 |access-date=November 24, 2008 |publisher=[[United States Department of the Treasury]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Solving the Necessity Conundrum: What the Drug War Can Teach Us About Due Process for U.S. Charities in the Fight Against International Terrorist Financing |url=https://www.icnl.org/resources/research/ijnl/solving-the-necessity-conundrum-what-the-drug-war-can-teach-us-about-due-process-for-u-s-charities-in-the-fight-against-international-terrorist-financing |access-date=2025-07-12 |website=ICNL |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/19990221194319/http://www.hlf.org/contactus.htm Contact Us]." Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.</ref>

In December 2001, the U.S. designated HLF a [[United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations|terrorist organization]], seized its assets, and closed the organization. At the time it was the largest Muslim charitable organization in the United States. It had been under [[FBI]] surveillance since 1994.<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 attacks|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 American citizen 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>