"He [Hamas operative Mohammad Salah] had collected donations. They were to go to families in Palestine, who were split up by Israeli occupation. So these were families who didn't have the breadwinner there with them anymore… And the interesting thing about it is that, at the time that he was arrested, Hamas wasn't recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, so what he was doing then wasn't even, at the time, illegal in the United States." (Christina Abraham, WVON Radio Islam, Topic: Mohammad Salah Trial, December 29, 2006)"... Hamas is not just a resistance organization. It provides social services - fundamental social services - to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. They're the ones that run the schools. They're the ones that keep the hospitals going. So if you're bringing money - you want to help the poor, help the needy in Palestine - how do you give your money to an organization, how do you not give your money to Hamas, I mean? If you want it to get to the people, you've got to take it through the people who are actually doing something for the Palestinians in need, and that's Hamas." (ibid)
"What they're trying to do is put as many of these Muslims on trial as possible, and 'Let's show Americans that we're putting these terrorists away.' That's what they're trying to do. So not being able to find the real terrorists - bin Laden is still out there - they charge Salah with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization." (ibid)
"I mean, here you have a man [Salah] who was only trying to help the poor in his country, so what do you do when the people in power say that you can't funnel money through this [Hamas] - you can't do it in this way - and they treat you like a criminal for trying to help, for trying to funnel money? And this is a scary thing. This is what's scaring a lot of Muslims, because as you said before, we all do it, we all send money back home, and some of us send substantial amounts of money." (ibid)
About Salah being sentenced to 21 months in prison: "It's a sad day for the Muslim community." (statement by Christina Abraham, CBS-2 Chicago, '21 Months For Man Once Accused Of Funding Hamas,' July 11, 2007)
Source: CAIRwatch
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