DALLAS – Jurors in the re-trial of the five officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development need to "think like a terrorist organization," a federal prosecutor said in opening statements Monday morning.
The foundation and five former officials are accused of illegally routing more than $12 million to Hamas, in violation of U.S. laws prohibiting support for the designated terrorist group. A mistrial was declared last October after jurors in the first trial could not reach unanimous verdicts.
In her opening statement, federal prosecutor Elizabeth Shapiro seemed to apply some lessons from the first trial. Her statement took less than an hour to deliver and appeared to be an attempt to offer a general overview of the case. It's a big case, she said, but it doesn't have to be difficult.
"Money," Shapiro said, "is the lifeblood of terror organizations."
In this case, HLF is accused of funneling its money through a series of charities – or zakat committees – in the West Bank and Gaza. Sending any kind of support to Hamas became illegal in 1995, she said. She correctly anticipated a defense argument – that while the United States government designated Hamas a terrorist entity, the government did nothing about the zakat committees. Read more ...
The foundation and five former officials are accused of illegally routing more than $12 million to Hamas, in violation of U.S. laws prohibiting support for the designated terrorist group. A mistrial was declared last October after jurors in the first trial could not reach unanimous verdicts.
In her opening statement, federal prosecutor Elizabeth Shapiro seemed to apply some lessons from the first trial. Her statement took less than an hour to deliver and appeared to be an attempt to offer a general overview of the case. It's a big case, she said, but it doesn't have to be difficult.
"Money," Shapiro said, "is the lifeblood of terror organizations."
In this case, HLF is accused of funneling its money through a series of charities – or zakat committees – in the West Bank and Gaza. Sending any kind of support to Hamas became illegal in 1995, she said. She correctly anticipated a defense argument – that while the United States government designated Hamas a terrorist entity, the government did nothing about the zakat committees. Read more ...
Source: IPT News
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