 With the federal government facing trillions of dollars in red ink, one might think that the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), which receives upwards of $30 million a year from the taxpayers, would want to show Congress it wasn't squandering money on propaganda for terrorist groups like Hamas. But that hasn't happened. Instead, USIP has issued a new report that twists reality to argue that Hamas has moderated and Israel needs to negotiate with the terror organization. The authors of the report are a Jew and Muslim, USIP informs readers: Paul Scham, a visiting professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland College Park, and Osama Abu-Irshaid. USIP identified Irshaid as a writer who "is completing a Ph.D. thesis on Hamas at Loughboro University, U.K., and is founder and editor in chief of Al-Meezan newspaper, published in Arabic in the United States." But USIP (and Foreign Policy magazine, which has published lengthy excerpts of the report ) neglected to inform readers that Irshaid used to be editor of Al-Zaytounah, the biweekly Arabic-language newspaper published by the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). Read more ...Source: IPT News
By Steven Emerson | July 28
Seven House Democrats have written Attorney General Eric Holder invoking a list of grievances from radical Islamist groups and asking that Holder meet with representatives from those groups to hear their concerns, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned.The grievances include the use of convicted felons as informants in mosques, alleged religious profiling of Somali Muslims in Minnesota and elsewhere and allegations that the FBI is working with foreign governments to question American citizens who are terror suspects. In the letter, the representatives said: "These concerns raise legitimate questions about due process, justice, and equal treatment under the law. We hope you will meet with American Muslim leaders to ensure that core American values are respected for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or faith. For your convenience, we have attached a contact list of American Muslim leaders." These issues have been pushed by radical Islamist groups for months. The letter's close tracking of the interest groups' positions indicates that their officials dictated its terms for the members of Congress to sign. In fact, the nine entities all are listed in exactly the same sequence in this release from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The April 2009 release also cites two of the same issues as in the letter to Holder. The letter was signed by California representatives Loretta Sanchez, Adam Schiff, Mike Honda and Lois Capps, along with Ohio representatives Mary Jo Kilroy and Dennis Kucinich. Northern Virginia Congressman James Moran joined the group. Moran serves on the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee on defense. Schiff and Honda serve on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Kilroy sits on the House Homeland Security Committee. Schiff also serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Many of the groups listed for Holder to meet have radical histories and agendas. For example, the Islamic Circle of North America adheres to similar ideology as the Jamaat-i-Islami, which calls for Islamic revolution and creating an Islamist state in Pakistan. In the U.S., ICNA aggressively proselytizes among non-Muslims. The Muslim Public Affairs Council argues that Hizballah should not be a designated terrorist organization. Three other groups listed for contact have direct roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, an international movement based in Egypt which seeks the creation of a global Islamic state, or Caliphate. Those groups include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation, which is run by a convicted felon and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Prosecutors included CAIR on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and development, considered the nation's largest terrorism-finance case. FBI case Agent Lara Burns labeled CAIR a front group for Hamas during sworn testimony last fall. Read More here,,,Source: Steven Emerson Loretta Sanchez
Adam Schiff
Mike Honda
Lois Capps
Mary Jo Kilroy
Dennis Kucinich
James Moran
Latest recipients of The Dhimmi Award
 Five former leaders and fundraisers for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) received long prison sentences last month after being convicted of illegally routing money to the Hamas terrorist group. That prompted journalist Todd Bensman to wonder what happened to two other conspirators named in the indictment, but who fled the country just before it was issued in 2004.
Haithem Maghawri and Akram Mishal are believed to be living in the Middle East – Mishal in Syria and Maghawri in either Gaza or Lebanon – where they probably are out of reach from American law enforcement. Since they're accused of financing terror, and not plotting or carrying out attacks, hunting them down may not be considered a priority.
But there are international warrants out for their arrests.
"They'd be captured and extradited only if either man makes the mistake of trying to travel through the wrong friendly country and gets noticed," Bensman wrote.
But one FBI agent promised Bensman the two fugitives won't be forgotten, "at least not while some of us are still employed." Source: IPT News
 By Robert Spencer In a major blow to terrorism financing on American soil, the founders of the Holy Land Foundation, once the nation’s largest Muslim charity, were both sentenced this week to sixty-five years in prison for funneling at least $12.4 million in charitable contributions to the terrorist group Hamas. The decision, which can still be challenged by appeal, also has important implications for the nation’s most prominent Islamic organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as well as for American Muslims in general. The HLF founders, Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi, were convicted in November 2008 of aiding a terrorist organization by sending money to Hamas. The two were also convicted of tax fraud and money laundering. Nevertheless, the defendants maintained that the HLF was really a charity organization. So far from funding terrorism, they were distributing urgent financial aid to needy individuals and orphans in the West Bank and Gaza – a claim that reprised the now-defunct HLF’s purported mission of aiding “human suffering through humanitarian programs that impact the lives of the disadvantaged.” This week’s sentencing was the strongest rejection to date of the HLF defendants’ “humanitarian” cover story. As David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security, put it, “These sentences should serve as a strong warning to anyone who knowingly provides financial support to terrorists under the guise of humanitarian relief.” Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
 DALLAS - A federal judge imposed what could amount to life sentences on three former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) on Wednesday for illegally routing more than $12 million to Hamas. "The purpose of creating the Holy Land Foundation was as a fundraising arm for Hamas," said U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis. He sentenced former HLF Chief Executive Officer Shukri Abu Baker and co-founder Ghassan Elashi to 65 years in prison. Longtime HLF chairman Mohamed El-Mezain, who was convicted only on one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, received the maximum 15-year sentence. All three men are at least 50 years old. Another defendant, Mufid Abdelqader, 49, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentencing of HLF's New Jersey Office Director, Abdelrahman Odeh, still remains. While appeals are being prepared, the sentencing hearings end the largest terror financing case in the United States, one which closed the largest Muslim-American charity in 2001. Its significance, however, resonates far beyond the Dallas courtroom and the five men convicted by a jury last November. Read more ...Source: IPT News
By Steve Emerson Prosecutors have secured their seventh conviction in the Hamas-financing case against the defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). On Wednesday, 54-year-old Akram Abdallah pled guilty to lying to federal agents about his HLF involvement during interviews in 2007. According to his indictment, Abdallah told FBI agents he had nothing to do with HLF, when, in fact, "between approximately 1994 and 1997, defendant was involved in fund raising activities" in the Phoenix area. Abdallah faces up to eight years in prison when he is sentenced in August. In November, five former HLF officials were convicted on 108 counts related to illegal Hamas financing. Jurors agreed that HLF routed more than $12 million to Hamas through a series of charities, or zakat committees, after U.S. law made such support illegal. They are scheduled to be sentenced May 27th in Dallas and face sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison. In 2006, a Georgia imam named Mohamed Shorbagi pled guilty to providing material support to a terrorist organization. Shorbagi agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in hopes of reducing his prison sentence and testified at the HLF trial last fall. He told jurors he knew money given to HLF would make its way to Hamas. Read more ...Source: FSM
 By Patrick Poole Before the Holy Land Foundation was closed by the US government as a designated global terrorist fundraising entity just weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Monzer Taleb (aka Munzir Taleb, Monzer Talib, et al.) was part of the infamous Al-Sakhra Band, which toured the US raising money for HLF and the terrorist group, HAMAS. As part of Al-Sakhra, Monzer Taleb sang of violence, terror and hatred. Dallas-based investigative reporter Todd Bensman described the group of terror crooners in his article, “HAMAS Rock Stars,” as follows: It wasn’t exactly feel-good music in the conventional sense. Mufid’s Al Sakhra (“The Rock”) band crooned a gospel of death and hatred toward the Jews at Hamas fundraisers, while the collection plates moved through wildly enthusiastic Arab-American audiences. In the indictment of Holy Land Foundation executives, federal prosecutors said that skits and songs performed by Al-Sakhra “advocated the destruction of the State of Israel and glorified the killing of Jewish people.” Read more ...Source: Central Ohioans Against TerrorismMonzer Taleb
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has accused a Virginia member of the U.S. House of Representatives of abusing his office by contacting the FBI seeking further information about CAIR. According to a Fox News report: Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., sent the letter on Feb. 2 after FOXNews.com report that the bureau had severed ties with the Council on American-Islamic Relations amid mounting evidence that the group was linked to a support network for Hamas. The FBI severed its ties with all local chapters of CAIR after a 15-year investigation culminated with the conviction in December of Hamas fund-raisers. CAIR was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case. Wolf reached out to the FBI’s assistant director for counterterrorism to find out whether the bureau still had any contact with the group it called a front for Islamic radicals, and whether CAIR was receiving funds from foreign sources. After waiting more than a month, Wolf said, the only response he got was a four-paragraph letter from the FBI’s head of public relations. Read more ... Source: The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily ReportHon. Frank R. Wolf
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
By Winfield Myers Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), will deliver a prayer at the National Cathedral during the National Prayer Service on January 21st. The event is part of the festivities for the inauguration of Barack Obama, which occurs January 20. A convert to Islam, Mattson directs the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary. ISNA has close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamist group, and was named an un-indicted co-conspirator in U.S. v Holy Land Foundation, a case that uncovered covert financing of the terrorist group Hamas. Since her election as ISNA president in 2006, Mattson's apologias for the radical Wahhabi sect of Islam have gained a much wider audience. Read more ...Source: American Thinker
Congratulations to James Jacks, the Dallas-based federal prosecutor who helped lead the successful prosecution of officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) for illegally supporting Hamas.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Jacks was named prosecutor of the year by the North Texas Crime Commission and that he's been appointed as acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Jason Trahan's report quotes Crime Commission president Neil Devroy explaining that Jacks was honored because "The guilty verdicts were judged to have impact far beyond North Texas because they are important milestones in America's efforts against financiers of terrorism."
Before a U.S. Treasury Department designation shut down the charity in December 2001, HLF routed more than $12 million to the terrorist group. Source: IPT BlogJames Jacks
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
 An appellate court has upheld a $156 million judgment against two organizations found to have provided financial support to Hamas and sent the claim against a third back to district court for a new trial. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday that eliminated the distinction between supporting the violent and social wings of a terrorist group."If you give money to an organization that you know to be engaged in terrorism, the fact that you earmark it for the organization's nonterrorist activities does not get you off the liability hook," Judge Richard Posner wrote for the majority. The ruling favors Joyce and Stanley Boim, whose son David was shot and killed by Hamas terrorists in 1996. It upholds the damages against the Quranic Literacy Institute, a Chicago-area non profit that was accused of laundering money for Hamas and the American Muslim Society, which the judges found "did know and in giving money to the (Holy Land) Foundation was deliberately funneling money to Hamas." Read more ...Source: IPT News
 Dennis Hale, President of Citizens for Peace and Tolerance, called today for a public investigation of the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s sale of land to the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) for the construction of New England’s largest mosque. Hale noted that officers of the largest Muslim charity in America, The Holy Land Foundation (HLF), convicted in Texas last week of funding Middle East terrorism, have ties to the ISB and its close affiliate, the Muslim American Society. “The convictions in Texas are a victory in the government’s efforts to prevent charities from being used to support terrorism,” said Hale. The Holy Land Foundation and five of its organizers were convicted for sending more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. “It is shocking to discover the ties between the HLF and the leadership of the Islamic Society of Boston,” said Hale. Hale enumerated the ties: * “Hossam Al Jabri, President of the Muslim American Society’s Boston branch (MAS Boston), which now controls the ISB Cultural Center, personally donated money to the HLF while they were sending funds to Hamas,” Hale said. “And the Islamic Society of Boston as an organization sent thousands of dollars to the HLF as well.”
* “Jamal Badawi, an ISB Trustee, was a frequent speaker at HLF fundraising events, and was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the HLF prosecution.”
* “Osama Kandil, the ISB Board Chairman, founded the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), which provided venues for HLF fundraising events where Hamas members made explicit calls to murder Israelis.” For its role in Hamas fundraising, MAYA was also listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the HLF trial. “Now,” Hale continued, “the mosque, which was built by the Islamic Society of Boston, has been taken over by the Muslim American Society (MAS). MAS was founded by top Muslim Brotherhood leaders and states that it is guided by Muslim Brotherhood ideology. The Brotherhood inspires and provides the justification for the anti-West Jihad.” Hale cited a document from the HLF investigation, which describes the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal in America as a “Grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying Western Civilization from within.” Hale noted that “this same document praises the contribution of ISB Trustee Jamal Badawi to the Muslim Brotherhood’s efforts.” “And finally,” Hale said, “the Boston Phoenix published last week an expose, ‘Menino’s Mosque,’ which shows that the BRA did not perform due diligence when it approved the sale to the ISB of public property at a steep discount for the construction of a mosque financed mostly by Saudi Arabia. The Mayor intended to help a group of local African American Muslims build a house of worship. Instead, he wound up giving the mosque to a group controlled and financed by the Saudis,” Hale said. “The BRA role is further complicated,” according to Hale, “by the role of Muhammad Ali-Salaam, an official of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), who was also an ISB member and fundraiser for the mosque. The BRA recently told a judge that their records on the ISB matter have ‘disappeared.’ Today we call upon the FinCom’s chairman, Paul Minihane, and its Executive Director, Jeff Conley, to initiate a long overdue investigation into the conduct of the BRA.” CPT is an interfaith citizens group. It was sued by the ISB for “defamation” after asking questions about the radical leadership of the ISB in 2004, based on news reports that the founder of the ISB, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, was serving a 23-year prison term for a terrorist conspiracy and fund-raising for Al-Qaeda, and that an original ISB Trustee, Yusuf al Qaradawi, was calling for the wholesale murder of Jews and homosexuals, and is now barred from entering the U.S. Also sued were the Boston Herald, Fox 25, and over a dozen individuals and organizations. The validity of the concerns raised by CPT was vindicated when the ISB dropped its lawsuit in 2007. Citizens for Peace and Tolerance (CPT) December 3, 2008 Contact: Dennis Hale (781-799-7245) Source: CPT
 By Joe Kaufman Now that the Holy Land Foundation trial has ended and guilty verdicts have been rendered on all defendants, on all counts, we have the opportunity and the duty to see how those decisions reflect on the other groups and individuals who were involved in the case, specifically on the side of the defense. Besides the six defendants -- all former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and HLF itself -- apart from the legal sense of the words, there were a number of others who were being “put on trial” for crimes as well. They were given the label “unindicted co-conspirators,” which means just as it’s written, those involved in a conspiracy who were not indicted (charged) for their role in the conspiracy. A more precise explanation for the term is found in the 2004 Federal Courts Law Review (FCLR) 1, Section II.A.1, which states, “The term ‘unindicted co-conspirator’ refers to any person who allegedly ‘agreed with others to violate the law but who is not being charged with an offense and who, consequently, will not be tried or sentenced for his criminal conduct’… Prosecutors often have enough evidence to indict these individuals, but instead name them as unindicted co-conspirators for a variety of strategic reasons.” With regards to the HLF case, the list of “unindicted co-conspirators” numbers over 300. Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
 By Steven Emerson Recently, we lightly mocked the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for its quick condemnation of Al-Qaeda No. 2 man Ayman Al-Zawahiri's slur of President-Elect Barack Obama as a "house Negro." Way to take the hard stand, folks. Our point was serious though. If CAIR wants to be accepted as the mainstream Muslim-American civil rights advocacy organization that it claims to be, it must take an unequivocal stand against terror from all actors, including those who kill, and those who enable the killers, in the name of Palestinian liberation. It has never done so. And evidence unveiled at the Hamas-support trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) shows why. CAIR was born of an effort to support Hamas in America – its founders part of the Palestine Committee who agreed in 1993 that a prospective peace deal was bad and who saw the need for a new organization to bring their message, surreptitiously, to Washington. HLF now stands guilty of routing more than $12 million to benefit Hamas through a series of Palestinian charities. As witnesses like Matthew Levitt and Bruce Hoffman testified, that support – even when channeled to humanitarian needs – is crucial in winning popular support for the terrorist group responsible for it. Read more ...Source: IPT News
The Holy Land Foundation trial unveiled the extent of the financing of terrorism among leading American Islamic organizations.By Patrick Poole The retrial of five officials of the Holy Land Foundation, the largest Islamic charity in the U.S. shut down by the government weeks after 9/11, concluded on November 24 with guilty verdicts on all 108 counts. Federal prosecutors had charged that Holy Land officials had conspired to provide material support to terrorists and served as the fundraising arm of Hamas in the U.S., which raised more than $12 million after Hamas had been designated a terrorist organization in 1995. The implications of these guilty verdicts are staggering in their importance. The most immediate is that federal prosecutors have proved they can win these kinds of complicated terrorism financing cases. Monday’s guilty verdicts are in sharp contrast to the first trial in this case, which ended in October 2007 in a mistrial and victory celebrations by the defendants and their supporters. In response, prosecutors streamlined their case, dropped a number of lesser charges, and prepared new exhibits to help jurors understand the scope of the conspiracy. Read more ... Source: Pajamas Media
CAIR, stung by the Holy Land Foundation terror charity verdict, which confirms Awad, Hooper, and Co. in their status as unindicted co-conspirators, says -- predictably enough -- that the case was all about hate and not at all about funding jihad terror. But it is -- predictably enough -- just an assertion, unsubstantiated by any facts. "CAIR Says HLF Verdict Based on ‘Fear-Mongering,’" from CAIR.com, November 26 (thanks to A.): "We believe this case was based more on fear-mongering than on the facts. It is particularly troubling that the government chose to use testimony from an anonymous witness, which deprives the defendants of their full right to confront their accusers. We expect the defendants to appeal this verdict and believe that it will eventually be overturned." Right. No anonymous witnesses. Everyone outed. Hmm. What would be the outcome of that, and who would be the beneficiaries? Source: CAIR H/T: Jihad Watch
The Times' story is a total of 847 words. The story is about a trial where all of the defendants were found guilty of 108 counts of funding terrorism and money laundering. This was the second trial following an earlier mistrial. In other words, the story is how the first jury got confused and couldn't agree--neither on guilt nor innocence. Apparently, the second time around the prosecutors did a better job (what most observers think) and/or they got lucky with a better jury. What we found jarring when we read the Times story, though, was how laden it was with the defendants' claims of "vicitmization". What follows is a careful analysis of the Times' editorial bent: First, here is the picture (same size) that goes with the online story: 
Zolfa Elaydi, center, with her children Fidaa, left, and Jihad,
reacting to news that the leaders of a Muslim charity had been convicted on Monday in Dallas.Aside from the interesting fact that one of the defendants named his son "Jihad", the NY Times reader is confronted with a gripping pictorial presentation of "innocent victims"-- the family members -- of the criminal justice system. Read more ...Source: SANE
By M. Zuhdi Jasser Monday’s guilty verdict against the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and the five indicted co-defendants may ultimately represent a sea change in the willingness of the American public to hold Muslims accountable for their countenance of charities and organizations which support terrorism either directly or indirectly. Richard Roper, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas stated after the verdict to Texas Lawyer, “This is a great day in the United States. We will not tolerate those who fund terrorism.” The Dallas Morning News reported that Robert Hirschhorn, a nationally known jury consultant said, “The jury has handed the government a huge victory and a loud and clear message has been sent — if any group funnels money to a terrorist organization, the government will hunt you down and turn off the money spigot.” The first trial against the HLF and these defendants ended in a mistrial on October 22, 2007, after jurors could not come to a consensus after 19 days of deliberation. Judge A. Joe Fish retired in November, 2007, and subsequently transferred the case to Judge Jorge Solis. Many analysts have already dissected or will soon ultimately review the specific areas of the HLF case where the Department of Justice successfully clarified, simplified and improved its presentation upon the first trial. While the facts stayed the same, the first trial ended in confusion and the second ended in a resounding conviction on all counts. Read more ...Source: Family Security Matters
The variety of evidence shown to the jury in the Holy Land Foundation trial includes government wiretaps and videos seized during the execution of search warrants at HLF offices and elsewhere. Many of the documents that linked the defendants to Hamas were written in foreign languages and dealt with a turbulent situation half-way around the world. Here in the U.S., one Falls Church, VA man who had never even heard of the Holy Land Foundation until recently, tells us the unusual story of how some of the key pieces of evidence popped up... right in his own backyard. View video ...Source: IPT News
 Ghassan Elashi arrested by FBI agents
at his Dallas-area home in 2002In a major blow to the terror-support network in America, the nation's largest Muslim charity and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinan terrorist group Hamas. The 108-count verdict against the Holy Land Foundation also deals a blow to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror-fundraising scheme. One of the guilty defendants in the federal case, Ghassan Elashi, was a founding director of Washington-based CAIR, the most powerful Muslim lobbyist group in the nation. Elashi and the other defendants – Mohamed El-Mezain, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh – could face up to 20 years in prison for their convictions on conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Read more ...Source: WND
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