Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development
The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, originally known as Occupied Land Fund, was an Islamic charity in the United States.
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."
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 organization in the United States. It had been under FBI surveillance since 1994. 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 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.
Simultaneously, in November 2004, U.S. magistrate judge Arlander Keys ruled that HLF, along with the Islamic Association of Palestine, were liable for the 1996 killing of 17-year-old American citizen David Boim in Israel.
The first criminal trial, in 2007, ended in the partial acquittal of one defendant and a hung jury on all other charges. At a retrial in 2008, the jury found all defendants guilty on all counts. The 2008 trial of the charity leaders was the "largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history." In 2009, the founders of the organization were given sentences of between 15 and 65 years in prison for "funnelling $12 million to Hamas."
The trial has been criticised by some NGOs, including Human Rights Watch. Civil rights attorney Emily Ratner wrote that the use of anonymous and hearsay evidence by the prosecutors was "constitutionally questionable" at best. Families of the men charged, known as the Holy Land Five, have demanded their release.
History
Early history (1988–1993)
In 1988, Shukri Abu Baker established a tax-exempt charity, called the Occupied Land Fund, based in Indiana. The following year the charity raised $300,000. Two years later the OLF was incorporated by Baker, Ghassan Elashi, and Mohammad el-Mezain in California and renamed the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. In 1992, the HLF relocated to Richardson, Texas. It had offices in California, New Jersey, and Illinois, and individual representatives scattered throughout the US, the West Bank, and Gaza.Mousa Abu Marzook, a political leader of Hamas and long time US resident, donated $210,000 to HLF in the early 1992. The donation was made before Hamas became a Designated Terrorist Organization. During this time, the US government alleged that Marzook led Baker, el-Mezain, and Elashi to create other Hamas-supporting organizations in the United States, including media entity Islamic Association of Palestine, and the United Association for Studies and Research. Abu Baker was reported having been on IAP's board. The 1992 donation was fully disclosed on the HLF's tax returns. Marzook was deported from the US to Jordan in 1997. He was indicted on August 20, 2004, by a US federal grand jury in Chicago, Illinois. He and two other individuals were charged with a 15-year conspiracy to raise funds for terrorist attacks against Israel. Neither HLF nor any HLF officer was charged in the Chicago indictment.
Federal Scrutiny (1994-2001)
Before the designation of HLF as a terrorist organization, the government had been surveilling the organization pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as well as several individuals due to suspect activity. In 1993, one month after the signing of the Oslo Accords, Baker and Elashi participated in a public meeting in Philadelphia secretly recorded by the FBI. During this meeting, participants discussed their opposition to the Oslo Accords and their support of Hamas. Baker instructed that "if anyone should inquire about the purpose of the meeting, participants should explain that it was a 'joint workshop' between HLF and the IAP." He also stated that participants should not refer to "samah" or Hamas spelled backwards explicitly, mentioning that it would be better for participants to obscure the meaning by saying "Sister Samah." Following this meeting, in 1994 the government searched the houses of two unindicted co-conspirators, Ismail Elbarasse and Abdelhaleen Masan Ashqar, where they found numerous documents labeling HLF as a fundraising arm for Hamas.In 1994, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress launched a campaign demanding that the IRS revoke the HLF's tax-exempt status; the campaign was supported by Charles Schumer, Nita Lowey and Eliot Spitzer. Further government scrutiny and action was encouraged by the Israeli government.
In February 1995, the HLF and several other US Muslim organizations held a meeting with senior US Treasury Department officials asking for guidelines on how to avoid making inappropriate transactions with designated terrorist organizations. Those attending included the Chief of the International Programs Division, John Robert McBrien, the head of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Richard Newcomb, the head of the Licensing Division, Stephen Pinter, and the senior attorney in the Treasury Department's Chief Council's office, Serena Moe. The guidelines requested were finally released in 2002.
During the mid-90s, HLF distributed publications that stated HLF raised money for "widows, orphans, the homeless, and 'families of martyrs." In addition, the group lauded the fact that it was the "first to aid the 413 suspected Hamas activists whom Israel deported to Lebanon in 1992." HLF also listed Islamic University of Gaza—also founded by Marzook—as one recipient of its aid. In response to allegations that HLF provided funds to a religious school run by Jamil Hamami, who publicly identified as a senior Hamas leader, Baker argued that the school was well respected.
In 2000, HLF raised over $13 million, making it the largest Muslim charity in the United States at the time.
Terrorism designation (2001–2008)
On December 4, 2001, under Executive Order 13224 issued by President Bush, the Holy Land Foundation was designated a Domestic Terror Organization and closed down. Following HLF's designation as a terrorist organization, the assets of the organization were frozen by the FBI and Treasury agents.According to the United States Department of Treasury, HLF was making donations to Hamas run charities, and to schools "that served Hamas's ends by encouraging children to become suicide bombers and to recruit suicide bombers by offering support to their families". While Treasury officials conceded that a "substantial amount" of the money raised went to worthy causes, they insisted that Holy Land's primary purpose had been to subsidize Hamas. Treasury officials had found that HLF provided the following amounts to "zakat" charities from 1992 to 2001: $366,584 to the Tulkarem Zakat Committee; $1,674,954 to the Islamic Charitable Society of Hebron ; $475,715 to the Nablus Zakat Committee; $554,500 to the Jenin Zakat Committee; $494,252 to the Ramallah Zakat Committee; and $295,187 to the Qalqilia Zakat Committee. The Treasury argued that these charities were affiliated and controlled by Hamas despite functioning under the Israeli Military Administration. In addition, HLF sent $485,468 to the Islamic Science and Culture Committee from May 1991 until the committee was closed in 1996. Between 1992 and 2001 the HLF received $56 million in donations, and during 1995–2001 $12.4 million was spent outside the United States. Repeated appeals to the courts by HLF to have the freeze lifted failed.
On July 27, 2004, a federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas, returned a 42-count indictment against the Holy Land Foundation. Charges included: conspiracy, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, tax evasion, and money laundering. The indictment alleged that the Holy Land Foundation provided more than $12.4 million to individuals and organizations linked to Hamas from 1995 to 2001, when their assets were frozen. The indictment also named specific officers of the Holy Land Foundation: President Shukri Abu Baker; Chairman Ghassan Elashi; and Executive Director Haitham Maghawri, and four others: Mohammad el-Mezain, Akram Mishal, Mufid Abdulqader, and Abdulraham Odeh. Five of the seven were arrested. Maghawri and Mishal have not been found, and are considered fugitives.
In December 2004, a federal judge in Chicago ruled that the Holy Land Foundation was liable in a $156 million lawsuit for aiding and abetting the militant group Hamas in the death of David Boim, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen murdered by members of Hamas while visiting Israel in 1996. 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. In 2007, this decision was reversed by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and sent back to the trial court.
In December 2005, the European Union froze its European assets.
On July 3, 2007, Muslim Legal Fund of America agreed to fund the defense of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development against allegations by the government that the charity provided "material support" for terror groups by providing basic necessities for Palestinians under the Israeli occupation.
In October 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control designated HLF a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
In 2008, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reheard the Boim lawsuit en banc. On November 3, 2008, the 7th Circuit upheld the $156 million award, agreeing that "'those who donate funds to a known terrorist group are responsible under U.S. law for the group's actions – even if the donors contend that they only intended to support the group's "humanitarian" activities."