The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) — once the largest American Muslim charity — never funded violence. It simply provided food, clothes, shelter, medical supplies and education to the suffering people in Palestine and other countries.HLF: A victim of 9/11 hysteria
On December 4, 2001, the United States government shut down the HLF, accusing it of financially supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Embarrassing for them, the U.S. government never found a single piece of evidence showing that the HLF financed Hamas. So they changed their accusations. Nearly 3 years later, the U.S. government's new claim was that the HLF supported organizations — zakat committees — that were somehow linked to Hamas. The closure of the HLF was obviously motivated by politics and fear.
About the trial
The HLF trial began Tuesday, July 16, 2007. The five defendants are Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh and Mohammad El-Mezain. These noble Palestinian-American gentlemen are innocent and their only crimes were helping ease the plight of the Palestinians. On Monday, October 22, 2007, U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish declared a mistrial because jurors deadlocked on all of the counts against four defendants. One defendant, Mohammad El-Mezain, was aquitted on all but the first charge. The government plans to retry the case, starting September 22, 2008.
Are we repeating history?
Something is very familiar about the HLF case, but that doesn't make it right. Did Japanese-Americans deserve to be thrown in internment camps? Nope. Did African-Americans deserve to eat at segregated restaurants, sleep in segregated hotels or drink from segregated water fountains? Nope. Does the HLF deserve to be persecuted for feeding Palestinian orphans and widows? Again, nope.
Who should really be on trial?
For nearly half a century, Israel has occupied Palestine and denied Palestinians their basic human rights. The occupation has caused numerous horrifying outcomes such as the destruction of homes, the killing of innocent children and even the establishment of checkpoints around the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem. So we ask: If occupation obviously shatters lives, while charity builds them and charity feeds children, while occupation kills them, why is a charity organization — not occupation — paying the price?
Noor Elashi speaks to your heart
Please forward this message around:
This is Noor Elashi, the daughter of a defendant in the Holy Land Foundation Retrial.
During the past three weeks, I have felt my heart shatter a few times as I witnessed prosecutors use vindictive approaches such as character assassination, fear-mongering and guilt by association as an attempt to convict my dad. Sitting in the courtroom, I've felt my blood boil and freeze and boil again in a few seconds time. And as I looked behind me, my eyes scanning the room in search for faces of encouragement and moral support, I found that it was mostly empty with the majority of the benches unoccupied.
My dad and these men ran the largest American Muslim charity, saving hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. We should be tremendously proud of them. They were honorable leaders in their communities. And now, they are paying a price for sponsoring orphans, assisting widows, equipping clinics, planting trees and wiping away tears.
I know you have your jobs and schoolwork and other priorities. But what if this was your dad, your uncle, your cousin, your husband or your best friend?
Gratitude from the bottom of my heart goes out to everyone who has attended so far. I sincerely hope to see the rest of you soon.
Next week, the retrial will run from Tuesday, Oct. 14 to Friday, Oct. 17. For the following four weeks or so, the retrial will take place Mondays through Thursdays. You can come ANYTIME between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. (There's a lunch break between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.)
To read about the case so far, visit www.freedomtogive.com
Thanks,
Noor Elashi
A Proud Daughter of Ghassan Elashi
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