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-- liberty, not poverty;
-- hope, not despair;
-- love, not hate; (and)
-- life, not death.
Yet a July 27, 2004 press release accompanying a Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment headlined: "HOLY LAND FOUNDATION, LEADERS, ACCUSED OF PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT TO HAMAS TERRORIST ORGANIZATION."
Hamas IS NOT a terrorist organization. It's the democratically elected Palestinian government that's been maliciously maligned, targeted, sanctioned, isolated, boycotted, attacked, and held under a devastating Gaza siege since mid-2007.
Five HLF leaders were arrested, indicted, tried, and on November 24, 2008 convicted on 108 counts, including supporting a terrorist organization, money laundering, and tax fraud - all bogus charges. On May 27, 2009, sentences ranged from 15 - 65 years for the two main principles, Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker. Their crime - being Muslims at the wrong time in America and providing charity to the most needy.
An ACLU Report on Targeting Muslim Charities
In June 2009, the ACLU published a report titled, "Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity: Chilling Muslim Charitable Giving in the 'War on Terrorism Financing' "
It explained that:
"The government's actions have created a climate of fear that chills American Muslims' free and full exercise of their religion through charitable giving, or Zakat, one of the 'five pillars' of Islam and a religious obligation for all observant Muslims." Since 9/11, fulfilling it in America is a crime.
On September 24, 2001, George Bush announced the following:
"I have signed an Executive Order (EO 13224) that immediately freezes United States financial assets of and prohibits United States' transactions with 27 different entities. They include terrorist organizations, individual terrorist leaders, a corporation that serves as a front for terrorism and several nonprofit organizations."
In early December, the administration seized the assets of the nation's three largest Muslim charities and shut them down - the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), Global Relief Foundation (GRF), and Benevolence International Foundation (BIF). Earlier, HLF principles repeatedly asked government officials for help in complying with the law, but were rebuffed.
To date, the Treasury Department has closed six Muslim charities by designating them terrorist organizations or claiming they provided material support to terrorism. A seventh charity was also closed for being "under investigation." In addition, six others were raided and and have been gravely harmed by the publicity and intrusive surveillance. Two of them have since closed. In total since 9/11, nine Muslims charities have been shuttered on bogus charges in Texas, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, Oregon, Ohio, Massachusetts, and New York.
According to the ACLU:
