Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development

Holy Land Foundation
for Relief and Development
Company typeDefunct
Founded1989
HeadquartersRichardson, Texas
Key people
Mousa Abu Marzook
Ghassan Elashi
Websitehlf.org

The Holy Land Foundation (HLF, Arabic: مؤسسة الأرض المقدسة للإغاثة والتنمية, romanized: muʾassasa al-ʾarḍ al-muqaddasatu lil-ʾighātha wat-tanmiya, lit. 'Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development'), originally known as Occupied Land Fund, was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. Headquartered in Richardson, Texas,[1] and run by Palestinian-Americans.[2] The organization's 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."[citation needed]

During the 1990s, American politicians, including Chuck Schumer and Eliot Spitzer,[3][4] alongside the Israeli government[5] and Steve Emerson,[6] lobbied the U.S. government to take action against the Holy Land Foundation.[7] 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 organisation in the United States. It had been under FBI surveillance since 1994, authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA").[8][9] 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 (charity) 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.[10]

Simultaneously, in November 2004, a U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys ruled that HLF, along with the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), were liable for a 1996 killing of 17-year-old David Boim in Israel.[11] 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.

The first 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."[12] In 2009, the founders of the organization were given sentences of between 15 and 65 years in prison for "funnelling $12 million to Hamas."[13]

The trial has been criticised by some NGOs, including Human Rights Watch.[14] Civil rights attorney Emily Ratner wrote that the use of anonymous and hearsay evidence by the prosecutors was “constitutionally questionable” at best.[7][15] Families of the men charged, known as the Holy Land Five, have demanded their release.[16]

  1. ^ "Contact Us." Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.
  2. ^ "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons" (PDF). United States Department of the Treasury. November 20, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 9, 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  3. ^ "Spitzer Seeks Fed Probe of 'Hamas' Charity". The Jewish Week. October 1999.
  4. ^ "Congressional Record, Volume 142 Issue 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)". www.govinfo.gov.
  5. ^ Mike Allen; Steven Mufson (2001-12-05). "U.S. Seizes Assets of 3 Islamic Groups". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  6. ^ "Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America". Center for American Progress. August 26, 2011.
  7. ^ a b Bridge Initiative Team. "Factsheet: Holy Land Foundation". Bridge: A Georgetown University Initiative. Georgetown University.
  8. ^ "FBI — Holy Land Foundation Convictions".
  9. ^ "Revised January 13, 2012 "The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit" United States of America vs Mohammad El-Mezain; Ghassan Elashi; Shukri Abu Bakr; Mufid Abdulqader; Abdulrahman Odeh; Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, also known as HLF. " No. 09-10560, Filed December 7, 2011, pg. 7" (PDF).
  10. ^ "Revised January 13, 2012 "The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit" United States of America vs Mohammad El-Mezain; Ghassan Elashi; Shukri Abu Bakr; Mufid Abdulqader; Abdulrahman Odeh; Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, also known as HLF. " No. 09-10560, Filed December 7, 2011, pg. 8" (PDF).
  11. ^ Cohen, Laurie (November 11, 2004). "3 Islamic fundraisers held liable in terror death". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  12. ^ Agence France-PresseNovember 24, 2008
  13. ^ "Holy Land founders get life sentences." JTA. May 28, 2009.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Ratner, Emily. "Anonymous Accusers in the Holy Land: Subverting the Right of Confrontation in the United States' Largest Terrorism-Financing Trial" (PDF). Loyola University New Orleans.
  16. ^ "Holy Land Five: Rights groups, families demand release over 'miscarriage of justice'". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2023-05-01.