Muslim charity closed by U.S. amid protests

Christian Century, Dec 19, 2001

For the staff at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Richardson, Texas, the month of Ramadan was the busiest time of the year. It's a time when many Muslims pay their zakhat, or alms--a charitable gift equal to 2.5 percent of their net worth and one of the five pillars of Islam. "We are working long hours, from 8 in the morning to midnight just to keep up with all of the donations," said John Janney, a foundation spokesman.

All of that changed at midnight December 3 when President George Bush ordered the assets of the foundation frozen and their headquarters in Richardson was closed down, along with offices in Bridgeview, Illinois; Paterson, New Jersey; and San Diego.

The foundation, which raised $13 million in 2000, is accused of raising funds for the terrorist group Hamas. "The Holy Land Foundation claims that the money it solicits goes to care for needy Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip," said Bush, but "money raised by [it] is used by Hamas to support schools that indoctrinate children to grow up to become suicide bombers."

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill accused the Holy Land Foundation of masquerading as a charity, "while its primary purpose is to fund Hamas. This is not a case of one bad actor stealing from the petty-cash drawer and giving the stolen money to terrorists. This organization exists to raise money in the United States to promote terror."

Holy Land Foundation President Shukri Abu-Baker denied that the group has any ties to terrorism, or that it had violated any U.S. laws. A statement released by the foundation criticized the government actions as being anti-Muslim, saying "the decision by the U.S. government to seize the charitable donations of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan is an affront to millions of Muslim Americans who entrust charities like ours to assist in fulfilling their religious obligations." The Council on American-Islamic Relations and other U.S. Muslim organizations also criticized the actions, saying that they "could create the impression that there has been a shift from a war on terrorism to an attack on Islam."

In Bridgeview, a Chicago suburb with a large Muslim population, passersby watched as federal agents removed documents from the foundation's offices. Mohammad Ibra told the Associated Press that he donated $50 a month to the charity and had gotten thank-you notes from Palestinian families the foundation has assisted. "There's just no way they're involved with terrorists," Ibra told the AP. "They send medicine and clothes and money to poor people in Palestine."

The Chicago Tribune said that it had obtained on December 5 a report by the FBI that allegedly tied the foundation to direct Hamas financial support. The 49-page document said that in 1994, Hamas political leader Mousa Abu Marzook designated Holy Land as the organization's main U.S. fund raiser, the newspaper said.

Muslim charities have been under investigation since 1996, under an act passed that year that made supporting terrorism a federal crime. Grand juries in Illinois, Florida, New York and Texas have failed to issue any indictments against Muslim groups, but in some cases their fundraising abilities have been severely affected.

A Christian foundation based in Washington and Jerusalem, which has a similar name to the Islamic foundation whose assets were frozen, was bracing for more hostile publicity. Peter Vasko, an American-born Franciscan priest in Jerusalem, is president of the Holy Land Foundation, which raises money to provide scholarships, jobs and housing to Christians in the Holy Land. The aid is intended to help stem the tide of Christian emigration.

But when Vasko founded the foundation in 1994 and had it incorporated in the U.S. as a nonprofit organization, he saw no reason to copyright the name. A name search failed to unearth another group using the same title. "We didn't have any real problems until about two and a half years ago, when some press articles began to appear about the Richardson ... organization. Even then, the confusion was very localized and limited to our supporters in Texas," Vasko said.

"But since September 11, the repercussions have become much more," he added. "We have a public relations office in Indianapolis which began to get a lot of hate mail." --RNS