Court Decision Reaffirms Convictions of Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S. Branch

[Valin]

Commentary/Contentions:

Jonathan S. Tobin
12/7/11

The Dallas Morning News reports the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld the 2009 convictions of five persons who helped the Holy Land Foundation raise money in this country for the Hamas terrorist group. of the decision at National Review. But, as he demonstrates, the significance of this case goes beyond the question of how Islamists sought to use American Muslims as a cash cow for Hamas. The details of the case, reiterated by the unanimous opinion of the three-member panel of federal judges, provide a history not just of American jihadists but their connections with the Muslim Brotherhood; yes, the same group that just won the Egyptian parliamentary elections.

The main points to be remembered here are that Hamas was founded by the Brotherhood in 1987 as Islamists sought a foothold among Palestinians looking for an alternative to the rival Fatah terrorist movement. The Brotherhood was also behind the founding of support groups for Hamas around the globe, but specifically in the United States. Their American “Palestine Committee” founded the Holy Land Foundation to raise money for Hamas. But it also, as the evidence in the federal trial showed, created other structures. The most important of them was the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was to be the political front of the Hamas support group.

(Snip)

The main points to be remembered here are that Hamas was founded by the Brotherhood in 1987 as Islamists sought a foothold among Palestinians looking for an alternative to the rival Fatah terrorist movement. The Brotherhood was also behind the founding of support groups for Hamas around the globe, but specifically in the United States. Their American “Palestine Committee” founded the Holy Land Foundation to raise money for Hamas. But it also, as the evidence in the federal trial showed, created other structures. The most important of them was the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was to be the political front of the Hamas support group.

(Snip)

The lesson of the Holy Land Foundation case is that those who seek to whitewash Islamists either here or in Egypt are advancing the cause of a dangerous movement that presents a threat both in the Middle East and at home.