Holy Land jurors get a sample of Hamas martyr propaganda
Thu, Oct 30, 2008 By Jason Trahan Dallas Morning News
Jurors in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial on Thursday saw some disturbing examples of Hamas propaganda glorifying young suicide bombers.
The poster shown here
is one of several that the Israeli military confiscated from the offices of the Islamic Charitable Society of Hebron, one of several groups in the Palestinian territories that received millions of dollars from Holy Land.
"Avi," one of two anonymous Israeli government witnesses, continued his testimony Thursday that these charity groups were fronts for Hamas, not only because of Hamas propaganda found there, but also because they were led by known Hamas operatives.
This particular poster features 18-year-old Abdel Mu'ti Muhammad Salih Shabanah. According to the FBI's translation, he is a "high school student who preferred the martyrdom certificate over the life's certificate."
It says he was preparing to finish up his school language testing when he "received the signal" to respond to the assassination attempt on Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.
"So he headed to Jerusalem to attain martyrdom," the poster says.
Here's a news report on the teen's suicide mission. It was part of a wave of back-and-forth strikes between the Israelis and Hamas in 2003.
According to the BBC story, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar "predicted that Palestinian attacks on Israelis were imminent 'to show them that an eye is for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'"
According to the FBI, Holy Land sent the Islamic Charitable Society of Hebron, where this poster was found, about $1.6 million from 1991 to 2001.
Here are more posters found at the society:
ICS Hebron 10.pdf
In all, Holy Land is accused of sending more than $12 million to groups such as this and an assortment of charity groups called zakat committees from 1995 -- when Hamas was outlawed in the U.S. -- through Holy Land's closing in December 2001.
Defense attorneys have strongly criticized the Justice Department for relying on evidence supplied by the Israelis to prove a key point in this case -- that Hamas was in control of the groups Holy Land funded. They point out that none of them are individually listed on U.S. government roster of banned terrorist entities even today.
The government finished with Avi just before noon. Joshua Dratel, attorney for Mohammad El-Mezain, then began cross examination. Avi is thought to be the government's final witness.
