12/04/2001
| Text of a one-page undated, unsigned letter on Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development letterhead that was posted on front door of the Richardson Holy Land Foundation office this morning: The Holy Land Foundation denies allegations that it provides any financial support to terrorist groups or individuals. The foundation is a humanitarian organization that has worked to serve the needy both at home and abroad since 1989. We feel the Holy Land Foundation has been unfairly targeted in the nation-wide smear campaign to undermine Muslims and the institutions that serve them. The decision of 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 religious obligations. We are confident that the Holy Land Foundation will eventually be cleared of the false allegations. |
WASHINGTON - President George Bush announced the start of federal action against the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development Tuesday morning, calling the organization a front for the terrorist group Hamas.
"The facts are clear," President Bush said. "The terrorists benefit from the Holy Land Foundation and we aren't going to allow it."
Minutes after the news conference with President Bush, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Attorney General John Ashcroft, federal agents entered the foundation's office in Richardson.
The crackdown was the result of an investigation by a federal "Terrorist Financing Task Force" formed after the attacks on Sept. 11.
"The Holy Land Foundation masquerades as a charity," Mr. O'Neill said. "This organization exists to raise money in the United States to promote terror ... Innocent donors who thought they were helping someone in need deserve protection from these scam artists who prey on their benevolence."
Tuesday's action represented an expansion of the U.S. war against terrorism to include groups like Hamas that violently oppose the peace process in the Middle East, Mr. Ashcroft said.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in Jerusalem on Saturday.
"Hamas is guilty of hundreds of other deaths over the years and, just in the past 12 months, killed two Americans," Mr. Bush said. He said Holy Land Foundation money was used to pay for indoctrination of children, recruitment of suicide bombers and support for the bombers' families. The president make no special mention of the fact that this organization operates out of his home state.
He did say, however, that most of the donors -- and even people who worked for the foundation -- would not have known some of the $13 million raised last year was redirected to Hamas.
Holy Land Foundation offices in Richardson, Illinois and New Jersey were targeted in Tuesday's action. Officials of the organization denied it serves as a front for Hamas.
The group is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity and calls itself the largest Muslim charity in the United States.
O'Neill disputed that emphatically. "This organization exists to raise money in the United States to promote terror," he said.
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An attorney for the Holy Land Foundation arrived at the Richardson office with a key after authorities had been waiting outside for more than two hours.
Dallas FBI agents are only assisting in the investigation, and had little to say about the case. "There are people in the Treasury Department who will be happy to answer any questions about the specifics of what is transpiring here today," said FBI spokeswoman Lori Bailey.
Investigators said everything in the Holy Land Foundation offices -- from computers to pens, pencils and paper -- will be removed from the building as part of the federal probe.
Across the street from the Holy Land Foundation, agents searched a storage facility which is behind InfoCom Corp., an Internet company at 630 International Parkway. Federal agents had searched the InfoCom offices on Sept. 5, less than one week before the terrorist attacks on the U.S.
InfoCom provided services to the Holy Land Foundation, and some InfoCom owners also served on the foundation's board of directors.
It is the third time since October that the administration has frozen assets of groups suspected of aiding terrorists.
The two financial groups targeted Tuesday, both based in Palestinian-controlled territory, are Al Aqsa International Bank and the Beit El-Mal Holdings Co., an investment group. It was unclear whether either group had assets in the United States, but the administration was urging allies to freeze the organizations' holdings.
The administration had planned the crackdown for later in the month, but moved up the action after the weekend suicide bombings in Israel that killed 26 people. The schedule change scuttled administration plans for coordinated action by its allies, officials said.
Hamas, already on the State Department terrorist list, has taken responsibility for the attacks in Israel. The Israeli government declared war on terrorism and blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the attacks.
The administration's action reflects a willingness by Bush to crack down on influential Muslim groups with alleged tied to terrorism, a new step in his broad campaign to use military, financial and intelligence tools to undermine terrorism.
Last month, the administration seized suspected terrorist assets in the United States linked to Islamic money exchanges operating in the United States.
The Holy Land Foundation issued a statement denying that it provides any financial support to terrorist groups or individuals and expressing confidence the organization will be cleared of the allegations.
"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 foundation said.
Al Aqsa International Bank was founded in 1997 with $20 million in capital, but did not begin operating until September 1999, according to administration officials. The bank is owned by the Jordanian Islamic Bank and by Beit El-Mal. Many of the same people who run Al Aqsa bank also control Beit El-Mal, officials said.
Israel outlawed Beit El-Mal in May 1998, accusing it of being tied to Hamas.
In Nablus, West Bank, Hamas spokesman Tasir Imran said: "Hamas doesn't take money from any institution in the world. Hamas is funded by the Palestinian people here, not by foundations based in America or anywhere else in the world.
Ranaan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, praised the moves against the groups. "It's cutting off the umbilical cord of terrorist groups, it's going to reduce their ability to act, we welcome this kind of act," he said.
Dallas Morning news staff writers Steve McGonigle and Jeffrey Weiss, WFAA-TV reporters Jim Fry in Washington and Melissa Tamplin in Richardson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Bush sits in the Oval Office of the White House during a meeting with the Prime Minister of Sweden. The Bush administration says Yasser Arafat may be approaching his last chance to crush Hamas and other terrorist groups. Engaged in its own war against terrorism, the White House says Israel has a right to defend itself, increasing the pressure on the Palestinian leader to take action. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Edye Smith, who lost two children in the blast, was among the