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There are an estimated 14 American hostages being held in Gaza. (This number may rise or fall as Hamas continues to release videos of the hostages and Israel continues identifying bodies, some of which have been charred beyond recognition, by using DNA samples from family members.) As of this time, there are 20 Americans missing and bodies are being tested. *snip* But the Biden administration has currently ruled out sending rescue forces, instead it is using Hamas allies, Qatar and Turkey, to conduct negotiations with the Islamic terrorist organization. While Israel has refused to trade hostages for terrorists, Biden may...

We who follow the Islamist movement fell off our collective chair on Nov. 15 when the news came that the United Arab Emirates' ministerial cabinet had listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as one of 83 proscribed terrorist organizations, up there with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS. This came as a surprise because the UAE authorities themselves have a record of promoting Islamism; because CAIR has a history of raising funds in the UAE; and because the UAE embassy in Washington had previously praised CAIR. On reflection, however, the listing makes sense for, in recent years, the Islamist movement...

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is likely to find itself the target of more criticism after a Dallas immigration judge ordered one of their former board members deported due to terror connections. Nabil Sadoun, a leader in the Dallas Islamic community, had already left the United States for his native Jordan at the time of the ruling and Judge Anthony Rogers said that by taking such action he had waived his right to appeal the case. Dallas-Fort Worth news reports: In court, the judge made vague references to the government’s voluminous motion to deport him, including alleged involvement...

Today, in federal court in Dallas, U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis sentenced the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five of its leaders following their convictions by a federal jury in November 2008 on charges of providing material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas, and David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. All defendants are presently in federal custody. “Today's sentences mark the culmination of many years of painstaking investigative and prosecutorial work at the federal, state and local levels....

Two founder members of what was once the biggest Muslim charity in the US have each been jailed for 65 years. Shukri Abu Baker, 50, and Ghassan Elashi, 55, were convicted of channelling funds to the Palestinian militant group, Hamas. Three other members of the Holy Land Foundation were jailed for between 15 and 20 years by a Dallas court. The charity was found guilty last year of sending $12m (£7.4m) to fund social programmes controlled by Hamas. The five men were convicted in November on charges ranging from money laundering to supporting terrorism.

Note: The following text is a quote: Federal Judge Hands Downs Sentences in Holy Land Foundation Case Holy Land Foundation and Leaders Convicted on Providing Material Support to Hamas Terrorist Organization Today, in federal court in Dallas, U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis sentenced the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five of its leaders following their convictions by a federal jury in November 2008 on charges of providing material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. "Today's sentences mark the culmination of many years of painstaking investigative and prosecutorial work at the federal, state and...

Homeland Security: U.S. citizens have spoken with a resounding verdict of GUILTY and said they're not going to tolerate those who fund terror in this country under the cover of Muslim charity.In one of the biggest wins yet in the battle against terror-financing, federal prosecutors convinced a Texas jury to convict the nation's largest Muslim charity and five of its former organizers of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Jurors read guilty verdicts on all 108 felony charges in the conspiracy — a clean sweep for the Justice Department, which streamlined its case against...

DALLAS — The federal government's strategy for prosecuting alleged terrorist fund-raising in America is faltering after jurors failed to agree on most charges against five officials of what was once America's largest Muslim charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. After 19 days of jury deliberations, Judge Allen Joe Fish declared a mistrial yesterday on the bulk of the charges. His action followed a morning of confusing proceedings in which the jury returned written verdicts of not guilty on some counts, but three jurors told the judge that they disagreed with at least part of what was recorded...

The ongoing federal prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation is receiving almost no coverage in the mainstream media, though it has been full of newsworthy revelations. Among the intensely interesting items to come out of the trial is the brief filed by CAIR (PDF file) seeking to strike the government's list of unindicted co-conspirators in the case.This morning NRO has posted ("Coming clean about CAIR,") a column collecting my thoughts on CAIR's brief. Having read the brief, I was struck, among other things, by how comletely the New York Times missed its newsworthy elements in (Neil MacFarquhar's) pathetic story on...

Holy Land/CAIR Founder Sentenced This Dallas Morning News article doesn’t mention it, but in addition to his ties to the Holy Land Foundation, Ghassan Elashi was also the founder of the Texas chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations: Holy Land group’s co-founder sentenced. (Hat tip: LC LaWedgie.) Ghassan Elashi, co-founder and former chairman of the now-defunct Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation, was sentenced Thursday to six years and eight months in prison on charges that he did business with a terrorist and violated export laws with his brothers and their company InfoCom Corp. Mr. Elashi was allowed by U.S....

One aspect of life that has been unfathomable to me is the continued support the left in America gives to CAIR, the Council for American-Islamic Relations. I recognize that their initial support came from the honest belief that CAIR was a civil rights organization dedicated only to protecting the rights of America’s Muslims, but, by now, even the most close-minded leftist must admit the terrorist activities of this organization.

Welcome to the world of blogging, CAIR! Of course, pretty soon every one and every organization will have a blog. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has a blog. CAIR fashions itself as a mainstream civil right organization, but at best, the organization serves as apologists for Islamic extremists. The blog, CAIR Patriot Act, which does not allow comments, can be found here. CAIR, as is obvious, is opposed to the Patriot Act. But CAIR's connections to extremism are not tenuous. Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR-Texas, was convicted on money-laundering charges involving the terrorist group Hamas. Randall "Ismail" Royer, who...

CAIR leader convicted on terror charges - Founding board member of Texas chapter funded Hamas By Art Moore A founder of the Texas chapter of a highly influential U.S. Islamic lobby group was found guilty of supporting terrorism. Ghassan Elashi, along with two brothers, was convicted in Dallas yesterday of channeling funds to a high-ranking official of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook. Elashi was a board member of the Texas chapter of the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American Islamic Relations -- the third CAIR figure to be convicted on federal terrorism charges since 9-11. CAIR is a...

Senate Candidate Kirk has Links to Terrorism By MARC LEVIN An Austin Review investigation has revealed that U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk is employing an anti-Israel activist who has defended terrorist groups and is friends with American Taliban John Walker Lindh. The Review has also learned that Kirk has received numerous campaign donations from individuals linked with terrorism and anti-Semitism, one of whom also violated U.S. export laws by shipping sensitive technology to Libya and Syria. Kirk's recently filed campaign report shows payments to a Steven L. Hyland, Jr. of: $1133.22 for "payroll expense" and three separate payments totaling $638.30...

CYNTHIA McKINNEYPOSITION: Democrat Congresswoman from GeorgiaDONOR: Abdurahman Alamoudi AMMOUNT: $2000 on September 11, 2001 DETAILS: Alamoudi, President of the American Muslim Foundation, is a well known radical mohammedan activist known for publicly praising terrorist organizations. He worked closely as an informal advisor and affiliate of several Clinton administration officials (source). At an October 2000 rally in Washington, D.C. Alamoudi spoke to a radical islamic crowd announcing ""I have been labeled by the media in New York as being a supporter of Hamas. Any supporters of Hamas here? (cheers) Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas ... I...

On Tuesday the federal authorities struck another serious blow against the toleration of Islamist terrorist activities on American soil, by arresting five former leaders of the so-called Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which, as I have previously argued, would be better called the Holy War Foundation.   HLF is, after all, a front for the Palestinian suicide terror gang Hamas, which is mainly funded by Saudi Arabia. < -snip- > HLF long functioned as the nerve center of the “Wahhabi lobby” in the U.S., headquartered in Texas, with branch offices in Paterson, N.J., Bridgeview, Ill., and San Diego.  Established...

Earlier this month, five Palestinian brothers were convicted in federal court of conspiring to use their Texas-based computer company to make illegal shipments of high-tech goods to Libya and Syria, two nations the State Department considers sponsors of terrorism. One of the brothers, Ghassan Elashi, the company's vice president of international marketing, was convicted of three counts of conspiracy, one count of money laundering and two counts of making false statements about the shipments. Mr. Elashi, along with two of his brothers, also faces a separate federal trial on charges relating to business dealings with Mousa Abu Marzook, the deputy...

See Daniel Pipes' website for a full and accurate account of just how many other CAIR members have been convicted of terrorist related charges. { Also, look for links to other articles on Robert Spencer's website as well as www.littlegreenfootballs.com.} Most notable are Ismail Royer, Former Communications Specialist for CAIR,(Convicted) Bassan Khafegi - CAIR,(Convicted - deported), etc. Check out the anti-CAIR website. Seems that Ghazi Khankan - Interfaith Director for the Islamic Center of Long Island, Westbury, NY and NY Chapter Head of CAIR, made the anti-CAIR website, www.anti-cair.com. Ghassan Elashi - the most recent CAIR affiliate convicted for shipping...

(CBS) The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five brothers who work at a Texas computer firm were indicted on charges of trafficking with terrorist states Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday. "We will pursue the financiers of terror as aggressively as we pursue the thugs who do their dirty work," Ashcroft said at the Justice Department. Earlier, four of the brothers were arrested in Texas by federal anti-terrorism agents. The fifth brother already was in custody. The brothers worked at Infocom, a computer company in Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb. The indictments...

The federal government's roundup Tuesday of seven Middle Eastern men on charges of funding the terrorist group Hamas yielded an unexpected disclosure: a link between Dallas City Hall and Hamas’ top leader in Israel’s occupied territories. North Texas resident Mufid Abdulquader is a city of Dallas engineer who was among the men charged Tuesday in a 42-count indictment for allegedly using the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas terrorist operations. But Abdulquader, a Palestinian and naturalized U.S. citizen, has a connection to Hamas shared by none of the others. Abdulquader’s Syrian-based half brother is a...