Terrorism trial of Chicago-area Hamas supporter opens in October
The criminal trial of Mohammed Salah is scheduled to begin Oct. 16. It is perhaps the most significant criminal terrorism case there has been against a U.S. citizen not affiliated with al-Qaeda. Local, national and international media have been covering the extended pre-trial deliberations and rulings. This drama, playing out in a Chicago courtroom, will resonate far and wide, with important implications for America’s war on terrorism, especially the efforts to stop the flow of financial support from the U.S. to terror groups.
Salah, 53, was born in the West Bank and moved to the U.S. in 1971. A resident of the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Salah traveled to Israel and the West Bank in 1993. His ties to the terrorist group Hamas had been under suspicion for some time and, shortly after his arrest at an Israeli checkpoint, $97,000 in cash was found in his hotel room, allegedly to be delivered to Hamas.
While in custody, Salah wrote a lengthy document–he incorrectly thought it was to be read only by his fellow Palestinian inmates–acknowledging his role in financially supporting Hamas. Salah pled guilty in an Israeli military court and served five-years.
Salah returned to Bridgeview in 1998 and was given a hero’s welcome by his friends, family and supporters. Shortly afterward, Salah was designated by the U.S. government as a “Specially Designated Terrorist.” As a result, his assets were frozen and he was prohibited from taking a job or engaging in financial transactions. Less than a year later the Quranic Literacy Institute (QLI), located in Oak Lawn, Ill., which employed Salah for some time, had its assets frozen as well.
For almost a decade Salah taught computers at Olive Harvey College on Chicago’s South Side and was a substitute teacher at a Chicago Public School. But then an investigative report by ABC-TV News revealed this illegal employment, leading to his being fired.
In late 2004 Salah, QLI , the Islamic Association for Palestine, and the Holy Land Foundation were found liable in a civil proceeding and ordered to pay $156 million in damages to the family of David Boim, a 17-year-old American killed by Hamas in 1997. Steve Landes and Rick Hoffman of the Wildman Harrold law firm represented the Boims in that case and are serving as pro-bono consultants to the JCRC’s project of monitoring and exposing the Chicago connection to international terrorism.
In the upcoming criminal trial, Salah and two other defendants are accused of a 15-year racketeering conspiracy that funded Hamas.
A watershed moment during the pre-trial hearings had presiding U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve hearing testimony in a closed courtroom from Israeli Shin Bet officials. St. Eve ruled that Salah’s 1993 confession to the Shin Bet was admissible in court. The defense unsuccessfully claimed that Salah’s confession was made under inhumane conditions and that he was subject to torture. St. Eve rejected the defense’s claims as the prosecution argued that Salah’s confessions were made voluntarily.
Beyond the stakes involved in the trial itself, of special interest to the Jewish community is the tactic of Salah’s lawyers to politicize the case in the media and in the courtroom. Their arguments are more a laundry list of familiar allegations against Israel and its treatment of Palestinians and of the special U.S.-Israel relationship than they are an application of U.S. law on behalf of Salah.
This approach was behind several defense motions, including a rejected request to delay the trial’s start because of the supposed impact the conflict between Israel and Lebanon this summer had on the defense’s ability to prepare.
JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Chair Alan Solow said:
“This trial also represents a milestone in the JCRC’s 12-year-old ‘Chicago Connection to International Terrorism’ project. Years after Salah’s assets were frozen it seemed like neither he nor the local ‘charities’ reportedly linked to Hamas and al-Qaeda would ever face the legal implications of their actions. Still, JCRC stayed ‘on the case,’ continuing to monitor and expose this troubling phenomenon. Today, almost eight years after Salah’s assets were frozen and five years after the assets of the Chicago-area groups Benevolence International Foundation, Global Relief Foundation, and the Holy Land Foundation were frozen, important information and legal repercussions will emerge from this Chicago courtroom.”
Wild Thing’s comment…..
Mohammed Salah is one more reason to simply ban Muslim immigration to the US and treat Islam as a dangerous. And once again our enemy CAIR-Chicago was present for a Public Truth Hearing on behalf of Muhammad Salah.
Just DAMN what the heck is happening in this world. How can something like CAIR exist? Why don’t people ‘get it’ when it comes to what Islam is about and their goals?
This trial should be front page news. The public needs to be aware/reminded that we are at war, with a religious cult. Our leadership needs to be playing this up, showing that there is a home front also where the war for our survival is being (sorta)fought.
Salah is only one of too damn many muslims using our freedoms and system to destroy us. As we allow more and more of these anti-Westerners into America, the war just becomes more difficult. There are already enough of them here for very functional terrorist supporting networks to exist.
I am pissed because I saw some moslems in the store today, and I am always angered at their blatant arrogance. Almost all of them proudly state that they are first and foremost followers of Mo, which means to me their ultimate goal is to convert or destroy my country.
Tom that doctor I worked with was like that. He would tell those of us in the office almost 2 or 3 tiomes a week how America will one day be mostly Muslim. augh!
Glad I am not working there anymore.
What angers me more than the media not covering this sort of thing going on right in our country, are the people here who don’t want to know even when they are told!
I live in an area where the the mentality is Palistinians are the victims of the bad zionists, Islam is really peaceful and the military are evil. And nothing will change their minds…
Yankeemom, I saw a video of a rally in Brooklyn where my husband is from. It was all pro Hezbollah. I just sat here crying while I watched it.
Beware of the enemy within, James Zogby, who is in the same building as John Zogby(Zogby Poll, anyone?) endorses the Moslem Candidates, for the 2006 election, but the average American will vote along the party line, oblivious to the Sharia line, they have invaded both major parties, this is how they’ll take over. Look at Dearbornistan, Michigan, once the camel has it’s nose in the tent the rest will follow.
Jack thank you and thank you for the link too.
And yes,. Dearbornistan is a perfect example of what you are talking about.
I was born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. Revisiting the area a few years ago, I was caught off guard to see some of the changes that were taking place in neighborhoods in and around that borough. The Russian population certainly was the most obvious change.
New York has always been ethnically diverse. Yet while definite divisions are blatantly apparent from neighborhood to neighborhood, NY has always had a unique ability to bring these groups together under the banner of being New Yorkers.
These ‘blended divisions’ have added to the flavor of what NY is all about. It has also fostered an understanding and tolerance of one another that is uncommon in most areas of the country.
The Arab community is now a part of that mix. Unfortunately, with the Arab Community brings Islam. BUT, and this is VERY IMPORTANT. All Arabs are not Muslims. There are many christian Arabs in NY and throughout the country that are
here because of the persecution they suffer in Muslim controlled countries.
Dearborn has many Arabs that pledged their allegience to the US and Christianity. Not all, mind you, but a good percentage.
I have a friend who is Lebanese that I have known for 14 years now. She is a pilot with a major US carrier, was born in the US but attended school in Beirut when she was young, as that is where her family is from. They are not muslim. The recent crisis with Israel and Hezbollah was very tough on her and her family. Her family had to flee to the hills. They have no allegience to hezbollah or the radicals that would prefer to see an Islamification of Lebanon.
Remember, Lebanon is 40% Christian. I doubt that percentage will be sustained as more and more Christian Lebanese flee from the pressures of the radicals.
When they flee, they end up in Arab communities in the US, which are enclaves they feel comfortable in. There,they can buy their food, which is exceptional by the way, speak with
their neighbors in their own language, and feel a sense of belonging there. However, these areas are also prime spots for those who wish to do us harm to ‘blend in’.
It is no different than what the Islamists do in Lebanon, where they set up rockets in the Christian neighborhoods, fire them into Israel, flee, and allow the Christians to bear the brunt of Israel’s retalitiation.
So we must be careful here when we talk about places like Dearboristan, which, by the way is not far off of that description. We must not despair when we see demonstrations in Brooklyn which support Hezbollah, we must fight and give those in the Arab community, those that have fled their homeland in fear, the support and backing to rise up against those within their communities who whish to hide in their shadows.
Finally, and this is what started me off on this. Be careful what we read on websites. The link Jack provided for Moslem Candidates may be for the most part accurate, I don’t know. But be VERY CAREFUL there because the one that jumped off the page at me is innacurate. And….it was the most recognizable name on the list. It is Jeanine Pirro from N.Y. Funny how that works, the one who was going to challenge Hillary is on a list as being a Muslim……She is NOT.
She IS Lebanese, but She is a Catholic. So take what you may from that site with a grain of salt.
Billy
Oh, and Death to Iran
The folks that count the most in this country
are like a sleeping dog, you can pull his tail
and poke him a little and he sleeps on,do it
a little more you will get a growl and keep it
up he will jump up and bite you right in the
ass…Thats whats going to happen to these Muslim clowns…
A little food for thought, one of my brother
in laws is Muslim,we have not spoken since
9-11… Hard feelings,you bet your sweet ass
there is as he said it was all our fualt!!
Billy, my husband Nick born in Staten Island and then they moved to Rockaway Beach. That is very close to Sheepshead Bay.
Tincan Sailor I can understand completly about how you feel about your brother-in-law. To say such a thing to you would make me furious too.