Kesher Talk

Hamas makes itself at home in Canada: As part of the court case against the Hamas-supporting Holy Land Foundation, it was revealed yesterday that "Senior leaders of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas were overheard by FBI agents discussing their lucrative fundraising efforts in Canada." The National Post has the story today:

"They also encouraged more fundraising activities in Canada," according to the FBI report, based on secret surveillance of the meeting. "They talked openly about opening an ... office in Canada.

"It was mentioned that [a proposal for] such an office was submitted to the Canadian government three times and isn't approved yet." But donations flowed from Canada nonetheless, the document suggests.

Hamas is a designated terrorist organization in the United States and Britain but not in Canada, where -- almost a year after the Sept. 11 attacks -- the Liberal Cabinet has outlawed only al-Qaeda and six affiliated groups under its new anti-terrorism law.

... The evidence concerns the "Philadelphia meeting," a 1993 gathering of Islamic hard-liners who assembled at a hotel to discuss support for Islamic militancy, particularly against Israel.

"All the participants without exception are Muslim fundamentalists," said the FBI report, an analysis of 16 hours of recorded discussions. The 25 participants came from Washington, Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi and Canada, the report says.

Fundraising was the major topic of discussion, the report said. "A fundraising organization, an Islamic organization, in Canada collected $214,000 in six months, ending June, 1993.

"It was also mentioned, they, in Canada collected $167,000 during the year of 1992. Another Islamic organization [probably the Holy Land Fund] collected $189,000." Holy Land is an alleged Hamas front. Its leader was present at the Philadelphia meeting.

The FBI claims the participants agreed that money raised in North America should be directed to finance the Palestinian "holy war" against Israel and to undermine the Oslo peace process and the Palestinian Authority.

... The documents were obtained by the Site Institute, a Washington-based research organization headed by terrorism expert Rita Katz. They were filed in support of a U.S. government decision to shut down an alleged Hamas fundraising branch in Texas, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Last October, the White House closed the foundation, the largest Muslim charity in the United States, charging it was a money-making arm for Hamas terrorists.

... The FBI monitored the Philadelphia meeting because it was spying on its organizer, Abdelhaleem Hasan Ashqar, a Hamas activist accused of transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza.

posted by Howard @ 8/14/2002 09:33:29 AM