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After Israel’s Designation of Human Rights Groups as “Terrorists,” Biden Should Release Palestinian-Americans Imprisoned Over Similar Claims [1]

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Date: 2022-03-11

We, the undersigned U.S. and international civil and human rights organizations and individuals, call on the Biden Administration to pardon the “Holy Land Foundation Five.” Shukri Abu-Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammad Elmezain are prominent Palestinian-American philanthropists who once ran the largest Muslim charity in the United States. The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was shut down by the Bush administration and designated as a terrorist organization in the wake of 9/11, even though it donated money to Palestinian charities that the U.S. government itself supported. Its leaders are serving sentences of up to 65 years in federal prison.[1]

The defendants in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case were never accused of directly funding terrorist organizations or terrorist attacks, nor were the Palestinian charities they funded accused of doing so. Nonetheless, they were prosecuted under US “material support” legislation on the notion that the social programs they financed help win the “hearts and minds” of Palestinian people for Hamas.[2]

The U.S. government's case was based in part on evidence obtained through FISA wiretaps as well as evidence obtained via questionable foreign intelligence from Israel, faulty translations, and accusations by anonymous Israeli military witnesses who claimed that charities receiving funding from the HLF – and from the U.S. government itself – were involved in “terrorism.”[3]

These dubious claims echo those that the Israeli government has made against Palestinian human rights groups and advocates for decades, including this past October when it designated as “terrorist” six Palestinian human rights organizations that have worked closely with the international community, triggering widespread international condemnation.[4] The six groups have offices in the West Bank, where they have spent years documenting and exposing violence by the Israeli military as well as Palestinian authorities, including the detention and torture of children, and advocating for the rule of law.[5]

In its released dossier, the Israeli government employed a similar rationale against these groups to what was used in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation Five. It claimed that while some of these organizations have humanitarian goals, some of their funds had gone to “terrorist organizations.” Yet it put forward no proof to justify these allegations and no meaningful substantiation linking them to armed violence.[6] According to the targeted groups’ attorneys, the information it offered about the groups was at least in part obtained through the use of abusive interrogation tactics.[7] Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, which the Biden Administration recently added to its trade restriction list, was also found on some of the phones of Palestinian activists from the six groups.[8] NSO Group did not directly respond to these allegations.9

In its prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation Five, the U.S. government similarly relied on prejudicial and vague claims made by an Israeli intelligence officer, who was permitted to testify under a false name that he could “smell Hamas.”[9] This may be the first time that an expert witness was allowed to testify under a pseudonym in an American courtroom.[10] And despite the government’s acknowledgment that the funds sent went entirely for humanitarian aid to needy Palestinians, the five men were still convicted.[11]

Israel’s recent decision to designate the six Palestinian human rights organizations "terrorist" has been condemned by multiple members of Congress;[12] prominent international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch;[13] the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Association;[14] the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the EU Special Representative for Human Rights;[15] the Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs;[16] the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs;[17] at least 21 Israeli human rights groups;[18] and numerous philanthropic organizations and public figures.[19]

But today, U.S. citizens of Palestinian heritage languish in prison because Bush-era prosecutors decided —in part using Israeli government claims and even anonymous Israeli government witnesses—that their charitable activities were "terrorism".

The HLF prosecution was clouded by the fear and suspicion of Muslims in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. But the Israeli military's decision to outlaw Palestinian human rights groups as "terrorists" indicates that, then and now, these are politically-motivated accusations and U.S. citizens do not belong in prison as a result. President Biden should pardon the Holy Land Five.

For the full list of signatories, please click here

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[1] Url: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/11/after-israels-designation-human-rights-groups-terrorists-biden-should-release

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