WASHINGTON — A prominent Islamic charity raised $207,000 at a 1995 Los Angeles event at which the keynote speaker exhorted the crowd to "Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all," according to an FBI memo obtained Wednesday.
The account is contained in a 49-page FBI document that the Treasury Department used to support this week's decision to freeze the assets of Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The charity allegedly funneled money to Hamas, the Palestinian militant organization that claimed responsibility for last weekend's suicide bombings in Israel.
The FBI memo provides a glimpse of how the federal government has gone about amassing evidence against groups it believes are aiding terrorists. It used informants to infiltrate meetings, relied on intelligence from other countries, such as Israel, and obtained "recently declassified electronic surveillance."
Since Sept. 11, the United States has frozen the assets of dozens of groups, but Holy Land was the first U.S.-based charity to be shut down.
An FBI informant identified the speaker at the January 1995 Muslim Youth Conference--held over the New Year's holiday at the Hyatt Regency hotel--as Sheikh Muhammed Siyam, a Hamas military leader.
"I've been told to restrict or restrain what I say. . . . I hope no one is recording me or taking any pictures, as none are allowed . . . because I'm going to speak the truth to you," Siyam reportedly said at the conference. "It's simple. Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all! Exterminate them! No peace ever! Do not bother to talk politics."
A Holy Land official then urged the crowd to give to "the cause," said the memo, which was written by Dale L. Watson, the FBI assistant director of counter-terrorism.
Memo Details Group's Alleged Ties to Hamas
Holy Land has raised money for Hamas at conferences for years, the memo said, and Siyam has been a frequent guest speaker--evidence of the charity's ties to the terrorist group.
Ghassan Elashi, Holy Land's chairman, said Wednesday that the foundation does not give money to Hamas. But he did acknowledge raising funds at Islamic conferences in which Siyam was a speaker.
"The question is not how we raise the funds," he said, "it's where we send the funds." He said the charity's money has aided more than 10,000 children and it will "contest the decision" to freeze its assets.
The White House announced that it has frozen $5 million of Holy Land's assets since imposing the freeze at midnight Monday.
