Another Charty organization found to be Terrorist Fundraiser

[Ganzo]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A Palestinian charity named in the federal case against former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian has been named a terrorist front by the Treasury Department.

The Elehssan Society distributes medical supplies and other relief in Gaza and the West Bank, but the indictment of Al-Arian says the society also is the fund-raising arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday ordered U.S. banks to block any accounts or financial assets found in this country that belong to the Elehssan Society. The action also prohibits Americans from donating to the group.

Al-Arian and three co-defendants are accused of helping finance and organize the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The terrorist group is blamed for more than 100 deaths. Their trial is set to start May 16.

The Elehssan Society was linked to Al-Arian and the three other defendants - Sameeh Hammoudeh, Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Zayed Ballut - in the federal indictment.

The men deny they were part of a terrorist fund-raising organization and say their work through a Palestinian charity and an Islamic academic think tank Al-Arian founded was not a front for terrorism.

The indictment brought against the men and five others said the Elehssan Society used internet web sites featuring Islamic Jihad claims of responsibility for terrorist attacks and featured material on Islamic Jihad leaders, including Ramadan Abdullah Shallah. Shallah was also indicted along with Al-Arian, but has not been arrested.

The indictment also linked Fariz to the Elehssan Society with a November 2002 telephone conversation in which Fariz allegedly told another man to alter the name of the Elehssan Society when the men sent $7,000 to Gaza for a "food packages" program because Elehssan was recognized as a group which could not receive money from the United States.

Fariz's attorney at the federal public defenders did not immediately return a telephone call for comment Thursday.

The department offered no estimate of how much money Elehssan channeled to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It said that the group worked with Islamic Jihad to distribute money to the families of Jihad members held prisoner by Israel and deceased members.

The group also maintained lists of families associated with Islamic Jihad - including the families of suicide bombers - who were to receive compensation, the department said.

Isn't this same univercity that Buldozer Girl is from

[Aires]

Well I gotta give it to them its kinda clever to use a charity organization as a fund raiser. But they should all just fall over and die.

[Rust]

Where are these alleged terrorist acts they've supported? Seem from the above article they gave money to the families of those in jail and those with dead family members. They did include the families of suicide bombers admittedly, which is somewhat tacky to say the least. But seems to me they were a charity, by the government's admission:

The department offered no estimate of how much money Elehssan channeled to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It said that the group worked with Islamic Jihad to distribute money to the families of Jihad members held prisoner by Israel and deceased members.

Not exactly sure how that is 'supporting terrorism' by giving people whose breadwinner is sitting in jail some cash to eat, which is all the article claims the charity did. Is there more detail where they did something else like buy weapons or something? I mean you might as well call the UJA a 'terrorist organization' because they give money to poor settlers, some of whom have engaged in terrorist acts against Palestinians. Feeding poor people isn't terrorism, it's compassion.

And isn't it about time the US government shut AIPAC down for spying on the US, *again*, with this latest Pentagon analyst handing them classified documents on video?


--R.

[Ganzo]

First part is crap. Just because they did not list everything in the article, you dismiss it. They were indicted on more than givng money to poor.

And isn't it about time the US government shut AIPAC down for spying on the US, *again*, with this latest Pentagon analyst handing them classified documents on video?

--R.

The "classified" documents on IRAN NUKES, that were "stolen" right before sale of "bunker busters" bombs to Israel by US. Looks like Israel is gearing up to bail out everyone AGAIN by bombing iranian nuklear production, and US wants to have "clear hands" in it.

[Rust]

Hey, *you* posted the 'crap' article, Ganzo, so blame yourself for a shitty source. I just pointed out it doesn't mention any actual support of terrorism. You got a better cite?

As to bombing Iranian nuclear sites, Israel's not stupid enough to do it when the infrastructure is so spread out, hell, they don't even know how many and where most of the sites are. It's not like Iraq back when they bombed the one reactor in Osirak - the stuff is all over, and lots of it is in cities. Ask Xaoshaen what the US intel community thinks about the idea of trying to bomb Iran's nuclear sites.

So AIPAC was spying on the US eh? Is that espionage for the Israelis involved *and* treason for any Americans?

--R.

[Ganzo]

Words just for sake of arguing.

--R.

[Rust]

Words just for sake of arguing.

--R.

Okay, if you can't back up your claims, no problem.

--R.

[Diekan]

As to bombing Iranian nuclear sites, Israel's not stupid enough to do it when the infrastructure is so spread out, hell, they don't even know how many and where most of the sites are.

--R.

How the fuck do you that? What, you work for Israeli Intel now? You a member of the Mossad now?

That's a pretty arrogant statement - but I'm sure the Internet told you so, so it must be true.

[Rust]

As to bombing Iranian nuclear sites, Israel's not stupid enough to do it when the infrastructure is so spread out, hell, they don't even know how many and where most of the sites are.

--R.

How the fuck do you that? What, you work for Israeli Intel now? You a member of the Mossad now?

That's a pretty arrogant statement - but I'm sure the Internet told you so, so it must be true.

Israel was able to cripple Iraq's program when they bombed the incomplete reactor as Osirak. There have been quite a lot of discussions about 'could we do it to Iran too' and in all the articles and talk shows I've seen it discussed, the consensus is 'no, the Iranians learned from the Iraq incident, they have redundant sites, spread out, many in cities where bombing would be much harder, etc.'

You don't read a lot of current affairs, I suspect? There have been several articles in the last year in major newsmagazines. Or do you just assume the Iranians are too stupid to set things up so they can't all get neatly taken out in a single bombing raid? Just a bunch of crazy ragheads? You better be right, if they do bomb the nuclear sites, and miss, the Iranians won't be holding back on trying for a bomb then.

Now, what were your sources to make you think you knew anything about the subject?

--R.

[Diekan]

My "source" is common sense. No viable intel agency in the world is going to leak what they know to a newspaper, magazine or some online blog. No one, but those who actually work in that agency, really knows what they know.

I don't know if Israel has all of Iran's nuke sites on a map.... neither do you... neither does any one else - except for those locked behind the doors of Israels intel community.

The various sources that you and I use can often be right on target for a lot of things... but there are also issues they write about that I suspect they just don't really know and are more or less speculating, or spewing false information as fed to them by someone on "inside" regardless of how factual they claim to be.