Anti-Israel protesters rally around ‘Holy Land Five’ imprisoned for funding Hamas

Organizers claim the men were “wrongfully imprisoned” and allege their prosecution was driven by “Zionist pressure.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Anti-Israel activist groups across the United States have launched a “week of solidarity” for two imprisoned members of the Holy Land Foundation, a charity whose leaders were convicted in 2008 of channeling millions of dollars to Hamas.

The campaign centers on Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi, who remain behind bars. Three others convicted in the same case have since been released. Organizers claim the men were “wrongfully imprisoned” and allege their prosecution was driven by “Zionist pressure.”

Events are scheduled this week in Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City, backed by groups including Within Our Lifetime and the Palestine Solidarity Working Group. Planned activities include poetry readings, screenings of an Al Jazeera documentary on the case, a book launch by Abu Baker, and coordinated letter-writing efforts to the prisoners.

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development presented itself as a humanitarian nonprofit, but federal prosecutors said the organization instead diverted large sums to Hamas, which the US has designated as a terrorist organization.

In November 2008, five officials from the foundation were convicted in a Dallas federal court on 108 counts tied to transferring $12.4 million to the group.

The case, formally titled United States v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, was described at the time as the largest terrorism-financing prosecution in US history. Investigators found that funds were routed through Palestinian charitable networks known as zakat committees, which authorities said were controlled by Hamas and used to assist the families of suicide bombers and imprisoned terrorists.

Despite the convictions, the case has become a rallying point in some anti-Zionist circles, where the men are portrayed as charitable workers rather than terror financiers.