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Holy Land Foundation 5 are the victims. The perpetrators of the ‘war on terror’ need to be brought to justice

By Iqbal Jassat | MEMO | November 26, 2022

The US’ destructive wars on Muslim countries launched in the wake of 9/11 under the misplaced rubric known notoriously as the “War on Terror” spawned senseless deaths and bloodshed on an unprecedented scale.

The George W. Bush administration, heavily infested with neoconservatives and Likudniks, contemptuously ignored and wilfully disregarded the sovereign status of Muslim lands by unleashing invasions, bombings, massacres and, ultimately, occupying them.

In a gross display of raw power, the US shamelessly sought to demonstrate its unchallenged position as a military superpower to refashion the world in its image.

Since the unmistakable target of US belligerence was Islam and Muslims, it adopted a well-worn Israeli strategy by dehumanising victims as “terrorists”. The tactic was designed to fool the world by claiming that the war was not on “good Muslims” but only the “bad ones” depicted as “terrorists”.

Against this backdrop, one is reminded of the extent of maliciousness associated with the War on Terror paradigm and the abuse of justice flowing therefrom.

A classic example in this regard is the case of what became known as the “Holy Land Foundation Five (HLF5)”.

Fourteen years ago, five highly respected US-based Palestinian academics were unfairly targeted and jailed for providing humanitarian aid to orphans and widows in Palestine.

They have been described as the “Holy Land Five” who were actively involved in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) based in Texas.

The HLF was, at the time, the largest Muslim welfare and charity organisation in the US until it was singled out and hounded by the Bush administration and Israeli forces.

Using the cover of the War on Terror and fuelled by hostile Zionist agencies who profiled the HLF as a “nest of terror”, it was shut down in December 2001 by US authorities.

The case against the “Holy Land five” led to the wrongful conviction and unjust long-term imprisonment of five highly respected Palestinian men. Three of them – Mufid Abdulqader, Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker – remain imprisoned today.

The two others, Abdulrahman Odeh and Mohammed El-Mezain, sentenced to 15 years each, were released in 2020 and 2022, respectively.

An intriguing yet deplorable aspect of the highly politically charged case is the fact that these men were convicted on false charges of “providing material support to terrorism,” even though they were never even accused of funding the legitimate armed resistance to Israeli occupation and colonisation.

According to various reports, including by Samidoun, interestingly, the same charities funded by the Holy Land Foundation were also funded by the International Red Cross and even USAID, the US Agency for International Development.

In other words, the criteria for aiding or funding “terrorism” ought to have been applicable to the International Red Cross and USAID, rendering them “guilty” as well.

However, as is known, the Holy Land Foundation was selectively targeted and borne out by the fact that after failing to convict the HLF5 in their first attempt, the US judiciary allowed untested “evidence” by an anonymous Israeli intelligence agent.

The War on Terror has and remains a playbook on how to subvert justice to gain political goals. The dubious, torture-produced “evidence” by a faceless Israeli spook against the HLF5 was typical sensationalism and anti-Palestinian bigotry.

Though Israel’s subversion of US politics is a well-known documented fact, it cannot remain unchallenged. By the same token, the ill-conceived path of destruction known as the War on Terror needs to be derailed, and its perpetrators brought to justice.

And the case of the three men who remain behind bars deserves a global campaign to secure their freedom.

November 26, 2022 - Posted by | Civil Liberties, Islamophobia, Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | , , , ,

7 Comments »

  1. Thanks for this. I’ve now received this well-written cri de coeur from three sources, including via direct email. It needs arms and legs, as in tentacles of an octopus that reach everywhere.

    “And the case of the three men who remain behind bars deserves a global campaign to secure their freedom.” Wonderful! Agree! Now, HOW DO WE GET TO THE “GLOBAL CAMPAIGN”??!! Somehow the campaign must be MOBILIZED, PUBLICIZED, PUSHED-PUSHED-PUSHED TO THE JUST SOLUTION FOR THE HLF5!!

    I followed this issue as closely as my then-mentation (and caregiving duties for my since-passed wife of 49 years) would allow — with outrage sputtering/exploding — those 14 years ago. I recall with most distaste and hatred that goddam Zionist operatives were allowed to “testify” in open court BEHIND SCREENS, WITHOUT CROSS–EXAMINATION, ABLE TO SPREAD THEIR EFFING ZIONIST LIES AND FILTH AND PILLORY/RUIN THE LIVES, INCLUDING FAMILIES, OF THESE COMPASSIONATE, ACTIVIST HUMAN BEINGS. GODDAM IT: HOW DO WE ENGAGE AND END THIS EFFING FARCE??!! NO. MORE. EFFING. IMPOTENCE. !!! NO. MORE. LETTING. THE. BASTARDS. GET. AWAY. WITH. THEIR. EFFING. ARROGANCE. INJUSTICE. ETC. ETC. ETC. !!!!

    Viva HLF5! (with my heartfelt apologies/regret for being [an unwilling but undeniably complicit…goddam it] part of this effing system, this matrix of satanism that Zionism has us embroiled in)

    Viva Palestine!

    (I would change only the title of this article in this way: “…The perpetrators of the ‘war on terror’ MUST be brought to justice!”)

    Liked by 2 people

    Comment by roberthstiver | November 26, 2022 | Reply

  2. For all of the barbaric suffering done to Palestinians…there is a #1 thing that their ‘sumud’ steadfastness has proven which would ultimately be how utterly corrupt America’s Justice has become after aligning with israel…ever since the absolute lie of WWII. I have become another victim/witness to countless others of just how brutal this satanic ‘Beast’ truly is. #FreePalestine forever. #FREETHEHLF5

    Liked by 2 people

    Comment by Sparrow | November 26, 2022 | Reply

    • Good video Sparrow. This is worse than shameful. Whats worse now are the laws Obummer slipped into the NDAA that no due process will be given. If we allow this to continue, every American should expect this treatment.

      Liked by 2 people

      Comment by raggs12 | November 26, 2022 | Reply

    • Excellent (infuriating!) video; I must find time to watch fully (often difficult for my age-impaired hearing to pick up voice sounds).

      What to do? MOBILIZE, GODDAM IT, AND WIN THE “GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO SECURE THEIR [HLF5] FREEDOM”! — and to stop this injustice shit in its tracks!

      Liked by 1 person

      Comment by roberthstiver | November 27, 2022 | Reply

      • Hi Robert…hit ‘cc’ for close caps so you can read dialog….and yes as usual it is infuriating

        Liked by 1 person

        Comment by Sparrow | November 27, 2022 | Reply

        • Thank you! (I’m the world’s dumbest IT guy.) I did have trouble following the cc thread (from about minute 17 to the end minute 45)…I do recall that bastard MLevitt: he was either the first or second (Zionist) operative to set up the “Terrorist Funding Unit” (2005? it had something to do with Dubya’s illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 on behalf of Zionism/ZioIsrael) in the US Treasury…the other guy was (David?) Cohen (and I think each head of that unit was/had to be a Jew/Zionist…including one woman who had been born in and was a citizen of Israel!). I knew immediately it was a means to screw each and every Muslim-Palestinian-Arab and place sanctions on them. Each of the bastards would do a stint in TFU, then pass through the revolving door to a zionazineocon think tank (e.g., WINEP) to plot and advocate additional Ziostrategies; then — bang: they would be right back in the gummint bureaucracy emplacing/enforcing the shit they had just plotted. I think to this day ZioCohen is a high official in the CIA, pushing the satanic Zioagenda. It’s all corrupt, Ziocentric, unjust, ZioIsrael-first/dual-citizen loyalty…need to eradicate Zionism from any official or unofficial capacity in or close to the gummint.

          “Shameful,” indeed. Goddam it. GodDAM it.

          (I’m not sure about blaming “Obummer”; he and all the POTUSes are mere figure-head puppets dancing on the Zionst string.)

          Liked by 1 person

          Comment by roberthstiver | November 29, 2022 | Reply

          • I posted the video because I had not heard of this before. So when you mentioned that you had followed it I thought it would add to what you had gleaned. To be sure…just like the ‘patsy’ they made for RFK assassination (Palestinian Sirhan)…they are trying to get away with this too. It’s beyond shameful. The fact that these people were preyed upon since the nakba…they can’t either live anywhere else IN THIS WORLD without g-damned jew/israeli assassins finding them. btw, did you notice the ‘BUTCHER OF BEIRUT’ Ariel Sharon (Sabra and Shatila massacre
            Sep 16, 1982 – Sep 18, 1982) had most to do with this? Thanks for your feedback ! ps…if you are the world’s dumbest IT guy, when ALL goes south you’re the man my friend!

            Liked by 1 person

            Comment by Sparrow | November 29, 2022 | Reply


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