Home      |      Weblog      |      Articles      |      Satire      |      Links      |      About      |      Contact


Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Hamas threatened U.S. Senator during trial of Bridgeview Mosque member Muhammed Salah - Mayor Daley opens park donated by terrorist funders

Hamas threatened U.S. Senator during trial of Bridgeview Mosque member Muhammed Salah - Mayor Daley opens park donated by terrorist funders

November 26, 2006

MIM: The trial of Mohammed Salah, a prominent Hamas member who was convicted of being responsible for the murder of the American teenager David Boim was in process at the same time that Chicago mayor Daley dedicated a park donated by the terror HQ at the Bridgeview Mosque Foundation and funded by Salah supporters. Chicago Mayor Daly cut the ribbon together with known Hamas members Oussama Jamal and Jamal Said who appeared to be smirking at each other in one of the photos. Perhaps Mayor Daley and other city officials could put in a word for Bridgeview Mosque member Salah during his trial.The dedication of a Park by his accomplices and supporters also appears to be a PR stunt and a way to influence jury and public opinion by having them conclude that any terror mosque which 'donates; a park to the city cant be all bad -as long as they only kill Jews. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/143593,211nws7.article Testimony: Arrest of alleged Salah associate upset Hamas

November 21, 2006 By Chris Hack Staff writer

A congressional staffer testified Monday that a high-ranking senator in 1995 received a vaguely threatening fax from Hamas leaders upset about the U.S. detention of an alleged associate of Mohammed Salah.

Salah, of Bridgeview, is standing trial on federal charges that he aided Hamas, the militant Palestinian group considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

Paul Matulic, now a staffer with the Senate Intelligence Committee, worked as foreign-policy advisor to U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 1995 when Hatch was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Matulic said the fax, printed on Hamas letterhead and signed by the group's spokesman in Amman, Jordan, protested the arrest of Mousa Abu Marzook on an Israeli extradition request.

Marzook, once the U.S.-based leader of Hamas' political bureau, allegedly helped funnel money to Salah for him to deliver to Hamas military leaders in the Occupied Territories.

Salah was arrested in Israel in 1993 and spent nearly five years in prison there. Marzook was arrested in New York in 1995 and held by the U.S. government at the request of Israel.

"The continued detention or handing-over of Dr. Marzook to the Israelis will produce a wave of outrage against the United States in various parts of the Arab and Muslim worlds," the Hamas fax to Hatch stated. "Serious repercussions could ensue as a result."

Matulic testified that he forwarded the fax to officials at the Justice Department, State Department and FBI.

"I was concerned that it could be deemed a threat," he said.

But under cross-examination, Matulic acknowledged that the letter, written in English, was generally professional in tone and even provided contact information for the Hamas spokesman.

"Is this the familiar way terrorists act, they send faxes to United States senators with their names and phone number on them?" Salah defense attorney Michael Deutsch asked.

"Not in my experience," Matulic said.

The letter asked Hatch to "kindly consider" intervening on behalf of Marzook, and a second fax from the group noted that Hamas had never targeted American interests.

"Hamas' struggle has always been confined to resisting the Zionist occupation of Palestine," the second fax stated.

Israel ultimately dropped the extradition request, and Marzook was allowed to go to Jordan. He now helps run Hamas from Syria.

The faxes came less than a year after then-President Bill Clinton signed an executive order, designating Hamas as a terrorist organization and making it illegal to send money to the group.

"We must and will pursue a comprehensive peace between Israel and all her neighbors in the Middle East," Clinton said in his 1995 State of the Union address. "Accordingly, ... I signed an executive order that will block the assets in the United States of terrorist organizations that threaten the disrupt the peace process."

The order outlawed all donations to Hamas, despite the fact the group does significant charitable work in the Occupied Territories.

"This prohibition includes donations meant to relieve human suffering," the official notice of the order stated.

Printer-friendly version   Email this item to a friend