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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > A Palestinian In Texas - Riad Elsolh Hamad A Palestinian In Texas - Riad Elsolh HamadOctober 28, 2012
by Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/12062/riad-elsolh-hamad On April 14, 2008, Riad Elsolh Hamad, 55, left his family's apartment in Austin, Texas, to get some prescription drugs. The immigrant from Lebanon and middle school computer teacher never returned home. Three days later, the police found his body, bound with tape, floating in nearby Lady Bird Lake, and concluded that "all signs indicate this may have been a suicide."
Despite this cloud around the dead man, local news outlets reported nothing but kind words and high praise for him. After Hamad's family issued a statement describing Riad as a "peace activist who worked tirelessly on behalf of those less fortunate than him and was loved and admired by many members of the local, as well as international community," the press duly picked up on this moniker and regularly called him a "peace activist" Television station KVUE quoted Joshua Howell, assistant manager at the office where Hamad had a postal box, recalling him as "always in a good mood. Never upset. Never even heard him say a harsh word about anybody." The principal at the school where he taught sent a letter to students' parents calling Hamad "a longtime and valued" member of the faculty whose "love and passion for education touched us all." At Hamad's memorial service, retired Episcopal Priest Edward M Hartwell praised "his humanitarian work to help the children of Palestine [as] some of the most creative and effective work that I know of." Hamad himself boasted of his peaceable approach to politics: "All of our work is very transparent. We don't work with any militant group or violent group, or anybody with a militant affiliation." That was the Riad Hamad praised by family, friends, admirers, and even himself. But Hamad had another side, the one that brought the FBI to search his house, that got him fired from Austin Community College for "making racist slurs and sexist jokes in the classroom," and that made him a foul and unwelcome presence in my life. Thanks to the recent testimony by a former ally of Hamad who has turned against him, several years later, we now know something approaching his full story. The SummonsHamad brought himself to my attention in early June 2006 by sending me, via certified mail, a summons to appear in court in Austin. The document bore a scrawled, unkempt handwriting on a form issued by the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, informing me that Hamad was suing me and Campus Watch for libel. (Campus Watch being a project of the Middle East Forum, he was effectively suing the Forum.) This turned out to be the second amended complaint; I found myself in good company, as the summons also listed the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (now known as the David Horowitz Freedom Center), David Horowitz personally, the Center for Jewish Community Studies, the State of Texas, Joe Kaufman, Americans Against Hate, MilitantIslamMonitor.org, and an internet provider called CB Accounts. Hamad proceeded to file another three amended complaints and in them he tacked on yet more defendants (Freerepublic LLC, Jim Robinson, Laurence Simon, and Dotster Inc.) His was a pro se summons, meaning that Hamad, a non-lawyer, had filled it out by himself and was representing himself i.e., it cost him next to nothing to sue one and all. Hamad charged each of us with 21 offences: libel and slander, malicious libel, malicious slander, defamation of character, defamation of character with intent to cause mental anguish, libeling and slandering a business name, defamation through fraud of a business name, interference with a business contract, tortious interference with a business contract, conspiracy to interfere with a business contract, interference with interstate commerce, interference with Internet commerce, conspiracy to interfere with Internet commerce, intentional infliction of mental anguish with the intent to injure, invasion of privacy, fraud, negligence, gross negligence, disparagement of a business name, disparagement of business products, and dilution of a business name. In compensation for this long list of alleged abuses, Hamad demanded from his many defendants US$5 million in compensatory damages, $10 million for his loss of income, and $50 million in exemplary and punitive damages. Nor was that all: he sought a permanent injunction against our calling his business an "Islamic charity" or he personally a "Muslim fundamentalist." He wanted a Department of Justice investigation into us for "criminal and racketeering work as lobbyists for a foreign country [i.e., Israel] without the proper permits and licenses." He also insisted on public apologies by us in ten media outlets chosen by him, as well as payment for his court costs and "any and all other relief that Plaintiff might show that he is entitled to in a jury trial." Hamad gave insight into his mentality and his motives in the course of his lawsuit. His discovery requests of David Horowitz are particularly colorful, including:
This summons came as a total surprise, as a I had previously never heard of or mentioned Riad Hamad. Sleuthing revealed only the slightest and most indirect connection between us: Hamad had created and headed an organization called the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF) and in a January 18, 2004, weblog entry, "Lamyaa Hashim, Supporting Burqas and Suicide Bombers," I had quoted Joe Kaufman who alluded to PCWF as follows:
That's it. I quoted 15 words from someone who mentioned who worked for Hamad's organization. For this glancing reference, my pro-rated share of payments to Hamad would come to my share of at least $65 million, or about a million dollars per word. What is the PCWF? NGO Monitor analyzed the organization in 2003 and found its primary mission to be "propagating the delegitimization of Israel." As a 2007 summary by NGO Monitor put it, "Gaza-based PCWF openly exploits children's issues for radical politicized agendas that promote the conflict. These activities are entirely inconsistent with its claims to be a humanitarian organization." By way of example, NGO Monitor tells about PCWF's children's drawing contest in which
In brief, PCWF is as crude and hate-mongering as its leader. The LawsuitHamad might have been a pro se plaintiff but I could not take the chance of being a pro se defendant and so turned for representation to the law office of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, L.L.P., which specializes in defamation issues. We responded to Hamad with a motion to dismiss on June 29, 2006, citing three grounds:
My motion also noted that Hamad is a pro se plaintiff with a history of filing what one judgment against him (Hamad v. Austin Community College) called "patently frivolous" litigation efforts that "repeatedly abuse the legal system."
Undaunted by his failure to gain any legal traction, Hamad appealed. This prompted Judge Sparks to issue an even more vehement order on September 6 in which he characterized Hamad's complaints as espousing "no legal theory for which recovery can be made against any of the multitude of defendants sued in this case" and dismissed his pleadings on the grounds that they were "not filed for any purpose and simply harass and cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation." Sparks again granted my motion to dismiss, agreeing with all three of my claims, ruling that the court cannot exercise jurisdiction over the Middle East Forum or myself (because of our lack of connections to Texas); that Hamad filed after the statute of limitations had expired; and that I never made defamatory statements concerning Riad Hamad. He also ordered Hamad to pay me a $1,000 penalty. For a second time, Hamad responded belligerently, this time going public with his claims against we defendants. Talk about libel! He announced to the world on Sept. 14 (including a comment sent to the Campus Watch website) that we
Four days later, Hamad sent out an appeal to his mailing list, stating that "closely linked" websites "are using false information and collection donations to attack and discredit Arabs, Muslims" and asking for at least one thousand people to call the office for internet crimes belonging to the attorney general of Illinois. Encouraged by the court's attitude toward Hamad, I requested on Oct. 6 that he be compelled to pay my court costs. On January 17, 2007, Judge Sparks delivered his final judgment and granted my request for fees totaling $12,915. Sparks made clear his intense irritation with Hamad:
The next fourteen months saw several more rounds of the same: Hamad appealing and all the judges turning down every aspect of every effort of his, culminating with a March 12, 2008, judgment by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals slamming Hamad for his "ten year history of filing frivolous suits in this court." The appeals court upped the award to me to $32,944.50 in attorney's fees. As Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor noted, Hamad's lawsuit "was a clear attempt to use the courts and intimidation to prevent independent analysis and exposure of the incitement by anti-Israel NGOs." The Search
Darby, who had helped Hamad raise money and recruit "human shields" against the Israel Defense Forces and himself almost went to the Palestinian territories for that purpose, wanted to create a group, to be called Critical Response, to send medics into war zones such as Lebanon and Darfur to help civilians. Hamad liked this idea, regaling Darby with plans to use the cover of medics to place explosives on motorcycles and booby-trap ambulances in Israel to kill Jews. Hamad also devised a plan using the PCWF to send money to Hamas and Hezbollah. Darby recounted at Breitbart.com:
This talk of violence, Darby reports, caused him to rethink his relationship with Hamad. "I couldn't sleep and I debated within myself if I should go to the FBI." Learning from another left-wing activist about Hamad's plans to set up "a fake business to help Hamad funnel money for Palestinians" then nudged Darby to confront Hamad. The two met for coffee. On hearing of Darby's disapproval, "Hamad responded by saying it would be good for white people to get caught in the war on terror and that people would limit what the government could do if the war on terror had whites in Guantanamo instead of just Arabs." This settled matters. Darby agonizing over his past actions "wondering if my previous support and efforts for the Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund meant I had blood on my hands" and resolved to stop Hamad. "I ended up meeting with the FBI. They were kind and gracious. Hamad and the Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund were raided." The search warrant focused on fraud, not terrorism, as indicated by the supporting financial affidavit:
An investigator with the Internal Revenue Service put the last part more bluntly: "Riad Hamad, with the assistance of his son, Abdullah Hamad, his ex-wife, Diana Hamad, and his daughter, Rita Hamad, are using the 'donated funds' for personal use and not paying federal income taxes on these funds." Lacking a news account, here is how Hamad himself reported the raid on his house: a dozen federal agents, armed with a search warrant based on probable cause to investigate wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering, "searched every nook and cranny" of his apartment and took away "more than forty boxes of papers, files, computers and CDs." The SuicideAfter the raid, Darby recounts,
Even in death, Hamad perpetuated a fraud. First, he wrote a letter to his circle, creating the premise for violence against him (all spellings and ellipses exactly as in the original):
(Reflecting back on his lawsuit, one sees the source of his fantasies about harassment, hateful environment, and racism.) Second, evidence suggests that Hamad staged his death to make it appear that he wanted the honor of being murdered when in fact he checked out on his own. Based in part on the autopsy, a police statement asserted:
Even Paul Larudee, Hamad's colleague and the last known person to speak to Hamad before his death, says that Hamad "did take his own life but he took it with a view of fueling the speculation that has in fact accompanied his death." Translation: He wanted it to appear like a hit job. Despite his skepticism about Hamad's demise, Larudee insists "I still think he was a hero." The Conspiracy Theory
Kurt Nimmo, a prominent conspiracy theorist, asked "Is it possible a neocon hit team or as likely a Mossad 'bayonet' team took out the school teacher Riad Hamad?" Radio host Alex Jones and others spoke ominously of Israeli hit teams surveilling Hamad's house. Some even accused "sociopathic FBI informant Brandon Darby" of killing Hamad. A Twitter site (riad_hamad) keeps these theories alive almost five years later. In contrast to these lurid accounts, the Travis Country medical examiner, David Dolinak, who inspected Hamad's body on the morning of April 17, found nothing alarming. Quite contrary to Dremali's description of the body being variously cut up, the medical examiner reporter found little to report:
Dolinak concluded that he saw "No evidence of traumatic injury," that Hamad "died as the result of drowning." ConclusionHamad died as a he lived, in a miasma of hate and duplicity. Darby informs me that "Riad publicly claimed to be a Christian but when he died it became evident that he had been lying and was actually a Muslim." We, the victims of his lurid and manic lawsuits never saw a dime of the money he owed us. His embezzlement and skipping on taxes having caught up with him, he perpetrated his final and grandest fraud a pretend-murder. Not surprisingly, his venomous Palestine Children's Welfare Fund is now defunct, reduced to a homepage plaintively stating that "PCWF website coming again soon to carry on some of the great work of Riad Hamad."
Some observations about Hamad: First, the lofty praise for this wretch would make one think him a decent man, pointing to how political sympathy creates blinders. Second, even as he lived in the civilized quiet of Austin, Texas, Hamad contaminated his adopted home by importing political nihilism from the Middle East. Third, I may be out nearly $33,000 in court costs, but it was not all lost; Hamad's legal assault inspired me to expose this malign excrescence of anti-Zionism. Finally, if one truly is judged by the quality of one's opponents, we who defend Israel are thriving. Most Muslim immigrants are law-abiding and constructive citizens in the West. But Hamad's case fits into a persistent pattern of immigrants who bring with them the bad habits imbued by the tyrannical politics and radical ideologies. Combining Islamic supremacism with nihilist disdain, they despise all that is non-Muslim, import a mιlange of extremist ideas, and feel free of moral constraints. Consequently, they engage disproportionately in antisocial behavior, criminal activities, and terrorism. Reluctantly, I concluded almost a decade ago that "Muslim visitors and immigrants must undergo additional background checks." I reiterate this now, lest more Riad Hamads be allowed in.
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