Islam in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex

The Holy Land Foundation (HLF) was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. Headquartered in Richardson, Texas,[16] and run by Palestinian-Americans, it was originally known as Occupied Land Fund.[17] During the 1990s, American politicians, including Chuck Schumer and Eliot Spitzer,[18][19] alongside the Israeli Government[20] and "Misinformation Expert" Steve Emerson,[21] lobbied the US Government to take action against the Holy Land Foundation.[22] In 2004, a federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas charged HLF and five former officers and employees with providing material support to Hamas and related offenses. The prosecution's theory was that HLF distributed charity through local zakat (charity) committees located in the West Bank that paid stipends to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers and Hamas prisoners; that Hamas controlled those zakat committees; that by distributing charity through Hamas-controlled committees, HLF helped Hamas build a grassroots support amongst the Palestinian people; and that these charity front organizations served a dual purpose of laundering the money for all of Hamas's activities.[23] Their trial has been considered by the Dallas Muslim Community as "unjust" and has been written to have "Capitalized on post-9/11 Islamophobic hysteria".[24][25]

Critics faulted some of the evidence given during the trial. For example, over defense objection, the government called two anonymous witnesses: an Israeli Security Agency (ISA) employee who was known to the jurors and the defense as "Avi" and an Israeli Defense Forces officer who was known to the jurors and the defense as "Major Lior." The defense lawyers were not permitted to know the names of these witnesses.[26] The government cited legal restrictions and safety concerns to protect Avi's identity, of which the motion for protective measures was granted his testimony was based on "much of the material that has previously been provided to the defense... as well as some of the documentation seized from the Holy Land Foundation's offices." However, the government was ordered to provide the defendants with all "tangible underlying facts and data, not previously produced, upon which the ISA agent relies in reaching his opinion."[27] Civil rights attorney Emily Ratner wrote that the use of anonymous and hearsay evidence by the prosecutors was “constitutionally questionable” at best.[28][29] Additionally, much of the evidence used to convict the Holy Land Foundation was "Secret Evidence" which the defense was unable to read or even know who made it.[30][31]

The government did not allege that HLF paid directly for suicide bombings, but instead that the foundation supported terrorism by sending more than $12 million to charitable groups, known as zakat or charity committees, which provide social goods and services. The prosecution said the committees were controlled by Hamas, and contributed to terrorism by helping Hamas spread its ideology, recruit supporters, and provide a front for laundering money and soliciting donations.[32] According to Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, the trial was a "grave miscarriage of justice" and "capitalized on post-9/11 Islamophobic hysteria" in order to convict the Holy Land 5. Pulitzer Prize journalist Chris Hedges describes it as "one of the most egregious cases of injustice committed to date against Muslim leaders in the United States.”[33][34]