SENDING FUNDS TO AID PALESTINIANS GETS 65 YEARS IN PRISON

The sentence today handed out to two founders of a Moslem charity that sent money to Hamas for humanitarian purposes was excessive and cruel. The federal court in Texas sentenced the two founders to 65 years in prison, in effect, a life sentence, because there is no such thing as parole for good behavior with federal sentences.

The BBC reports:

"Two founder members of what was once the biggest Muslim charity in the US have each been jailed for 65 years.

"Shukri Abu Baker, 50, and Ghassan Elashi, 55, were convicted of channelling funds to the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.

"Three other members of the Holy Land Foundation were jailed for between 15 and 20 years by a Dallas court.

"The charity was found guilty last year of sending $12m (£7.4m) to fund social programmes controlled by Hamas."

CONVICTION OF HOLY LAND OFFICERS MEANS END TO FINANCIAL AID FOR PALESTINIANS

I wrote yesterday about the truly unfortunate conviction of the five officers of the Holy Land Foundation, a charity designed to assist Gazans who find themselves in subsistence poverty because of Israel's implacable oppression. Each of the five could be sentenced to hundreds of years in prison.

Gretal Kovack writes in today's The New York Times:

"The five defendants, all leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, based in Richardson, a Dallas suburb, were convicted on all 108 criminal counts against them, including support of terrorism, money laundering and tax fraud. The group was accused of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an Islamist organization the government declared to be a terrorist group in 1995."

Think about what this conviction will do to other charitable organizations that want to assist Palestinians. They will immediately be suspect. Their donations will dry up. Their assistance to Palestinians will cease. That means more children will go without food, schools in Gaza will shut down, and families will become even more desperate than they are today.

Bush and Cheney will no doubt portray the verdict as a victory in their "war against terror." However, it really is a defeat for humanitarianism and generosity towards those who no fault of their own are in dire and parlous condition.