5 decry jail terms in Holy Land case

Jason Trahan's initial coverage of the sentencing in the Holy Land Foundation trial was page 1 online yesterday before the court broke for lunch. After that, to find his updates I had to do a key word search of "Holy Land Foundation" on the Dallas Morning News site because editors chose to bury the coverage.

Same with his final report filed, 5 decry jail terms in Holy Land case
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News 12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, May 28, 2009

Maybe they are burying the story out of fear of being sued again by the supporters of the HLF 5, including fellow named co-conspirators, CAIR - the Council of American Islamic Relations.

As the successful prosecutor in the first World Trade Center bombing, Andrew McCarthy recently wrote, "Radical Islam’s apologists abuse courts to shut down criticism," Combating Libel Lawfare

Fear of lawsuit would make sense. I did a cruise of all the Google news stories covering the sentencing yesterday of the HLF 5 and one thing is for sure: they are counting on doing a hard public relations drive with an eye toward the appeal process to chalk these convictions up to a miscarriage of justice. As one who sat through both trials, I can tell you that the evidence was overwhelming. There is no miscarriage of justice here.

The only problem is that with few exceptions both trials were only attended by Hamas and Holy Land Foundation supporters. The public only knows what they are told, and with the exception of Jason Trahan's coverage and a handful of expert watchdog counter-terrorism sites, most of the commentators on this trial are selling fantasies of innocence to the public.

It was pretty amazing to me that there was more interest shown from overseas news outlets than of U.S. news sources. Even the outlets that conservatives count on are low balling the coverage, not only of the second trial but also the powerful statement sent by federal court Judge Solis yesterday. This should not be. When we have victories in the war on terrorism, we should be shouting it from the roof tops and making sure the public understands the convictions were solid and the sentencing just.

Even a Palestinian news source out of Bethlehem, Ma'an News Net, clearly identified the HLF 5 with Hamas most tip-top leaders, Khalid Mash'al and Musa Abu Marzouk. "Mufid Abdulqader, 49, the half brother of exiled Hamas leader Khalid Mash’al" and "Mohammad El-Mezain, 55, a relative of Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouq."

The Palestinian news agency wrote that Abdulqader was, "sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding the group that the US deems a 'terrorist' organization." This is also why the five could stand up in court yesterday claiming innocence, because they do not even regard Hamas as a "terrorist" organization. They are pure in their own eyes, although tell that to the little children who have been blasted out of this life by Hamas suicide bombers while their strollers were parked outside of neighborhood Pizza parlors.

US District Judge Jorge Solis nailed it when he told the condemned yesterday, "Your function in life was raising money to support Hamas."

"You stated it was to help people, but the motive was to support Hamas," the judge said. "You state that you are innocent, but the evidence shows the opposite."

The evidence in the courtroom was overwhelming and clear, but that does not mean that lies will not prevail in the court of public opinion. That is why it is so disconcerting that there is barely any discussion of the victory of this trial in the current news cycle.

We are losing a perfect opportunity to educate the public in the facts with this trial victory. We are fools if we let it pass us by.

These five men can stand up with great conviction claiming that they are innocent because for a long time the world legitimized their terrorist acts against Israel as the war tactic of the weak. That is over.

Now that the reality of terrorist acts has been felt and faced in the American mind, the public is not so quick to give a pass to any who try to sell their innocence with the claim that terrorism is a legitimate ‘war’ tactic. Terrorists aren’t “freedom fighters” they are mass murderers.

Any who, like these five, have dedicated their lives to facilitating terrorists have made it possible for horrific terror strikes against men, women and children DESERVE to be recognized and shamed as cogs in the terror network that they are. It is time that public voices like Bob Ray Sanders, the Dallas Peace Center and the ACLU QUIT serving the interests of the terror networks by making so much noise about the “innocence” of Hamas terror network operatives like these five.

It is pure hypocrisy to say enhanced interrogation techniques are "torture," yet legitimatize terrorist acts by Hamas, Hezballah and other terror networks. The U.S. public should quit giving the benefit of the doubt to anyone who claims that terrorist acts are in any way legitimate. Terrorism is mass murder, not just another tactic of war.

Those who facilitate terrorism – including those who speak out for them trying to convince the public they are just victims of political witch hunting – deserve to be shamed and shunned by the good people of this land from shore to shore.