HANANIA: Finally justice in the Boim persecution of Arabs and Muslims, For Immediate Release, 12-29-07

Another defeat handed in politically motivated “Terrorism” cases
By Ray Hanania — The only good thing that can be said about the current corruption of the “American justice” system driven by anti-Arab and anti-Muslim biases is that the initial rulings can be overturned. It happened this week in the overturning of the injustice of the David Boim Terrorism case.

The fact that these politically motivated cases have to be fought, and that they were approved in a court of law to begin with, however, exposes the underbelly of the widespread racial corruption that exists in the American judicial system. Appealing politically motivated cases is costly, not just in terms of money but in terms of damage to the reputation of the targets of these cases that, when involving anti-Arab and anti-Muslim targets, are too common in American society.

The U.S. Justice Department has lost several high profile cases that target falsely accused terrorist suspects who are little more than pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian activists.

Terrorism charges against Mohmmed Salah and his co-defendant Abdelhaleem Ashqar, and Sami Al-Arian were all rejected by the court, even though the “Justice Department” sought its vengeance by using other, lesser charges to continue to punish the falsely accused victims.

All of the vindicated continue to be persecuted. They’re being dragged through the American Gulag, a system of political persecution that singles out innocent Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims because of their criticism of Israel.

It’s a disgrace. It exposes the hypocrisy of the American judicial system which is corrupt and influenced by politics. It is impossible for a Muslim and an Arab in America to get a fair trial when it comes to cases involving criticism of Israel.

Even though they will win, the victims are put into a purgatory of American injustice where the battle rages on over minor offenses that have been turned into federal crimes because of the vengeance of the prosecutors and the hatred of extremist pro-Israel activists, lawyers and judges.

The most recent case to be overturned is the ridiculous $156 million verdict that was made against several Muslim American charities involving the killing of 17 year old David Boim.

In 1996, Boim was among several civilians killed during a terrorist attack in the occupied West Bank. His parents found a sympathetic lawyer who found a politically sympathetic judge – apparently it is easy to do in America – and they managed to argue that Boim’s killing was the responsibility of charity groups based in the United States that opposed Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank.

What the biased and discrimination driven judge did not consider is the fact that Boim was brought to the West Bank, a land occupied by Israel in 1967 and in the middle of a mini-war ever since, and encouraged to be an “occupier.”

Boim was a settler who held both Israeli and American citizenship. He should never have been in the West Bank. That his parents brought him to this war zone when they immigrated to Israel and allowed their son to enter the Occupied Territories and this war zone is the real shame they must carry on their shoulders.

In truth, the two individuals responsible for killing Boim were brought to justice. One defendant committed a suicide bombing attack while his case was pending, and the second was sentenced to 10 years hard labor in Palestine.

But prosecuting the real culprits is not what the Boim case has been about.

In the politically biased American system, the Boims were able to redirect the blame from themselves and the real killers, to others engaged in politics. They did that under a politically motivated law that allows Israeli and Jewish parents of settlers and civilians killed in the illegally occupied West Bank to file lawsuits against any organization or individual who opposes with the Israeli occupation.

The same law does not accommodate Palestinian Americans who have lost relatives and land as a result of Israeli government terrorism, to file lawsuits against pro-Israel organizations in the United States to compensate for their loses.

No one is cheering Boim’s death. Like the young kids recruited to commit suicide bombings by extremist Palestinians, Boim was the victim of extremist American Jews who push their young children into the heart of a war zone simply to make a political statement of hatred against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

The settlers are the ones who should be charged with crimes in American courts. But they are not because of their political clout not just among Jewish American organizations, but among Jewish American judges who easily brush aside the law in order to make pro-Israel political statements that increase their support in votes and funding from Jewish American and pro-Israel campaign contributors.

The fact is that many Americans have been killed by Israelis. Many Americans have lost homes, lands and properties to the Israelis who continue to violate international laws. No charges have been brought against any Israeli or Jewish American organizations for these deaths.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the judge in the case failed to require Boim’s parents “to properly show a link between the boy’s death and the fundraising activities of the charities.”

The Boims sued the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the American Muslim Society, formerly known as the Islamic Association for Palestine, an extremist pro-Hamas organization, and the Quranic Literacy Institute, and Salah, falsely accused of fundraising for Hamas terrorism.

All of these groups became targets of this politically motivated persecution in the wake of the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001 because the American government had failed to identify the real terrorists and were looking for fast scapegoats.

In a 2004 trial, a jury manipulated by the judge, prosecution and an atmosphere of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred, ruled that the defendants were responsible for the terrorist attack, even though no evidence was submitted at all that linked anyone to the event.

Boim’s lawyers had told reporters they planned to sue for $15 million. The jury, driven by the incitement of the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim environment of post-Sept. 11, 2001 American, awarded $52 million to the family. The judge in the case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys, a Vietnam-era U.S. Marine motivated apparently by the same hatred of Arabs and Muslims, tripled the amount using the politically motivated “U.S. anti-terrorism law.”

It was only the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that asked the real question that the jury and judge Keys ignored: What did any of the actions of these groups have to do directly with the death of David Boim?

The answer has always been simple.

Nothing.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist and author. Copyright Arab Writers Group Syndicate, www.ArabWritersGroup.com.)