For those who know or do not know, the post 9/11 era has been unfortunately one frought with unfair targeting of Muslims and their organizations, including charities. While dozens of highly publicized trials and charges have been brought, not a single legitimate terror related conviction has been achieved against the American Muslim community and its organizations. Now in Dallas, the founders of one such charity, Holy Land Foundation, have to go through trial one more time. Holy Land was one of the largest, if not the largest, and focused its efforts primarily on Palestine. Of course, the Israelis and their US supporters will have you think the entire Palestinian population are terrorists, and even charitable aid to them is terrorism, which is of course hogwash.
The HLF trial involved 197 counts, and after 19 days of deliberations, the jurors could not find a guilty verdict on a single one of the real charges. I guess the prosecutors, pressured by the Bush administration and the Israelis, took the approach of throwing everything they could at the wall and nothing stuck. As one of the jurors said it best, "From what I read and what I saw in the facts and what I was presented, the defense didn't even have to stand and say anything because the prosecution failed completely"
The daughter of one of those charged wrote a very enlightening piece on the situation and her perspective, which I think is a must read. Find it at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noor-elashi/dj-vu-in-dallas-as-the-go_b_128262.html
This chapter in American history, tied of course to the tragedy of 9/11, will go down as an unfortunate replay of the McCarthyist era. When will we learn to put aside our prejudices and focus on the facts and the realities.
As one who operates in the legal field, I have the confidence in our constitution and in our system of justice. Justice and truth will eventually prevail. It may take years and countless unfortunate victims, but history has many such episodes. The reason for the legacy and dominance of the United States is not in the attainment of the largest or most powerful weaponry, it is in its appreciation, protection and fostering of freedom, justice and the human spirit. Let freedom reign. For the ElAshi's and for all.