American Muslims for Palestine Sued for Terror Financing

The terror financing case against American Muslims for Palestine has long roots, going back to the Hamas killing of an American teenager in Israel. David Boim was an American whose family moved to Israel when he was a child. Boim was just 17 in 1996 when he was shot in the head by a Hamas terrorist while waiting for a bus outside an Israeli city near Ramallah.

In an effort to seek justice, Boim’s parents sued three American non-profit organizations:

1. American Muslim Society (AMS)

2. Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP)

3. Holy Land Foundation

The Boims charged that these entities were funneling money to Hamas. The case marked the first application in the United States of the 1990 Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, a federal law that allows victims of terror to sue in U.S. courts.

By 2001, the Holy Land Foundation was declared a domestic terrorist organization by the U.S. government and was shut down. Their assets were seized, and a number of its leaders were tried. These leaders are now serving long prison sentences in the U.S.

The Boims won their case in 2004 and a jury awarded them $52 million. The judgment was tripled by the judge due to the stipulations in the Anti-Terrorism Act.

But the $156 million judgment was never paid. Instead, the two remaining organizations simply shut down. Less than a year later, a new organization opened. The new organization employed much of the same leadership and staff as IAP and AMS. It was named American Muslims for Palestine.

In 2017, the Boims filed a new lawsuit under the “alter-ego doctrine” (which had previously been successfully applied in corporate cases) charging that American Muslims for Palestine was simply the reconstitution of IAP and AMS. The suit also named Rafeeq Jaber, a former president of both the IAP and AMS.

In addition to the “alter-ego” argument, the suit further alleged that American Muslims for Palestine itself had provided material support for Hamas (terror financing) through a series of intermediary organizations.

The case was originally dismissed, but a new ruling issued in May 2022 by federal Judge Gary Feinerman of the Seventh District Court reversed that decision.

Feinerman based his judgment on four reasons:

1. the overlapping leadership of the organizations

2. the fact that the organizations served the same purpose

3. the similar operating structure of the organizations

4. the fact that the defendants were trying to avoid payment.

The case is currently pending. 

The ADL notes on its website that

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) has "organizational roots" with an "anti-Semitic group that served as the main propaganda arm for Hamas in the United States until it was dissolved in 2004."

The ADL also notes that

AMP works closely with some of the leaders of one of the groups that was held financially liable for Boim's killing. Some of those individuals held positions on AMP's board of directors.

Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Vice President Jonathan Schanzer, who testified before Congress in 2016 about AMP's ties to Hamas financing networks, said the discovery process in the Boim lawsuit against AMP could prove damaging to the lawmakers that have thrown in their lot with the group.

Marc Greendorfer is the founder of the pro-Israel Zachor Legal Institute think tank. Greendorfer said it is outrageous that so many members of Congress have chosen to ignore AMP's alleged ties to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

“The fact that affiliates of American Muslims for Palestine, the equivalent of an Islamic Ku Klux Klan, are involved in fundraising, voter outreach, and policy development for a prominent group of Democrats is outrageous, yet not a surprise," Greendorfer told the Washington Examiner.