UnCAIRing
The ongoing federal prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation is receiving almost no coverage in the mainstream media, though it has been full of newsworthy revelations. Among the intensely interesting items to come out of the trial is the brief filed by CAIR seeking to strike the government's list of unindicted co-conspirators in the case. This morning NRO has posted "Coming clean about CAIR," a column collecting my thoughts on CAIR's brief. Having read the brief, I was struck, among other things, by how comletely the New York Times missed its newsworthy elements in Neil MacFarquhar's pathetic story on the subject. In any event, please check out the column
The Counterterrorism Blog continues to provide invaluable coverage of the Holy Land Foundation trial via Steve Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism. In a report on Monday's proceedings, the trial correspondent notes a revealing outburst by defendant Ghassan Elashi:
It wasn’t clear what Elashi said, but it came as an Israeli government agent, testifying under the pseudonym “Avi” was being cross examined. Suddenly, Elashi began hollering angrily, first toward a defense attorney and then continuing as he was led out of the courtroom. Elashi is in custody, having already been convicted in 2005 of money laundering and dealing with a specially designated terrorist – Hamas political leader Mousa Abu Marzook, through his computer company called Infocom.Elashi is a key figure in the story. He is not only a founder of the Holy Land Foundation, he was a member of the founding board of directors of the Texas branch CAIR. Although you wouldn't know it from the media's lack of interest in the case, it's an extraordinarily important trial.Later, Judge Fish said he was told Elashi’s outburst happened as the jury was leaving the courtroom and the statements were to the effect that "this trial an extension of the Zionist conspiracy or something to that effect."
