Posted on 12/28/2002 7:37:53 AM PST by July 4th
A Milwaukee businessman who served more than four years in an Israeli prison for financing terrorism was arrested Friday afternoon upon his return to the United States.
Jamil Sarsour, 52, was convicted in 1998 by an Israeli military court of giving $40,000 to Hamas, a militant Islamic group that has supported Osama bin Laden.
Sarsour, a Palestinian from the West Bank who became a U.S. citizen more than 20 years ago, was deported by the Israeli government after serving his sentence there. As soon as his plane landed at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport around 2 p.m. Friday, Sarsour was arrested by federal authorities on felony charges of currency structuring.
Prosecutors allege that before Sarsour left for the West Bank in October 1998, he made several cash transactions at local financial institutions, keeping each one under $10,000 to avoid filling out federal forms. The paperwork is required so the IRS and law enforcement agencies can keep track of people who deal in large sums of cash.
"While we have always paid close attention to financial crimes involving the movement of funds overseas, we are giving such offenses much more attention after 9-11, especially when the funds involved are being transferred to the Middle East," said Francis Schmitz, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Sarsour remains under investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Milwaukee, according to federal officials.
Othman Atta, a Milwaukee attorney who has known Sarsour for many years, called the prosecution politically motivated.
"He is not an al-Qaida or Osama bin Laden-type individual," Atta said. "This is an individual who has lived an exemplary life."
Before he was arrested in Israel, Sarsour operated the Fast & Friendly Grocery, a convenience store in the 300 block of W. Locust St. in Milwaukee. He continues to own eight mostly commercial properties in the central city, including the Best Quality Furniture building on W. Vliet St., according to city property records.
While living in Milwaukee, Sarsour periodically traveled to the West Bank to visit family and to run a car dealership in Ramallah, a city under the control of the Palestinian Authority. On Oct. 23, 1998, while on one of those trips, he was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. At the time of the arrest, he had two American passports, $9,250 in cash and $63,870 worth of personal checks, cashier's checks and money orders, according to public records. Those checks and money orders, obtained through the cooperation of Israel's government and law enforcement agencies, are the basis for the new charges.
"The investigation has disclosed that . . . Sarsour and others acting on his behalf were able to cash checks drawn on United States bank accounts at a currency exchange business located in Ramallah," according to the affidavit of Milwaukee FBI Agent Donald W. Glanzer Jr.
But because the information came from the Israeli government, it should be viewed with skepticism, Atta said.
"They have their own vested interest in this whole matter. I don't think their information is reliable," he said.
Governments around the world disagree about the legitimacy of Hamas, also called the Islamic Resistance Movement. The U.S. and Israel call it a terrorist organization. Some Arab countries see it as a valid organization that fights Israeli repression.
Sarsour was convicted of giving $40,000 and other aid to Hamas between 1996 and 1998.
Shortly after his arrest in Israel on those charges, Sarsour told reporters he had not financed Hamas but had given "a small contribution" to the family of Adel Awadallah, a Hamas leader. Awadallah, accused by Israel's government of planning suicide bombings and other violent attacks, was killed by Israeli commandos in 1998. Both he and Sarsour grew up in the city of El-Bireh, near Ramallah.
Although Sarsour never has been involved in politics, he "was deeply concerned about Palestinians living under very brutal occupation," Atta said.
"He was trying to help his own family and the families he knew. He's being persecuted for opposing the Israeli occupation."
A report to the House Financial Services Committee by Steven Emerson, a terrorism and national security expert, details Sarsour's confession to Israeli authorities. In it, Sarsour reportedly said that two of his brothers have been raising money for Hamas under the auspices of an organization called the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
A third brother "is the Deputy General of Al-Aqsa Islamic Bank and General Manager of Beit al-Mal Holdings, two organizations . . . whose assets have been ordered frozen by President Bush for their support of the Hamas terrorist organization," according to Emerson's testimony.
Atta said the confession was false, and Sarsour was tortured into giving it by Israeli authorities. He also was tortured and kept in solitary confinement for months at a time during his incarceration, Atta said.
"Even though he held U.S. citizenship, they did nothing to help him," he said.
Sarsour, who has seven children, came to Milwaukee around 1970 to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and lived here until his arrest in Israel in 1998.
Sarsour will make an initial court appearance Monday before a federal magistrate in New Jersey. He then will be returned to Milwaukee to face the new charges. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and fined $5,000.
What is currency structuring?
Oh, by the way -- this applies to all law-abiding US citizens as well.
And so that is now a crime?
Somehow being Jailed for supporting Terrorist's falls a bit short of an "exemplary" life. (Unless of course shredding people in city buses is a "Holy" thing to you)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.