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Sheik Jamal Said stood before the packed mosque and worked the crowd like an auctioneer. Speaking Arabic, the prayer leader asked for a donation of $10,000. No one responded. He asked for $5,000, and three men raised their hands. < SNIP> The recipient of the worshipers' generosity was Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian activist accused by the U.S. government of aiding terrorists. And the prayer leader's passionate appeal is a reflection of the ascendancy of Muslim hard-liners at the mosque, one of the most outspoken and embattled in the U.S. The mosque did not become this way without a struggle. Relying...

Counterterrorism efforts got a major boost last week when an American district court found three Muslim organizations and one individual, mostly based in the Chicago area, guilty of funding Hamas and fined them an astonishing US$156 million. The four were found liable for their roles in the murder of an American teenager, David Boim, on May 13, 1996, when he was shot by Hamas operatives as he waited for a bus near Jerusalem. This case is important in itself, providing some measure of justice and relief for the Boim family. Beyond that, it helps fight terrorism in four ways.First, it...

Counterterrorism efforts got a major boost last week when a U.S. district court found three Muslim organizations and one individual, mostly based in the Chicago area, guilty of funding Hamas and fined them an astonishing $156 million. The four were found liable for their roles in the murder of an American teenager, David Boim, on May 13, 1996, when he was shot by Hamas operatives as he waited for a bus near Jerusalem. This case is important in itself, providing some measure of justice and relief for the Boim family. Beyond that, it helps fight terrorism in four ways. First,...

December 2, 2004 (CHICAGO) — There was emotional testimony Thursday from a parent and a friend of an American teenager killed by terrorists in the Middle East. The parents of David Boim are suing a man from the Chicago area and two Islamic charities for funding the terrorist group responsible for their son's death. The day began when an odd move by the defense saying there would be no defense. As the plaintiff's attorneys carried on, jurors heard from someone who was with David Boim the day of the attack and David's father. David Boim's friend was next to him...

CHICAGO (AP) — Lawyers for the family of an American teenager gunned down in Israel's West Bank urged a jury Wednesday to make U.S.-based Islamic groups pay millions of dollars in damages for allegedly helping finance terrorism. "The international terrorist group Hamas has some of its biggest supporters right here in the United States," Richard M. Hoffman, attorney for the family of the slain teen, said in the penalty phase of a civil trial against several Islamic groups and an alleged Hamas fund-raiser. U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys ruled earlier this month that Hamas was responsible for the shooting of...