Life Sentences for Charity Work – Free the 5!

the US Empire holds countless political
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prisoners in its vast prison network
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from black power to national liberation
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movements people deemed threats to the
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system languish for decades behind bars
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among those are five Palestinian men
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known as the Holy Land five victims of
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George Bush’s massive repression
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operation against Muslims living in the
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u.s. these men shukri abu baker Isana la
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she roofied Abdul Qader abdulrahim Oda
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and Mohammed Alma’s Ain and their
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organization the Holy Land Foundation
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were simply a charity for Palestinian
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refugees charged with aiding terrorism
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their sentences range from 15 to 65
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years to understand more about this
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little-known case and the alarming
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precedent it sets for all international
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solidarity activists in the u.s. I sat
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down with my co-pilot author of
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injustice the story of the Holy Land
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Foundation v I just got through your
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book injustice wow what an incredible
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book everyone needs to buy it they need
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to read it they need to learn about this
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insane case the Holy Land Foundation
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became the largest Muslim charity in the
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u.s. millions of dollars in distribution
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of aid talk about how it started and
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also what programs it fostered so this
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is an interesting question in the trial
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the Holy Land Foundation trial but they
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wanted to they had to show that Holy
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Land it was connected to Hamas and they
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said her land was established in 1987
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Hamas was established in 1997
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therefore the tour connected what they
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left out or the two other aspects two
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other things that happened 1987 shukri
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who was the CEO his daughter was born
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soon Abbott was born a night
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87 and I dedicate the book to her and
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she was born ill and she needed a lot of
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care and this exposed sugary to the
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world of charitable charitable giving
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and relief and so forth and he decided
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he would like to work
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and provide that same kind of care the
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same kind of relief to children
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Palestine so that was the inspiration
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she inspired him to to do this so 1997
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the finest arts so there’s a great need
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for relief in Palestine massive arrests
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so a lot of families don’t have a
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breadwinner curfews so people can’t go
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to work can’t buy food and a lot of
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casualties which means a lot of orphans
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and so that created a need for relief so
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that’s how old I began and then it was
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shukri of assad and hassan ii lashy and
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mohammad amazeen who was kind of the
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inspiration the the spiritual guide if
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you will and they they started to work
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and they did it they did a really fine
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job
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they worked smart they worked based on
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Islamic rules which means over 90 cents
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per dollar actually went to relief which
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is really unheard of and they were
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trustworthy and he showed up you know
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after Oklahoma City bombing they showed
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up after 9/11 they showed up tornadoes
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and floods all over the country they
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were there all over the world Turkey
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Chechnya Albania places where there was
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a need where there were few G’s or there
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was relief because of natural disasters
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they were there helped out and they
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began building coalitions and alliances
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with other relief organizations
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internationally and they
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willing out winning awards and and as
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they were doing all of this what they
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really didn’t realize that they’re doing
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is painting a whole new picture of
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Palestine a very positive picture of
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Palestinian students with work and a
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need in Palestine that isn’t being met
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by the controlling power in Palestine
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which is Israel and this was really the
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the reason for the downfall now in
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nineteen in the mid 90s 95 96 under Bill
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Clinton Hamas was designated a terrorist
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organization and the premise was that
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they were opposed to the peace process
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so any organization any group that
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opposed or seemed to pose a threat to
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the Mideast peace process which of
04:40
course was going nowhere and seemed
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hopeless their help you know hopeless
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for most beef to most people was that
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was placed on a list as a designated
04:49
terrorist organization so from that
04:51
moment on it became illegal to do
04:54
business with Hamas to provide funds to
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Hamas or to any organization that’s
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connected to us and so when that
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happened the leaders of many Muslim and
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Arab organizations came to washington DC
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to talk to Treasury Department’s and to
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talk to State Department to find out who
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they can work with to get some
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clarifications and it wasn’t it was made
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clear very early on that the US
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government does not want to provide them
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with help does not want to provide them
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with guidance and in fact they had
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multiple meetings with Treasury
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officials State Department officials
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well what did they say when they were
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pleading for help yeah but in the early
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90s when it was clear that they were
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that they were changing the story about
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Palestine even though that was not
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assertive
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then the anti-defamation league the ADL
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which pretends to be a civil rights
05:45
organization but is really a fascist
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organization with it supports terrorism
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and racism they began to chip away at
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the reputation of the whole that
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foundation they went to the IRS asking
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for them to revoke their not-for-profit
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status they started publishing all these
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papers conspiracy papers about Islam and
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jihad terrorism in America and holy lion
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was mentioned in it and they made
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alliances with people like Chuck Schumer
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Anthony Weiner the Spitzer who were all
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created this this this coalition to
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fight and bring down holy land they
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started publishing articles in Dallas
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saying that they’re somehow connected to
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terrorism that they’re connected to
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Hamas this even before Hamas was
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designated terrorist organization so
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there was a clear attempt to bring them
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down because you can’t have anything
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that’s Palestinian that’s portrayed in a
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positive light
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anything is Palestinian has to be
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connected to terrorism otherwise people
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are going to change their mind and
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change the story about Palestine so that
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was that was the background and what
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they did was when these articles began
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coming out they stay themselves
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initiated context with the FBI both in
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Dallas then they initiate contacts and
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in Washington DC with federal officials
06:57
to see what they were doing wrong and
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who’s spreading these rumors and it was
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john bryant former congressman who was
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was also their attorney and he went to
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the israeli embassy they told him to go
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call him back they didn’t so he called
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back and eventually said well the
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government told us not to talk to you
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so i mean they were led into this very
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clearly without any guidance and nobody
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wanted to help them so it’s almost like
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there was a trap there and they were
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being entrapped and they were doing
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everything right and they believed that
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because they’re doing everything right
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they’re going to be safe because this is
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after all america and the trap was
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closed right after 9/11 when bush
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designated the holy land foundation a
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terrorist organization saying the money
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is going to quote indoctrinate children
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to grow up into suicide bombers and it
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recruits suicide bombers and support
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their families what evidence did the
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government had to corroborate this
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statement amigo absolutely none
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absolutely none which is exactly what
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the problem was bush didn’t know what he
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was talking about
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the people around him were told that on
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a certain day he’s going to make an
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announcement and they gotta have
07:58
something for him and this was
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documented in lots of lots of places
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books and so forth and so they were
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scrambling what to do you know so they
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decided well let’s just round up the
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usual suspects and Hoyle and was you
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know really the top of the usual suspect
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list
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and then the president said that they he
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designated them without due process but
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with an executive order as a terrorist
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organization and closed them down well
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now everybody had to work backwards and
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put together proof that didn’t exist so
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they decided to sue the government to
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get rid of designation and to unfreeze
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their assets this was after Ramadan they
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had a lot of money in the bank and they
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really were not worried because they did
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everything right and all the evidence
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was on their side and every penny was
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accounted for you could trace every
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penny where it came from where it went
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their taxes were filed on time they had
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that lawyers I mean that everything done
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rights so they weren’t concerned they
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sued the government and the lawyers
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weren’t concerned either and they
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prepared you know a very serious case
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showing everything they had proving
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clearly that no money went to Hamas had
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no connection to Hamas the government
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had the administrative record which is
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what the government the proof the
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government presents to explain why they
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did what they did there were no
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statements under oath nothing was
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notarized they had a bunch of
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translations that were wrong photocopies
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of documents that were faxed over and
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were seized by the Israeli government
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and a couple of newspaper articles that
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were saying that they’re connected to
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Hamas so basically there was nothing
09:32
there that should have even been allowed
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to enter a court of law the judge in DC
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her name is Gladys Kessler dismissed the
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case and struck all the evidence their
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evidence now this was unbelievable I
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mean the the lawyers could not believe
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this what was particularly problematic
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about that was that in the government’s
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in the government’s administrative
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record there was a statement supposedly
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made by their office manager in
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Jerusalem his name is Mohammed annatee
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and I talked about him a lot in the book
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is there interesting story that I had
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meeting him and apparently according to
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the government’s document he said at one
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point to the Israeli authorities that
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they actually did give some money to
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Hamas now the lawyers check that out
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they spoke to his attorney in Jerusalem
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let Simon was a well-known human rights
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attorney and she said he said no such
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thing I have all of his statements so
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she sent over the statements they had
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them translated notarized under oath and
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he said the exact opposites
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he said we have not given any money to
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any political or military organizations
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we never did we never do that’s not what
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we do that bit of the evidence was
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struck out was struck by the judge the
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wrong translation in the administrative
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record was accepted so that’s like oh
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that’s the only evidence that existed in
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the record was the wrong evidence what
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the government had had presented in the
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appeal because they appealed of course
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the appellate court said well perhaps
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she should not have struck the evidence
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however and at this moment is when
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lawyers realize what they’re facing that
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all the normal regulations and laws and
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rules that supposed to protect citizens
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have been thrown out the appellate court
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said however and this is not a regular
11:22
case this is a case of national security
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and therefore they upheld the lower
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court’s decision and the lawyers just
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couldn’t did not real and these are
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serious you know veteran lawyers these
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are people have been around for a long
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time doing this work they realized at
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that moment that after 9/11 their
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clients were not going to get a fair
11:42
trial and then they realized they heard
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that the government was preparing to
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indict them that there were criminal
11:49
charges being brought against them and
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again the lawyers thought again what
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they did nothing wrong there’s no proof
11:54
that they did anything wrong and that’s
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when the government changed the story
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again but all of this was done an effort
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to prove George Bush right because he
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made the statement the president made
12:03
the statement and there was no proof so
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now they have to scramble and figure out
12:06
a way to make what he said true so one
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story didn’t work they realized that you
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know there’s too much evidence showing
12:13
that they did not give money Tomas
12:15
so they changed the story and that’s the
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story that presented a new story but
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they presented in a criminal case the
12:20
new story was that they did not give
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money to Hamas they did not give money
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directly to terrorist organizations but
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by providing charity to Palestinians
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they alleviated the need of Hamas to
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provide relief and therefore they could
12:34
use all the resources to make bombs and
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to and and you know and engage in
12:39
terrorism
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now Holy Land was working just like many
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other relief organizations around the
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world we’re working with zakat
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committees which are local charity
12:48
organizations in Palestine we have him
12:50
in every city in every town these are
12:51
the local charity organizations and they
12:54
know the lay of the land and everybody
12:55
works with them they were vetted by the
12:56
CIA the State Department US aid worked
12:59
with them other national relief
13:01
organizations worked with these zakat
13:03
committees the prosecution said these
13:05
committees are controlled by Hamas and
13:07
to that end they brought in documents
13:10
more documents that were seized again by
13:13
the Israeli army illegally of course
13:16
were kept God knows where in some
13:19
storage area and then faxed over and
13:21
translated poorly obviously and brought
13:26
it to the courtroom now when you look at
13:28
these documents there’s no beginning
13:30
there’s no end there’s no date there’s
13:32
no signature nothing’s notarized but
13:34
it’s from the government of Israel and
13:36
that was enough so we can trust that
13:39
because they’re our friends and they
13:42
also know terrorism then they brought or
13:45
not then at the same time they brought
13:47
two experts Anonymous experts who are
13:50
Israeli Nationals they testified
13:53
anonymously one was an officer in the
13:55
Israeli military intelligence so they
13:58
claim and one is an officer in the
14:02
Shabak the Israeli secret police so they
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claim nobody knows their names nobody
14:06
knows their credentials and they are
14:07
brought in as experts to say they know
14:10
Hamas and the zakat communities are
14:11
Hamas and what Israel says is true so
14:15
that was worrisome because first of all
14:18
this was unprecedented in the history of
14:21
the United States that this sort of
14:22
thing has never been allowed to bring
14:24
anonymous expert witnesses or foreign
14:26
nationals to testify in a case like this
14:28
number one number
14:29
it was it was unconstitutional but even
14:33
with all of that the lawyers made it
14:34
absolutely clear that these guys did not
14:36
know what they were talking about they
14:38
presented them with each and every the
14:40
cot committee that was listed in the
14:43
indictment each and every member of the
14:45
board of every zakat committee of every
14:47
city that was listed in the indictment
14:48
there was no proof there was no reason
14:50
to believe that any of them had anything
14:51
to do with Hamas their best proof was
14:54
that in some of their offices they found
14:56
keychains with pictures of of martyrs I
15:00
mean that was that that was the weight
15:02
of the evidence and you have to read it
15:04
to believe it you have to read the court
15:06
transcripts and I put quite a few in the
15:08
book I would have put them all 20,000 of
15:09
them in there if I could to believe what
15:12
went on in that courtroom it was
15:13
absolutely a joke then at the end of the
15:15
trial the trial ended with no
15:17
convictions I was a hung jury no
15:21
convictions and that was it so they
15:23
declared a mistrial about a year later
15:25
they came back and and and again they
15:27
changed the story
15:28
they changed the indictments there are
15:30
different charges for each one of the
15:31
five and they ended up with all
15:35
convictions and it really comes down to
15:38
those two secret witnesses because even
15:40
the judge said that really did influence
15:42
him for the conviction yes it even
15:45
though in cross-examination the defense
15:48
team did a great job showing that these
15:49
guys don’t know what they’re talking
15:50
about the best the best claim that they
15:52
had was that they know Hamas so well
15:54
that they can smell Hamas involvement
15:56
you know you know that’s the kind of
15:59
arrogance and patronizing atmosphere
16:02
that existed in that court of law
16:04
all these terrorism experts complete
16:06
nonsense they don’t know the history
16:07
they don’t know Hamas they don’t know
16:09
Palestine but they know terrorism and
16:12
that’s how it was decided these ikot
16:14
committees were actually you know
16:18
governed or controlled by Hamas even
16:20
though they were not and and why doesn’t
16:22
that same logic apply to the UN to NGOs
16:24
to USAID they’re all going through these
16:27
saqqaq committees like you said that
16:28
were vetted by the CIA and even the
16:30
American Consul General in Jerusalem
16:33
former consul general a tavington who
16:35
testified for the defense for four whole
16:39
islands said that at no time did the
16:42
United State
16:43
designate the zakat committees as
16:44
terrorist organizations why are two of
16:47
the members serving life sentences of 65
16:49
years each shukri Abu Bakr Hassan II
16:52
Rashi had the most they were really that
16:54
they were could be they were really the
16:55
ones who worked as part they really
16:58
operated the other the foundation the
17:00
organization
17:01
Shuki was the only was was paid and
17:03
Hassan was a volunteer but still they
17:04
were though they are the main operatives
17:06
and they got they you know all something
17:09
like 32 or 28 charges and that’s you do
17:16
the math and that’s how they came up
17:18
with you know 65 years 60 you know 65
17:20
years it’s it’s beyond belief I mean
17:22
these guys are not just innocent they’re
17:24
not just good men these are the finest
17:26
people you’ll ever meet
17:27
they’re not just innocent they dedicated
17:29
their lives to good to doing good doing
17:31
the right thing
17:32
they all suffered from from the from the
17:36
Palestinian tragedy personally their
17:39
families they all suffered they all
17:41
became refugees they all were denied
17:42
they saw it with their eyes they
17:44
experienced it as kids they saw their
17:46
families experience it as well and they
17:48
came to America and they decided to do
17:49
good and for that they were punished so
17:52
they got 65 years eh Malfi double-car
17:55
there who’s supposed to be free because
17:57
he was found not guilty on all charges
17:58
the first trial is serving 20 years and
18:01
the other two Mohammedan is Ain and
18:03
Abdul Rahman oh this or 15 years each if
18:07
this entire story wasn’t tragic enough
18:09
now these members are being held in
18:11
communication management units basically
18:14
called little Guantanamo base talk about
18:18
what the conditions are and also just
18:20
like family visits I mean what are these
18:22
people going through just in these
18:23
prisons
18:24
you know the assumption is that you
18:26
commit a crime you go to jail you’re
18:27
punished and that should be the end of
18:29
it these guys did not commit a crime and
18:31
they’re being punished over and over and
18:33
over and over and over so at first they
18:35
were all in in Texas in a prison for
18:38
year and a half they were perfect
18:42
inmates you know I mean there’s these
18:44
are smart good people right one day they
18:48
were called in and shipped out no
18:52
warning no nothing at the end of this
18:55
they realized that they were being
18:56
shipped to these communication
18:58
management units which are also called
18:59
terrorist prisons or the Muslim prisons
19:02
or Guantanamo north and these are
19:05
basically prisons that were every bit of
19:09
their communication is monitored and
19:11
they’re mostly from Muslims yeah imagine
19:14
with an entire family flying out I mean
19:16
its enormous expense when you get there
19:19
you might not get in and when you do get
19:22
in then it’s non-contact visitation so
19:25
there’s a plexiglass and then stuck on
19:27
the phone sometimes the phone doesn’t
19:28
work so look at the visits canceled even
19:30
though they can’t hear each other just
19:32
you know so that was so they were all in
19:34
communication in these units for a while
19:36
and then after couple years they were
19:38
moved out into what’s called the general
19:40
population and it’s horrifying I mean
19:42
it’s horrifying it is and you’ve been in
19:44
contact with all of them you publish a
19:46
lot of their letters in the book Miko I
19:48
mean is there anything that you want to
19:49
share about their words their optimism
19:52
amazingly they have a lot of optimism
19:54
and a lot of really wise words to say
19:56
despite their yeah sentences yeah yeah
20:00
they’re they’re they’re they’re free
20:02
they’re all free they’re completely free
20:05
you know you sit through there you know
20:07
the process of getting into the
20:08
visitation room is so depressing and
20:10
horrifying and humiliating and you know
20:13
I do I love these guys but they’re not
20:16
my family they’re not my dad right it’s
20:18
different
20:18
you see people millions of people going
20:21
in to visit their family members are
20:22
loved when they’re children you know
20:24
it’s just a horrible thing and then you
20:26
wait time you get into the visitation
20:27
room you just want to cry and then off
20:30
they go back to prison and you’re free
20:33
to go out but you you’re depressed you
20:35
know it’s horrible it’s really such a
20:37
sad and depressing reality that it’s
20:39
hard to put in words and it’s um how do
20:41
they maintain and I talked to them a lot
20:43
about this you know they they say it has
20:45
everything to do with their belief with
20:46
their religious belief with their
20:48
spiritual foundation which is very very
20:50
strong but you know they’re just sitting
20:53
there you know they’ve got their dignity
20:54
they’ve got their you know their
20:56
spirituality they know that did the
20:58
right thing they know that there are
20:59
political prisoners and that’s how they
21:01
live through it it’s really it’s really
21:03
it’s really quite incredible I can’t
21:05
imagine just the symbolism that this
21:07
case sends the power
21:08
in population as a whole I mean one of
21:11
the quotes from your book just stuck to
21:13
me of one of the Holyland members just
21:16
when he was a kid growing up in Gaza and
21:18
saying you know why won’t the Arab world
21:19
help liberate us and his friend says as
21:21
long as America is helping Israel we
21:23
don’t have a chance and this case really
21:26
just cements that kind of pessimism I
21:28
feel like I mean by criminalizing aid
21:32
work well that reality which is that as
21:35
long as America supports Israel
21:36
Palestine will never be free is is very
21:39
very true and this is exactly why they
21:41
had to be brought down that’s why you
21:42
have organizations like the
21:44
anti-defamation league that’s why you
21:45
have these racist Zionists like Chuck
21:48
Schumer and others who are who are
21:51
determined to make sure that anything
21:53
that’s Palestinian is somehow connected
21:56
to terrorism anti-semitism so that they
21:58
can never gain they they never gain a
22:02
foothold in America which but they do
22:04
you know and you know I wear this button
22:08
at every an interview and every lecture
22:09
I give and I think that this is the key
22:11
you know if we want to see Palestine
22:14
free if we want to see these men free
22:15
there’s a connection
22:17
these men are exactly like the thousands
22:20
of political prisoners men women and
22:21
children in Palestine in Palestine in
22:24
Israeli jails they’re no different and
22:27
it’s all connected to Palestine to the
22:30
feeling of freedom of in power of
22:32
Palestine and it’s all connected to us
22:33
American relations and it’s all
22:35
connected to the need to start promoting
22:37
this idea that’s okay to boycott Israel
22:39
they have to be sanctions imposed on
22:41
Israel there has to be every effort made
22:44
in the siege on Gaza it’s all connected
22:47
and so Palestinians gave us this gift
22:51
which is the call for BDS boycott
22:53
divestment in sections against the State
22:55
of Israel this took all that came from
22:56
Palestine from Palestinians the demands
22:59
are clear reasonable remedial and
23:02
basically the demands of freedom
23:05
equality and justice there’s nothing
23:07
anti-semitic there’s nothing violent
23:09
there’s no demand to kick anybody out
23:11
you know it’s this is something that
23:14
anybody can participate in anybody who
23:16
you know people of conscience need to
23:18
embrace and and and get to work because
23:20
until we and
23:22
we can get Palestine free until we are
23:25
until there are sanctions imposes on
23:27
Israel to a point where they’re kicked
23:29
out of the Olympics that kicked out of
23:31
FIFA they’re kicked out of any any any
23:33
international forum nothing’s gonna
23:36
change so this is really I believe the
23:38
key to freeing these guys and it’s the
23:41
key to freeing all of Palestine and the
23:42
prisoners in Palestine because again
23:45
it’s all connected so it could happen
23:47
very soon if we all embrace this call
23:49
and get to work or it can happen you
23:52
know never it all depends on how engaged
23:54
we decide to be