Gary Fitleberg, December 2, 2004

Lawyers for the family of an American teenager gunned down in the West Bank urged a jury 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 Wednesday in the penalty phase of a civil trial against several Islamic groups and an alleged Hamas fund-raiser.

Judge Arlander Keys ruled earlier this month that Hamas was responsible for the shooting of 17-year-old David Boim at a bus stop in the disputed territories of Judea & Samaria (wrongfully called "West Bank") during May 1996.

Keys also ruled that alleged Hamas fund-raiser Mohammed Salah, the Holy Land Foundation and the Islamic Society for Palestine are liable for damages.

Parents Stanley and Joyce Boim, who moved to Jerusalem in 1985, filed the suit under a federal law permitting American victims of terrorism overseas to seek damages against organizations that raise funds for terrorists in the U.S.

The jury must now decide how much the defendants should pay and whether another group, the Quranic Literacy Institute, is also liable for damages.

All the defendants deny financing terrorism.

Only the Quranic institute had lawyers in court Wednesday, but the group's attorney, John Beal, said he would not take part in the proceedings.

"QLI can refute every inference and statement that the plaintiffs claim create liability, but we don't have time to put the case together," Beal said afterward.

Hoffman described Salah as a "hardened international terrorist" who carried funds from Chicago to Israel on orders from one of the top men in Hamas.

He said Salah had listed his occupation as a Quranic institute employee. He also said evidence would show the institute, which is based in a Chicago suburb and translates Islamic texts, was "a leading part of the conspiracy."

"They gave cover to Salah," Hoffman said. Salah's funds were impounded following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and he faces federal charges in Chicago of allegedly funding terrorism. The funds of the Holy Land Foundation and the Quranic institute have also been impounded.

Gary Fitleberg is a Political Analyst specializing in International Relations with emphasis on Middle East affairs.

Copyright © 2004 Gary Fitleberg