Thursday, July 29, 2004
By JOHN CHADWICK / STAFF WRITER
A former spiritual leader of one of North Jersey's largest mosques was among seven
Muslims charged this week with funneling millions of dollars from an Islamic charity to
Palestinian militants operating in the West Bank and Gaza.
Mohammad El-Mezain, who served in the 1990s as imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic
County in Paterson, was charged in a 42-count indictment with providing "material
support'' to Hamas, an organization that has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide
bombings.
The charges focus on Mezain's role as a founding member and fund-raiser with the
Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which federal authorities
said was formed with the specific purpose of helping Hamas.
"One of the primary purposes of the Holy Land Foundation was to subsidize Hamas' vital
recruitment and reward efforts in the West Bank and Gaza,'' the indictment reads.
Local Muslims described Mezain as a charismatic preacher and a prodigious fund-raiser
who would sometimes show slides of impoverished Palestinians or other Muslim peoples
to the congregation.
"He was a good orator," said Ahmad Kahf, a Wayne man and a founding member of the
Islamic Center. "He was able to lead people emotionally toward his goal."
Salah Obeidallah, a Clifton resident who is also a founding member, said Mezain was
passionate but never advocated terrorism.
"He was a mainstream Sunni Muslim," Obeidallah said. "Like all of us, he had this passion
to help the Palestinian people.''
Mezain, who was living in San Diego at the time of his arrest, had been involved with the
Holy Land Foundation since its inception in 1988, and he left the Paterson mosque in
1999 to become the foundation's director of endowments.
He was one of two suspects with ties to the North Jersey Muslim community. Abdulrahman
Odeh, who ran the foundation's Paterson office, is being held at the Passaic County Jail,
his lawyer said.
Muslim community leaders said they were saddened by the arrests. Most, however, were
not surprised. The government shut down the foundation in December 2001 and had
frozen its assets.
"To me, they were both good men,'' said Mohamed Younes, vice president of the Islamic
Center. "They were performing charitable works. I'm concerned that this happened
because they're Muslims."
A Clifton lawyer representing Odeh said his client is innocent.
"The government's claims in the indictment of Mr. Odeh providing material support for
terrorism are without justification,'' Hamdi Rifai said in a statement. "Mr. Odeh has, in fact,
been a community leader assisting in collecting food for the homeless and raising funds
for orphans."
As news of the arrests spread, other Muslims spoke of complicated feelings about the
case.
The Justice Department accuses the foundation of purposefully performing its charitable
works for the relatives of terrorists caught or killed during violent missions against Israel. It
said the foundation sent $12.4 million to support Hamas, which opposes a peaceful
solution with Israel and wants to establish an Islamic state.
"The Holy Land Foundation specifically sought orphans and families whose relatives had
died or were jailed as a result of furthering Hamas' violent campaign, including suicide
bombings," the indictment reads. "This type of support was critical to Hamas' efforts to win
the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people and to create an infrastructure solidifying
Hamas' presence."
Kahf said most local Muslims oppose violence but nonetheless probably support the
foundation's mission.
"When it comes to the bombers, get them and bring them to justice," he said. "But children
are born innocent."
James Pavlin, a Muslim from Elmwood Park, agreed.
"Most of the people in the community see this as a humanitarian crisis," Pavlin said. "If the
Holy Land Foundation was operating as a general charity organization, and that's the
impression most people had, then obviously families who had members killed or arrested
would be among the most in need of charity."
Rifai, the attorney, said in an interview that he will show in court that the foundation never
focused its efforts on families of terrorists.
"The Holy Land Foundation never made a distinction between the family of a martyr or
any other needy family," he said.
