An end of the year thank-you note in 2000 to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) from The Islamic Association – Gaza, signed by Sheikh Ahmad Mohamed Bahr (Secretary General of The Islamic Society) expressed appreciation for the "continuous efforts" of HLF "for the service of Islam and Muslims in general, and the children of this nation, in particular, and for providing urgent assistance to relief the children of the martyrs, the wounded the injured and the needy."
Who is Sheikh Bahr?
A December 1994 fax from the Dallas based IAP Information office which was intercepted from the home of one of the defendants identifies Sheikh Bahr as a leader of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. The IAP, or the Islamic Association for Palestine, was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee.
According to the IAP fax, Sheikh Bahr addressed a mass festival of Hamas supporters on Saturday December 17, 1994 describing Hamas as a dragon with 700,000 heads. "If a martyr falls, 100 thousand will grow in its place."
This is the same Sheikh Bahr who just two months before the Hamas rally penned an angry fax to CBS for a story the network did on the HLF:
we condemn you [sic] false accusations to the Holy land Foundation. When you accuse them you accuse us. Our money go to help innocent Palestinians. We don't support terrorism, we support lives. Your attack against HLF is nothing but Israeli propaganda [sic]. You should apologize immediately.
Head master of the Islamic society
Ahmed Mohamed Bhr
Kindergarten Video
Another fax addressed to CBS repeating those words verbatim was signed by Dr. Ibrahim Yazori on letterhead from The Islamic Society of Gaza. Yazori was a founder of Hamas.The Islamic Society of Gaza, is the school from which prosecutors recently introduced a video showing the Society's kindergarten graduation ceremony. Some of the children are dressed in fatigues running around with weapons and other little ones are dressed as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah preaching to a crowd.
Clearly CBS got it all wrong.