November 18, 2006
By Chris Hack Staff writer
An FBI agent insisted Friday the fact violence wasn't discussed at a meeting of Muslim men 13 years ago doesn't mean they weren't supporting terrorism.

Anti-terrorism agent Robert Miranda testified in the trial of Mohammed Salah, a Bridgeview resident accused of serving as an operative of the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Salah's co-defendant in the case, former university professor Abdelhaleem Ashqar, of Virginia, allegedly served as a communications link between Hamas leaders in the United States and abroad.

Ashqar was an organizer of an October 1993 meeting of about 20 men in Philadelphia that closely followed the signing of the Oslo Accords, a peace agreement between Israel and then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that ultimately fell through. Prosecutors claim the men at the conference were U.S.-based Hamas representatives who gathered to plot the group's next move in the wake of the treaty, which didn't conform with the stated Hamas goal of destroying Israel.

"I think this was a conference about supporting Hamas and aligning the position of Hamas supporters in the U.S.," Miranda said. "This was a conference about supporting terrorism."

Salah was not at the meeting; he was in an Israeli prison at the time after his arrest for allegedly distributing money to Hamas military leaders in the Occupied Territories.

Miranda had testified Hamas played a significant role in the failure of the Oslo agreement by increasing terrorist attacks against Israel after it was signed. But under cross-examination, he acknowledged most of his information about the matter came from media accounts of the drawn-out conflict, and he hasn't read prominent studies that concluded Oslo was doomed to fail anyway.

"I'm not familiar with the Oslo Accords," Miranda said. "I'm a counter-terrorism guy."

Miranda also admitted violent action never was discussed at the conference; most of the talk centered around political ideology and what type of public stance their "movement" should adopt in the United States.

But he said the meeting, which was monitored by FBI audio and video surveillance, nevertheless was proof of Hamas support.

"Are you saying that you can't have a meeting in this country where you never talk about violence and you talk about ideas of a movement?" Ashqar defense attorney Keith Spielfogel said. "Are you saying you can't do that in this country?"

"I'm saying if you want to talk about a terrorist organization, you might have to eat your words later," Miranda replied. "Those ideas may be used as evidence against you."

"Ideas?" Spielfogel spat back. "The KKK can have a meeting in this country."

"And I hope to God we're listening," Miranda said of his FBI colleagues.

Chris Hack may be reached at
chack@dailysouthtown.com
or (708) 633-5984.