Rape Does Not Go Unpunished in the Absence of 4 Witnesses

But circumstantial evidences are enough to convict HLF. Great! Pass the toast.

Am I correct that a great deal of emphasis is placed by Islam in the testimony of eyewitnesses of known character, and little or none at all in forensic evidence?

my thanks for your insightful post.

I grieve for those who starve because they live under awful dictatorships, wherever they live.
I do not believe that the Palestinians should be punished because they elected Hamas — I understand that polling shows it was mostly an anti-corruption vote, and I believe firmly that sort of vote is helpful. I believe that there should be a civil service where people should do their jobs and not worry so much about political ideology. With people like that, I would have no problem giving money, even understanding that the government was ruled by Hamas.
That is an ideal, and if America is in the middle of righting her own ship, perhaps I ought to not throw so many stones.

I understand that people have used the tools available, and I’m not casting any stone particularly at you. But I hope that there can be better tools fashioned, ones that do not have relation to terrorism. If, as you have many times stated, many Muslims in Palestine march for peace — is there a way to organize them into charities that are not Hamas-affiliated? (again, government affiliated is a different story, but my thoughts on that aren’t germane).

Arafat’s corruption made things much more difficult than they might have otherwise been. I know that it is exceedingly difficult for cultures that have a history of corruption to shake that off, and I hope that the election of Hamas shows that the Palestinian people have the will to do so.

If there are no good solutions, the idea should never be to punish the people making even half-assed contributions to justice. That is simply dunderheaded.

Israel has a large share of blame herself, for not having effectively rehabilitated the Palestinian state that she occupied — and also for not having accorded them some level of self rule.

I understand the questions you are asking – and they hurt. I continue to believe that the path towards peace is to forgive but not forget.

America has much to atone for. Hopefully, she can start by defusing the potential of nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

So, firstly, if Hamas is in government, picked by the people, how would you feel being told who you can pick for your government and who you can’t? Secondly, now given that Hamas is in power, does that mean we punish the Gazans collectively for choosing, as a way of saying, one evil over an evil that they felt was worse (Fatah’s corruption)? What should we do? Let millions of people die because we don’t want their government to get any food and basic necessities of life? Is that the kind of American bullying that we would like to advertise??

How evil it is indeed to punish people because they funneled health, education and food through middle-men that we don’t agree with? If indeed HLF had funded Hamas’s militant activity, then I would be with you and agree that it should be stopped. But everyone admits they didn’t. So, why the punishment?

You have to know that this is Israeli occupation extending to American courts, through a sophisticated web of draconian laws and government pressure. We indicted Israel’s perceived problem, not America’s criminals.

Finally, why is that HLF’s assets: MY donations, my FRIENDS’ donations, Muslim donations everywhere, are now part of government property?? Why not return the money to the Muslims who donated?? Why not donate it to a Muslim charity of the government’s choice, not even our choice?? Is it because this money will now be funneled back to Israel, who after all, can claim the real victory?? Is there more salt that can be rubbed into Muslim wounds than to give our religiously-mandated charities to the greatest terrorist-state of our time, at least in the Muslim view?? Don’t you see what message this all is sending? How things like these continue to embolden extremists because it merely proves that America and Israel are together fighting Muslim interests?? I am just asking questions that are being echoed in Muslim communities, and to show you how we continue to send the most awful messages to the Muslim world through injustice against Muslim interests in this country.

If this prosecution, however tainted it was, leads to some separation between charities and Hamas, I think that would be a good thing. (I understand that Hamas is now the ruling party in part of Palestine, and that just makes the whole thing more complicated!)

But that’s my moral view. It’s the same reason I believe giving money to the Catholic church is immoral — they will use your money for good, but use other money for bad, and the more you give them, the more they can do bad things.

Just my thoughts