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Digital Library

The Hamas Networks in America: A Short History

Topic:

Antisemitism & Antizionism, Israel & Regional Politics

Principal Investigators:

Lorenzo Vidino

Study Date: 

2023

Source:

George Washington University,Program on Extremism

Key Findings:

'- Hamas-aligned activity in the U.S. has existed since the 1980s, carried out by a network engaged in fundraising, lobbying, education, and propaganda. Internal Hamas documents and FBI wiretaps introduced in federal cases confirm the network’s existence and operations. - The Palestine Committee, created in 1988, formalized Hamas’s U.S. structure and sought to increase financial/moral support for Hamas, oppose peace initiatives such as Oslo, and disseminate anti-Israel messaging. It operated through public-facing organizations such as the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). - FBI wiretaps of the 1993 Philadelphia meeting captured U.S.-based Hamas activists discussing how to advance Hamas’s interests while concealing affiliation. Participants emphasized “deception,” narrative management, and establishment of new neutral-seeming organizations to avoid legal exposure after anticipated terror designations. - U.S. authorities undertook major enforcement actions, including the 2001 designation of HLF and the 2008 conviction of five leaders for channeling ~$12.4 million to Hamas—still the largest successful terrorism-financing case in U.S. history. - The network has demonstrated resilience, creating successor entities such as KindHearts and shifting toward political, educational, and advocacy work that is harder to prosecute. Many original activists remain influential in U.S.-based pro-Hamas ecosystems. 

Methodology:

This report relies primarily on declassified internal Hamas documents, seized materials, and FBI wiretap transcripts that were introduced as evidence in federal prosecutions—most notably the United States v. Holy Land Foundation case. These materials include organizational memoranda, meeting transcripts, and correspondence that provide rare visibility into the structure, intentions, and evolution of Hamas’s U.S.-based support network. The analysis is supplemented by interviews with former U.S. officials, publicly available court filings, Treasury designations, and secondary scholarly sources to construct a historical narrative and assess how the network adapted over time.
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