Defense's turn in Muslim charity's terror trial

updated 1:35 p.m. ET Sept. 5, 2007

DALLAS - Israeli intelligence about Palestinian groups that a Muslim charity aided was often unreliable, a former senior U.S. diplomat testified Tuesday at the organization’s trial on terrorism-support charges.

Edward Abington, who served as U.S. consul-general in Jerusalem during the 1990s, said the Israelis had an “agenda” and provided “selective information to try to influence U.S. thinking.”

Abington’s testimony took dead aim at prosecutors’ claims that the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was knowingly funding terrorists instead of providing humanitarian aid.

Holy Land, once the nation’s largest Muslim charity, and five of its leaders are charged with funneling millions in illegal aid to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors say Texas-based Holy Land funded schools and hospitals it knew were run by Hamas.

Key prosecution witness testified anonymously
In six weeks of testimony, the prosecution’s key witness was an Israeli government lawyer who was allowed to testify anonymously. He said many of the Palestinian schools and charities to which Holy Land gave money were controlled by Hamas.

Prosecutors presented stacks of documents including bank records of transactions with a man who later became a Hamas leader, and secret surveillance including Holy Land officials at a Philadelphia meeting of Hamas supporters in 1993.

Abington, whose post essentially made him the U.S. ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, testified that he was privy to daily CIA reports in Jerusalem yet was never told that terrorists controlled the groups that got money from Holy Land.

Abington, the first defense witness of the trial, said the U.S. Agency for International Development gave money to some of the same groups. He added that he met many officials of the charities, called zakats.

The diplomat said he had heard of Holy Land “as a Palestinian-American charity that distributed assistance to needy families in the West Bank and Gaza.”

From 1993 to 1999, Abington was consul-general in Jerusalem, and like others he was under orders not to have contact with Hamas.

He testified that the Israelis provided intelligence to the CIA, and defense attorney Nancy Hollander asked him if he found the Israeli information reliable. “No,” he answered. “…  I feel the Israelis have an agenda. ... They provide selective information to try to influence U.S. thinking.”

Abington spent 30 years in the State Department. He resigned in 1999 and spent seven years at a Washington lobbying firm that represented the Palestinian Authority for as much as $750,000 a year. He said he never worked for Hamas.

He gave an unflattering view of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian areas of the West Bank and Gaza, citing the seizure of Palestinians’ land for Jewish settlements and arresting Palestinians for throwing rocks at Israeli military vehicles.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Barry Jonas questioned Abington’s objectivity, suggesting that officials in Washington considered him anti-Israeli and close personally to the late Yasser Arafat, who led the Palestinian Authority.

Federal agents raided Holy Land and shut it down in December 2001.

More from msnbc.com What do you remember? Take our weekly quiz ‘Three Cups of Tea’ advice for Obama Will nuclear fusion fade ... or finally flare? World Cup or world stage? N. Korea on display Afghanistan's dogs of war sniff out mines On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM GIVING

Giving Section Front

‘Three Cups of Tea’ advice for Obama McKellen helps bring theater to sick kids Would-be thief sends kind store owner $50 Pot in a pot: Donated jug holds marijuana Thieves rob $100,000 in toys, food for poor Men grow mustaches for a mission Poll: Americans still in giving spirit More seniors showing up at soup kitchens   $1,000 gold coin dropped in donation bucket   Hunger, America’s ‘dirty little secret’ Giving Section Front   Add Giving headlines to your news reader: