A curious court case will play out Thursday in Richmond that might have international ramifications.
On one level, this involves a relatively innocuous question: Why hasn’t a particular charity filed its proper paperwork with the state?
On another, this becomes much more serious: Is a Virginia-based charity funneling money to terrorists?
Or, framed another way, is Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares making “defamatory” and “dangerous” allegations against a Muslim group out of Islamophobia?
The group in question here is the Falls Church-based American Muslims for Palestine, which says “our sole purpose is to educate the American public and media about issues related to Palestine and its rich cultural and historical heritage.”
However, Miyares, in his court filings, makes it plain that he suspects the group may be “using solicited funds to support terrorists and terrorist organizations,” specifically Hamas. AMP, in its court filings, say this allegation has “no basis” and counters that Miyares is improperly — and unconstitutionally — trying to pry into the group’s finances and make them public in a way that would discourage future donations, something that other charities ought to be concerned about as well.
The subject of the court hearing Thursday is essentially whether Miyares will be allowed to pursue this line of inquiry to get access to AMP’s financial records.
Neither the attorney general’s office nor AMP was willing to comment on this case, but the court filings and other public records do a good job of outlining what’s at stake.
The public side of this began last Halloween. On Oct. 31, Miyares’ office sent out a three-paragraph announcement that it had opened an investigation into AMP “for potential violations of Virginia’s charitable solicitations laws” and that his office would “investigate allegations” that the group had used funds to support “terrorist organizations.”
This, in itself, was unusual. The attorney general’s office rarely announces investigations. More typically, it announces lawsuits, settlements, convictions, that sort of thing. I looked back through a year’s worth of announcements from Miyares’ office, and the only other one I could find was where he announced he was joining a multistate probe into certain corporate practices. This was the only one where he announced an investigation that his office alone was conducting. However, as he points out in court filings, he has the prerogative to announce what he wants. And this came 24 days after the Hamas attack on Israel, so there was certainly some political advantage to be seen doing something. This particular announcement, though, didn’t generate much hoopla. I could find just two news stories acknowledging the investigation.
The entry point for this investigation was also unusual: the allegation that AMP had failed to register as a charity in Virginia as state law requires. Typically, this sort of thing is handled administratively by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. A department spokesman says “referral to the OAG on the lack of a charity’s willingness to register does not happen often.” Indeed, AMP in one of its court filings says that the group “is aware of no other time” that the attorney general’s office has issued a civil investigative demand (the legal name for what’s happening here) “seeking donors, supporters and members of a nonprofit organization.”
But that’s what Miyares has done here.
In one court filing, the attorney general’s office points out that AMP didn’t just fail to register for a single year; it failed to do so for seven years. It also failed to file the required state paperwork to certify that “none of its funds had been or will be used, directly or indirectly, to benefit or support terrorists, terrorist organizations, terrorist activities, or the family members of any terrorist. AMP only submitted such a certification after receiving the CID but now seeks to stop the Attorney General from investigating the uses and sources of its solicited funds.”
In theory, if the mythical Possum Hollow Volunteer Fire Department didn’t file its paperwork, the attorney general’s office could inquire whether the Possum Hollow firefighters were funneling money to terrorists in violation of state law. The question here isn’t the attorney general’s legal authority, but his motivation and whether he has “reasonable cause to believe” that AMP has been sending money to terrorists.
AMP, in a court filing, says Miyares is acting “in bad faith with the intent to harass and further political objectives” and “does not have a ‘reasonable cause to believe’ that AMP has any information” related to terrorism. After all, AMP says, it’s filed all the required federal paperwork that charities must file, including public tax forms that show generally (but not specifically) where its money has gone. The group’s only mistake, it says, was to fail to file with the state. (Because AMP didn’t respond to my inquiries, we don’t know why it didn’t register with the state, but there’s nothing in the court filings that suggests this was intentional.)
The attorney general’s office, in a court filing, counters that it does, indeed, have “reasonable cause to believe” that AMP is aiding terrorists, and devotes more than three pages toward making that case. Much of it hinges on the murder of a teenager 28 years ago in Jerusalem.
David Boim was a 17-year-old boy with dual American/Israeli citizenship. He was waiting at a bus stop in 1996 when two Palestinian terrorists drove by and shot him in the head. The family’s lawyer, Daniel Schlessinger, wrote earlier this year in City Journal, a publication of the conservative Manhattan Institute: The two terrorists “were members of a then-little-known group: Hamas. … Boim had the tragic distinction of becoming the first American ever killed by Hamas, and his parents, Stanley and Joyce, demanded justice. They sued not only the perpetrators themselves and the commanders who had planned the attack but also a host of American nonprofit organizations that they claimed were little more than fundraising fronts for Hamas, providing the terrorist group with material support. In December 2004, after much litigation, a [Chicago] jury awarded the Boims $156 million in damages.”
One of those groups the Boims sued was a Chicago-based group called the Islamic Association for Palestine. According to testimony at the trial, some checks from IAP were sent to another group, the Holy Land Foundation, with the memo line “for Palestinian Mujahideen only.”
The Boims never collected the settlement. The Islamic Association for Palestine shut down. Not long afterwards, the American Muslims for Palestine group was founded, and some of its leaders were previously with the Islamic Association for Palestine. In 2017, the Boims filed suit again, this time alleging that AMP is simply the “alter ego” of the defunct groups and should pay the damages previously assessed. That legal action is still ongoing. The attorney general’s complaint here in Virginia references that case multiple times, restating many of the Boims’ allegations. Among them: allegations that certain AMP officials have attended conferences overseas where Hamas officials were present and otherwise have unspecified “close ties” with Hamas.
AMP, in its court filing, says that “no claims in that lawsuit have been found proven by any court” and the organization faces no criminal charges. It contends that Miyares “seemingly out of the blue” has “taken a sudden interest” in the Boims case and is attempting to use untried allegations in another state as the basis for getting access to the organization’s finances.
AMP’s lawyer specifically denies the allegation that the group is funneling money to Hamas. Last month, its lawyer told USA Today: “There have been many allegations and insinuations against American Muslims for Palestine and whether it has connections to Hamas, supports Hamas, or in any way, shape or form aids Hamas. The answer to all of those is simple and clear: No. No, it does not.” (The lawyer also said that the AMP members who were previously with the Islamic Association for Palestine were not decision makers with that group.)
AMP contends that Miyares’ investigation sets a dangerous precedent. It says in court filings that being forced to reveal its financial information would “violate the privacy rights of its supporters and donors” and “chill” their participation in constitutionally protected political action. If their identities were made public, AMP says in a court filing, “these individuals are likely to be targeted and harassed,” and it says Miyares “can show no compelling reason to counter these legitimate privacy interests.”
In a counter filing, the attorney general’s office contends that “despite the fact that AMP admits in its petition that it violated at least one of Virginia’s statutes governing charitable solicitations, it accuses the Attorney General of issuing the [civil investigative demand] in bad faith.”
Strip away all the legal language and here’s what’s happening: Miyares wants to see the group’s books, using that Chicago lawsuit as suspicion that a Virginia-based charity is aiding terrorists. The group denies it’s aiding terrorists and says Miyares is exceeding his authority in a way that sets a dangerous precedent.
We’ll see what a Richmond judge says.
In this week’s West of the Capital:
I write a free weekly political newsletter, West of the Capital, that goes out every Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. You can sign up here:
This will be the last newsletter before next week’s primaries, so I’ll take a final look at the latest early voting numbers, plus look at other political developments around the state this week. I’ll also share more information on who’s speaking atthe cannabis conferencethat Cardinal News is hosting Oct. 15 at Roanoke College. The conference is expected to attract participants from across Virginia, but space is limited. More information about the program, sponsorships and early bird registrations areavailable now.To take advantage of a $25 discount off the $150 ticket, use the promo code “early bird” before Aug. 1.
