The Islamic Center of Cleveland's Fawaz Damra had his American citizenship revoked after he was found to have raised funds for the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in 1991.
FBI sources called him a threat to national security, as the United States classifies Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organization. The Islamic Jihad is responsible for many fatal shooting and bombing attacks on civilians and security forces in Israel.
Damra's family requested that he be represented in Israel by Attorney Smadar Ben-Natan, who met with her new client on Wednesday at Kishon prison, where he is being held. Ben-Natan said that Damra has yet to be charged with any crimes by Israeli prosecutors, but that he is being closely questioned by Israeli security services. A judge ordered Damra remanded for two weeks, at which time he will again be brought before a judge for a decision regarding further incarceration.
While still in FBI custody, Damra, 46, confirmed to investigators that he had raised money for terrorists, as well as having preached against Israel and the Jews, whom he called "sons of pigs and monkeys." Videotaped lectures with such anti-Semitic incitement were distributed in the US to raise funds for Islamic Jihad.
Other suspicions against Damra were raised in 2004, when it was determined that he had concealed his past associations from American immigration officials ten years earlier. Among the claims US officials have made regarding Damra's past are that he was associated with Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden and with the murderer of Rabbi Meir Kahane, El-Sayyid Nosair, in the 1980s; that he was involved in counterfeiting and money laundering on behalf of Islamist groups through his mosque; and that he specifically raised funds for families of suicide bombers. He has also been involved in obstructing an FBI investigation.
Damra has claimed, however, that his world-view changed in 1993 when he began to attend university. He also has reportedly worked for organizations focusing on interfaith dialogue, although he did so even as his incitement-filled tapes were still being distributed.
Before details of the arranged extradition were released, it was reported that Damra, who was born in Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria, was to be welcomed into the Palestinian Authority. This did not happen, of course, as Damra was taken straight from the plane to prison.
FBI sources called him a threat to national security, as the United States classifies Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organization. The Islamic Jihad is responsible for many fatal shooting and bombing attacks on civilians and security forces in Israel.
Damra's family requested that he be represented in Israel by Attorney Smadar Ben-Natan, who met with her new client on Wednesday at Kishon prison, where he is being held. Ben-Natan said that Damra has yet to be charged with any crimes by Israeli prosecutors, but that he is being closely questioned by Israeli security services. A judge ordered Damra remanded for two weeks, at which time he will again be brought before a judge for a decision regarding further incarceration.
While still in FBI custody, Damra, 46, confirmed to investigators that he had raised money for terrorists, as well as having preached against Israel and the Jews, whom he called "sons of pigs and monkeys." Videotaped lectures with such anti-Semitic incitement were distributed in the US to raise funds for Islamic Jihad.
Other suspicions against Damra were raised in 2004, when it was determined that he had concealed his past associations from American immigration officials ten years earlier. Among the claims US officials have made regarding Damra's past are that he was associated with Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden and with the murderer of Rabbi Meir Kahane, El-Sayyid Nosair, in the 1980s; that he was involved in counterfeiting and money laundering on behalf of Islamist groups through his mosque; and that he specifically raised funds for families of suicide bombers. He has also been involved in obstructing an FBI investigation.
Damra has claimed, however, that his world-view changed in 1993 when he began to attend university. He also has reportedly worked for organizations focusing on interfaith dialogue, although he did so even as his incitement-filled tapes were still being distributed.
Before details of the arranged extradition were released, it was reported that Damra, who was born in Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria, was to be welcomed into the Palestinian Authority. This did not happen, of course, as Damra was taken straight from the plane to prison.