In the Hamas funding trial in Dallas, another Israeli agent testified under a pseudonym yesterday about the worldwide structures that provide funding to Hamas through Islamic charities and NGOs.

The Holy Land Foundation was part [of] a global network of organizations that raised money from Muslims throughout the world and funneled it to Hamas, according to a second Israeli secret agent who testified under a pseudonym Wednesday.

The agent, a lawyer with counterterrorism section of the Israeli Security Agency known as Shin Bet, said that most of Hamas’ money “is coming from outside the territories [the West Bank and Gaza], from non-governmental organizations overseas,” particularly the U.S., Europe, the Gulf countries and North Africa.

“When I’m talking about a network, a global network that would serve Hamas goals in the financial aspect, this … structure was by design,” said the agent, who testified under the name “Avi” Wednesday. “Someone wanted to create it. It wasn’t created just like this, out of the blue.”

He then testified that money collected by this network ended up in the coffers of several Palestinian charity committees known as zakat and run by known Hamas activists.

He said that Israeli government agents found posters and key chains praising suicide bombers inside some of the committees’ offices, as well as a video showing schoolchildren wearing mock suicide belts and chanting slogans.

“The color of Hamas, the smell of Hamas, it’s all around these charity committees,” Avi testified. …

Holy Land supporters, who watched Wednesday’s testimony from an overflow chamber after the judge cleared the courtroom for security reasons, say Avi’s testimony is not credible because his government is bent on defeating Hamas. Hamas was formed in the late 1980s to ensure the destruction of the Israeli government through worldwide jihad, or holy war. It has sponsored hundreds of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians in recent years.

UPDATE at 8/16/07 3:13:15 pm:

More details on the Israeli testimony at Counterterrorism Blog: HLF Trial Update: 2nd Israeli Witness Takes the Stand.

“Avi” underwent direct examination throughout the morning, describing the global network of HAMAS linked charities which were created by the terrorist group’s leaders in the West Bank and Gaza in the early 1990’s. He testified that these organizations did not just appear out of the blue but that this network was organized and created by design.

According to “Avi,” these funds shared common characteristics regardless of the country in which they operated, be it in the United States, England, Germany, or any one of a number of others which housed HAMAS charities. These characteristics included: registration as non-profit organizations, local HAMAS activists and leaders as top officials in the various entities, the use of newspapers to publish HAMAS pamphlets and messages, support for the same organizations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and finally all of these charities supported specialized segments of the population, notably the families of HAMAS martyrs and prisoners.

This HAMAS social network gradually spread throughout Europe. In a letter recovered from the offices of HLF and written to Akram Mishaal, a defendant in the HLF case who served as HLF’s Programs and Grants Director, Amin Abou Ibrahim, a HAMAS leader and head of the Dutch Branch of the German based Al-Aqsa Foundation, listed for Mishaal the “addresses of the charitable organizations working for Palestine in Europe.” The letter, dated April 2, 2001, indicated that Mishaal requested this list which included Al Aqsa Foundation offices in Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, and Holland. Al Aqsa and all of its branch offices were designated as terrorist entities by OFAC on May 29, 2003.

The list also included Interpal in Britain, the Charitable Organization for the Support of Palestine (CBSP) in France, the Association for Palestine in Austria, and the Relief Organization for Palestine in Switzerland, all of which were designated as terrorist entities by OFAC on August 21, 2003.