Closing arguments made in Holy Land trial

DALLAS, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The Holy Land Foundation gave more than $12 million to Palestinian terrorists, prosecutors in Texas said in closing arguments at the Muslim charity's trial.

"Don't let the defendants deceive you that what they did, they did to support widows and orphans," federal prosecutor Barry Jonas told a jury Monday in Dallas.

A trial last year against Holy Land ended in a mistrial, the Dallas Morning New reported Tuesday, noting prosecutors this time eliminated much of their previous case but kept their essential charge that Holyland was created to raise money for Hamas, deemed a terrorist group under U.S. law.

Lawyers for Holy Land have argued the charity intended only to provide humanitarian aid to destitute Palestinian families, the Morning News reported.

On trial are former Holy Land chief executive Shukri Abu Baker and four other defendants previously linked to the charity's fundraising operations. Holy Land was the largest Muslim charity in the United States before the government shut it down in 2001.