    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [December 4, 2001]
    [Page 1469]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1469]]

    Remarks on the Financial Fight Against Terror
    December 4, 2001

        The President. Good morning. Today we take another important step in
    the financial fight against terror. From the beginning of this fight I
    have said our enemies are terrorist networks of global reach, and all
    who harbor them and support them are our enemies, as well. We began with
    Al Qaida and the Taliban. We identified some of Al Qaida's financial
    backers, and we moved against their accounts.
        In November we advanced further and identified 22 more global
    terrorist organizations. And now we are moving against their financing,
    as well. At midnight yesterday the Treasury Department froze the assets
    and accounts of the Holy Land Foundation in Richardson, Texas, whose
    money is used to support the Hamas terror organization. Earlier today
    Federal agents secured the offices and records of the Holy Land
    Foundation in Texas, California, New Jersey, and Illinois as a part of
    an ongoing investigation. At the same time, we have blocked the accounts
    of an Hamas-linked bank, an Hamas-linked holding company based in the
    West Bank.
        The message is this: Those who do business with terror will do no
    business with the United States or anywhere else the United States can
    reach.
        Hamas is an extremist group that calls for the total destruction of
    the state of Israel. It is one of the deadliest terrorist organizations
    in the world today.
        Hamas openly claimed responsibility for this past weekend's suicide
    attacks in Israel that killed 25 innocent people, many of them
    teenagers, and wounded almost 200 other people. Hamas is guilty of
    hundreds of other deaths over the years and just in the past 12 months
    have killed two Americans. And today we act.
        Hamas has obtained much of the money that it pays for murder abroad
    right here in the United States, money originally raised by the Holy
    Land Foundation. The Holy Land Foundation is registered with the IRS as
    a tax-exempt charity based in Richardson. It raised $13 million from
    people in America last year. The Holy Land Foundation claims that the
    money it solicits goes to care for needy Palestinians in the West Bank
    and Gaza. Money raised by the Holy Land Foundation is used by Hamas to
    support schools and indoctrinate children to grow up into suicide
    bombers. Money raised by the Holy Land Foundation is also used by Hamas
    to recruit suicide bombers and to support their families.
        America has called on other nations to suppress the financing of
    terror. Today we take further steps to suppress it inside our borders. I
    am confident that most of the donors to the Holy Land Foundation, and
    perhaps even some of the individuals who are associated with the
    Foundation, had no idea how its money was being used. They wanted to
    relieve suffering in the region of the world that has suffered too much.
    But the facts are clear: The terrorists benefit from the Holy Land
    Foundation. And we're not going to allow it. Our action today is another
    step in the war on terrorism. It's not the final step. There are more
    terrorist networks of global reach and more front groups who use deceit
    to support them. The net is closing. Today it just got tighter. And now
    it's my honor to welcome to the podium the Secretary of the Treasury,
    Paul O'Neill.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:58 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House, prior to his departure for Orlando, FL.