PALESTINIAN MAN NO TERRORIST, FACING STATE CHARGES

By Juan Montoya

When the story of George Rafidi burst upon the news cycle it had all the elements of a "sexy" story.

Here was a supposed Palestinian terrorist in our midst who had infiltrated South Texas under false pretenses and then (according to one television station) he pleaded guilty to being involved with a Palestinian terrorist organization and laundering money to ship overseas.

Unfortunately, the facts get in the way of the good story.

The initial federal indictment issued March 5, 2019 listed six counts of lying on his Lawful Permanent Resident application in 2007, noting that Rafidi had belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and was jailed by an Israeli military tribunal after he was shot in the chest during a demonstration.

Rafidi claimed he was forced to make  confession of his membership in the PFLP by Israeli soldiers who tortured him after he was removed from the  hospital where he was being treated for his gunshot wound.

Born in Ramallah, Palestine, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Rafidi came to the United States in 2002 after he was granted asylum because he feared prosecution by Israeli authorities.

"If you are a Palestinian, you have very little choice in supporting the resistance groups like the PFLP," said a business associate in South Texas. "If you don't support them they think you are a collaborator with the Israelis. They may even kill you. There's nowhere to go."

In the Israeli judgment against him on July 1997, the military court noted that he was a very minor participant and was given a minor sentence. He was found guilty because while he was a university student he admitted he "flew flags" and "wrote prohibited slogans." (Click on graphic to enlarge.)

Before he completed the 18-month sentence, he was released early as part of a prisoner exchange.

Rafidi's attorney Reynaldo "Trey" Garza and federal prosecutors handling the case negotiated a plea bargain that whittled down the six counts to just one, his failure to declare $28,995 he was carrying when he crossed into Matamoros through the Gateway Bridge on April 18, 2018.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained and then released him after ascertaining that Rafidi - who owns a check-cashing service and several used car dealerships - had neglected to remove the money from the car before crossing into Mexico.

As a result, the government offered him a plea packet where they agreed to "recommend credit for Acceptance of Responsibility, sentencing at the low end of the guideline level Rafidi scores and dismissal of  the remaining  (five) counts."

 The federal plea packet memo mentions nothing about money laundering or of sending money to the PFLP and those charges were not contained in the original indictment.

"He was never charged with terrorism here or in Israel, never," Garza said.

But that didn't stop local media from having a field day with one (Channel 5) saying the "court reveal he pled guilty to being involved with a Palestinian terrorist organization..." and quoted Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz saying that "we believe that some of the proceeds of that money is being shipped overseas."

The DA's Office and the federal investigators from U.S. Homeland Security raided Rafidi businesses in Brownsville, Laguna Heights and San Benito as well as his home in Brownsville following the man's indictment by a Cameron County grand jury April 24, 2019 on five counts of "making a false entry in  a governmental record" when he renewed the application for auto-sales licenses in 2009, 2013, 2016, and twice in 2017.

The indictment said the false entry was that (Rafidi) has a criminal record in the State of Israel, a reference to his imprisonment after he was wounded in the anti-Israeli demonstration in 1997, 22 years ago.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on the state charges on May 27. And he has remained in jail on the federal charges without bond because of the immigration detainer pending sentencing on the one count of not declaring the money when he tried to cross the Gateway Bridge.

"George is a tireless worker and businessman," said a business associate. "He is no terrorist. The state charges are baseless. When you are a Palestinian living in occupied Palestine, you are considered a criminal just for expressing your opinion against the occupiers. This has been very unfair to him and his family."