In many ways, a yeshiva, or beit midrash, is the counterpart of the madrassas in the Islamic world that have served as recruitment centres for radical Islamist movements like the Taliban in Afghanistan -- or even al-Qaeda and its offshoots -- in recent years, according to Beliak, who was trained in Israel. Beliak, who serves two conservative Jewish congregations close to Hawaiian Gardens, referred specifically to several Moskowitz-funded initiatives in Israel and the West Bank, the most deadly of which -- the excavation and 1996 opening of a subterranean tunnel into East Jerusalem's Muslim quarter -- sparked three days of rioting that killed more than 70 people, most of them Palestinian. Its 500 mostly youthful settlers have repeatedly clashed with the Palestinian residents and even the Israeli Army when it has tried to restrain them. In addition to any personal money he might have used to acquire these properties, his foundation funnelled some four million dollars between 1993 and 2001 for such purchases to the Miami-based American Friends of Everest Foundation, which Moskowitz also controls, according to summaries of tax documents obtained by the coalition and posted on its website. Most of the millions of dollars that Moskowitz has contributed to the settlement movement have been earmarked for Glory Casino bangladesh religious schools that are at the centre of community life.
