Mohamad Chehade co-founded (with Rabih Haddad) the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), which the U.S. government shuttered in December 2001 because of the organization’s ties to terrorism. Chehade was GRF’s Executive Director at that time. FBI agents searched both GRF’s Bridgeview, Illinois offices and Chehade’s home.

Objecting to the government’s closure of GRF, Chehade said, “We believe, really, it’s about organizational profiling now. We are a Muslim charity, operating in Afghanistan, operating in hot spots…. We do not tolerate violence or acts of terrorism. So we make sure — we ensure that our money is spent on the proper way.”

In 2000, Chehade spoke at the First Community Development Conference sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America. That same year, he also spoke at the annual convention of the Islamic Assembly of North America.

Chehade has acknowledged that GRF and the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which in December 2001 was designated as a Hamas-funding terrorist organization by the Treasury Department, often gave money to one another.

Chehade is currently a Board member of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois (a.k.a. the Bridgeview Mosque), which has been the subject of numerous terrorism-related investigations by the federal government.