A call to boycott the US-based Best Buy chain alleging the electronics store has ties to the Hamas terrorist organization is continuing its campaign to raise awareness about the issue. More than 10,000 people have signed the online petition set up on April 23 by Islamist Watch.org.

The group alleged that Best Buy donated money to an event run by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The organization was prominently mentioned in federal court papers in the 2007 trial of the Holy Land Foundation charity, which served as the fundraising arm for the Gaza-based Hamas terror organization.

“From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists” and “the conspirators agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists,” the court papers said.

At the time, District Court Judge Jorge Solis ruled the government had provided “ample evidence” that tied CAIR to Hamas and allowed its designation as an “unindicted co-conspirator.”

In December 2001, the U.S. government froze the assets of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, affiliated with Hamas, and the Al Qaeda-linked Global Relief Foundation (GRF).

A subsequent appeal of a 2008 conviction of five of the group’s organizers on charges of financially supporting the terrorist group was lost last year in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Each of the five defendants were sentenced to 65 years in prison – essentially a life term.

According to a statement by the Best Buy corporation, the company aims to “represent a variety of faiths and denominations. We respect that diversity, and choose to engage with our customers, employees and communities in ways that reflect their traditions and maintain good relationships for Best Buy.”

Islamist Watch.org director Marc Fink expressed his disappointment with the move, saying that he had assumed the decision was made by “out of ignorance or at a low level… sadly, I was wrong.”