TAMPA, Fla. – As a long-awaited federal terrorism trial kicked off here yesterday, a prosecutor promised to use thousands of hours of secretly recorded telephone wiretaps to give jurors an inside look at how a Florida college professor and three other men established an American beachhead for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group responsible for a string of bombing and shooting attacks in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

“The evidence will show it’s one of the most deadly terror organizations on earth,” the prosecutor, Walter Furr, said in his opening statement. “The stock and trade of the Pij, you’ll see, is murder and maiming…. Nothing, during the entire time this case has run, has satisfied that bloodlust.”

The man accused of leading the group’s American operations is a prominent Palestinian-Arab activist and former computer science professor at the University of South Florida, Sami Al-Arian. “For a time he was the most powerful man in the world in the organization,” Mr. Furr said. The three other defendants, Sameeh Hammoudeh, Ghassan Ballut, and Hatim Fariz, are accused of playing supporting roles in the alleged terrorist enterprise.

“You’re not going to see that they personally were involved in the killings,” the prosecutor, Walter Furr, said. “Other people did that…. They funded the organization. They gave it life.”

Mr. Al-Arian’s lead defense attorney, William Moffitt, argued that the case amounted to an effort by the American government to quiet Mr. Al-Arian’s political views at the behest of Israel.

“The Israelis are here to silence Dr. Al-Arian,” Mr. Moffitt said, referring to reports that 100 or more Israeli victims of Palestinian Islamic Jihad attacks have been flown to Tampa to testify at the trial. “We say, ‘Go home, because we’re standing upon the First Amendment. Do not attempt to suppress his ideas here.'”

Mr. Moffitt stressed that Palestinian Islamic Jihad had never mounted an attack inside America. “No violent act took place in the United States and no violent act was ever planned to take place in the United States,” he noted. “The stage for all the evidence in this case is Israel and not the United States.”

Mr. Furr’s presentation to the jury began with a description of an attack at a crowded bus stop in Beit Lid, Israel, in January 1995. One suicide bomber and then another detonated themselves, leaving dozens injured and 22 people dead.

Mr. Furr said Mr. Al-Arian used such attacks as fund-raising tools for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. “Sami Al-Arian solicited financial support for the benefit of the Pij to commit more murder,” the prosecutor said. He added that Mr. Al-Arian bragged in one letter that his group “carries out the distinctive operations that the combined Arab armies have failed to do.”

Mr. Furr said that while Mr. Al-Arian and the other defendants masqueraded as scholars and legitimate political activists, they secretly shuttled funds between accounts and carried messages for the terror group.

“They were very effectively leading double lives…. You’ll get to see their double lives. You’ll get to see their dedication to the Pij. And you’ll know they’re guilty,” the prosecutor vowed.

The defense lawyer, Mr. Moffitt, pointed out that while prosecutors accused the defendants of fund-raising for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the government also argued that its alleged American affiliate, the World & Islam Studies Enterprise, and a purported charity, the Islamic Committee for Palestine, required significant funding from abroad and hurt the finances of the larger group.

“You just heard that money was coming into the U.S. to finance political speech,” Mr. Moffitt said. “This is quite an interesting terrorism.”

Mr. Moffitt also noted that while the prosecution stressed Mr. Al-Arian’s alleged efforts to keep the group’s activities quiet, much of the evidence in the case comes from statements he and others made at large gatherings of activists and scholars.

“There was nothing he was trying to hide. All of these conferences were open,” Mr. Moffitt said. He said that while some people at the meetings might have held objectionable views, a broad range of ideas was represented. “This is in the highest tradition of academic and political scholarship in this country,” the defense attorney said.

At one such event, Mr. Al-Arian shouted, “Death to Israel.” Mr. Moffitt warned the jurors to be prepared to hear some inflammatory rhetoric. “The language of resistance and political discourse in the fight for liberation of a people is sometime harsh,” the lawyer said.

Mr. Moffitt also argued that the level of political entree Mr. Al-Arian enjoyed belied the notion that he was a threat. The attorney said Mr. Al-Arian met on several occasions with Presidents Clinton and Bush.

Mr. Moffitt said that during the 2000 campaign, Democrats and Republicans scrambled to win Mr. Al-Arian’s allegiance. “The question became, which way was the Arab vote going to go?” the defense lawyer said.

Mr. Moffitt said Mr. Al-Arian, who had previously worked primarily with Democrats, reached out to the Republicans through a prominent conservative activist in Washington, Grover Norquist. “Grover Norquist was a confidant in the Bush campaign,” the defense lawyer said. The lobbying led to Mr. Bush’s announcement, during a presidential debate, that he opposed the use of secret evidence in immigration proceedings, such as one Mr. Al-Arian’s brother-in-law was facing at the time, the defense attorney said.

“Sami got an answer,” Mr. Moffitt said. “Sami’s feeling was that if he heard that, that had been delivered to him through his support for George Bush.”

The White House referred questions about the episode to the Justice Department, which did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

A spokesman for Mr. Norquist had no comment.

At another point during yesterday’s proceedings, the prosecutor, Mr. Furr, appeared to finger Mr. Al-Arian’s wife, Nahla, who has not been charged, as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case. Mr. Furr said she used codes to relay messages for the group on two occasions.

Conspicuous by its absence from the prosecution’s largely chronological presentation was any reference to the September 11, 2001, attacks on America. While the strikes themselves have not been linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, it is clear that press and law enforcement attention toward the defendants increased markedly after the attacks on New York and Washington. The omission appeared to be the result of an order the judge issued in response to a motion brought by the defense.

Attorneys for the other defendants are scheduled to deliver their opening statements today.