TAMPA Frustration seized the day briefly Tuesday in the terror-support trial of Sami Al-Arian as a defense attorney bumped a federal prosecutor and accused the government of "cheating."

William Moffitt was angry that Hebrew documents an Israeli government official testified about had no English translation attached. Moffitt said he wanted to question the witness about the documents' contents during a morning break.

Federal prosecutor Cherie Krigsman told Moffitt she wanted someone else in the room to observe the conversation.

That set Moffitt off. Prosecutors should have provided translations, he said, throwing the documents onto the defense table. He then bumped Krigsman and hollered, "This is business. You're trying to put a guy in jail for life."

"You cheat," he continued. "You cheat all the time."

Both the jury and U.S. District Judge James Moody had left the courtroom and did not see the incident.

It seemed to catch the other lawyers and U.S. marshals in the courtroom off guard. FBI Agent Kerry Myers got between Moffitt and Krigsman, telling Moffitt to leave Krigsman alone because "she's a female."

Moffitt challenged the agent. "Get in my face one more time," he said.

In the end, Moffitt did meet with the witness. Then he chose not to cross-examine him.

Later, Moffitt said the issue was part of a pattern of unfair behavior by prosecutors.

"They hand me a Hebrew document. I have no translation," Moffitt said. "I'm expected to make a decision about cross-examination. This is typical of the way things have happened, and I finally got fed up with it."

Krigsman downplayed the incident.

"I'm a federal prosecutor," she said. "I was in the Army 23 years. I've seen men get mad before. It's all in a day's work."

The witness, Nissim Elyassaf, brought government records Israel keeps that show a person's identification number, marital status and parents' names. He searched the records of four men who carried out a 1992 attack against Israeli soldiers. That helped show that four payments of nearly $2,000 that Al-Arian sent later went to the attackers' families.

Al-Arian, Ghassan Ballut, Hatim Fariz and Sameeh Hammoudeh are charged with racketeering and conspiracy. They are accused of helping organize and run the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In the afternoon, an FBI agent testified about money that defendant Hatim Fariz sent to people in the occupied territories who prosecutors say are part of the Islamic Jihad.

Under questioning by federal prosecutor Alexis Collins, Agent Ed Ortega showed documents detailing a series of wire transfers to two men in the territories and to the Elehssan Society. That charity provides social services to Palestinians and is considered an arm of the Islamic Jihad.

Prosecutors also pointed to transcripts of telephone calls secretly intercepted in 2002 in which Fariz and Ballut discuss wording of fliers soliciting contributions.

Al-Arian and Fariz had a similar conversation in November 2002 about a fundraising effort. The documents are related to 11 counts of money laundering and 11 counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Fariz is named in all of them. Al-Arian is charged with six of the 22 financial counts, and Ballut is charged with 18 counts.

The trial has recessed for the week and will resume Monday. Meanwhile, it appears the trial could be done as early as next month.

Prosecutors say they will rest their case in the next week or two, and defense attorneys indicated Tuesday that their presentations may last but a few days each.

WHAT HAPPENED

Sami Al-Arian's lead defense attorney angrily accuses prosecutors of cheating and bumps one while yelling about a document that was not translated.