Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said this week that much of the Middle East was once Christian, pointing to a dramatic religious transformation that began with the Islamic conquests and unfolded over centuries. Speaking Monday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kennedy asked, “What happened to the Christians? There were millions and millions of Christians.”

He described Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as formerly Christian societies and said Christians had fallen from roughly 20% to 4% of the region’s population.

“These were genocides,” Kennedy said. His remarks were reported by The Daily Wire. Kennedy’s terminology and some of his figures compress a far more complicated history. But his broader point raises a striking historical question. Much of the Middle East and North Africa that is overwhelmingly Muslim today was once predominantly Christian.

Before the Muslim Conquests

When Muslim armies expanded beyond Arabia in the seventh century, they did not conquer an already-Muslim Middle East.

Egypt was predominantly Christian. Syria and Palestine were largely Christian territories of the Byzantine Empire. North Africa contained some of early Christianity’s most important centers. Augustine of Hippo lived in what is now Algeria, while Carthage, in modern Tunisia, produced major Christian thinkers.

Mesopotamia, including modern Iraq, contained large Christian communities alongside Jews and Zoroastrians. The Muslim military conquest was extraordinarily rapid. The religious transformation was not.

Cambridge historian Sidney Griffith writes that Christians remained the religious majority in many areas under Muslim rule “until well into the eleventh century.” Political control came first. Islamization followed over centuries.

How Christian Lands Became Muslim

That transformation cannot accurately be reduced either to universally peaceful conversion or mass conversion at sword point.

Christians and Jews generally lived under Muslim rule as dhimmis, protected but legally subordinate communities. Non-Muslims were subject to the jizya poll tax and other restrictions that varied by ruler and period. Conversion to Islam removed those religiously specific obligations and could improve access to political, economic and social advancement. There were also periods of persecution, restrictions on churches, confiscation and coercive pressure.

The cumulative result was profound. Territories whose populations had been overwhelmingly or substantially Christian when conquered gradually became overwhelmingly Muslim. North Africa is particularly striking. The indigenous Christian civilization that produced Augustine and flourished around Carthage eventually virtually disappeared, while Christianity survived much more substantially in Egypt and parts of Syria and Iraq.

The Modern Christian Decline

Kennedy’s claim that Christians declined from 20% of the Middle East to 4% has a recognizable basis, although 1948 is not the correct starting point. A 2025 demographic study estimates Christians represented 12.7% of the Middle East in 1900 and 4.1% in 2025.

In several countries, the contraction accelerated dramatically in recent decades. Iraq had roughly one million to 1.5 million Christians before 2003. Today the community is a fraction of that size following sectarian violence, Islamist terrorism, ISIS rule and mass emigration. Syria has experienced another major Christian exodus during its civil war.

Kennedy Also Pointed to the Uprooting of the Jews

Kennedy then pointed to a second demographic transformation, one that happened far more rapidly. He said roughly 950,000 Jews lived in Arab countries around 1948 and asked what became of communities that had existed across the region for centuries.

British parliamentary figures put the Jewish population of the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf at approximately 856,000 in 1945. By 2019, only around 4,500 remained, overwhelmingly in Morocco and Tunisia. (hansard.parliament.uk)

They did not simply disappear. Across Arab countries, Jews faced combinations of pogroms, arrests, discriminatory laws, citizenship revocations, confiscation of assets and expulsions. Hundreds of thousands were forced out or concluded they could no longer safely remain.

Iraq offers one of the starkest examples. Its Jewish community had existed for roughly 2,600 years. The 1941 Farhud pogrom killed around 180 Jews. After Israel’s establishment, Iraqi Jews faced increasing arrests and persecution.

In 1950 and 1951, nearly 120,000 Iraqi Jews left Iraq. The U.S. National Archives documents how Jews surrendering Iraqi nationality lost citizenship and how the government subsequently froze their property.

Similar combinations of state action, violence and persecution emptied once-large Jewish communities in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Algeria and elsewhere. By the end of the process, Jewish civilizations that had existed across the Arab world for centuries, and in some places for millennia, had been almost entirely uprooted.

A Region Remade

Kennedy’s use of the word “genocide” compresses different historical events and mechanisms into one category. But the scale of the transformation should not be softened.

When Muslim armies conquered Egypt, Syria, Palestine and North Africa, they took political control of lands whose populations were largely Christian. In many places, those populations remained Christian majorities for centuries.

Then the balance reversed. Through centuries of conversion, demographic change and Arabization, under a political and legal system that placed Christians and Jews in a subordinate position and periodically subjected them to persecution, lands that had once been centers of Christianity became overwhelmingly Muslim.

Centuries later came another enormous rupture. In the 20th century, ancient Jewish communities across the Arab world were subjected to persecution, confiscation, expulsion and mass flight until most had been uprooted.

The Middle East was not always overwhelmingly Muslim. Its modern religious map is the result of profound political and demographic transformations stretching across more than 1,400 years. Kennedy reduced that history to a few minutes of political rhetoric. But the transformation he pointed toward was real, and it reshaped an entire region.

A senior Qatari education official with documented associations involving a university founded by an Islamic preacher banned from entering the UK and Australia for his views, including glorifying suicide bombings, and an academic center named after Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi is scheduled to join the presidents of two prominent American universities at an international policy forum this week.

Ibrahim bin Saleh Al-Naimi, Qatar’s undersecretary of education and higher education, will participate in an October 16 discussion alongside Baylor University President Linda Livingstone and Brigham Young University President Shane Reese. The session, titled “Faith and Higher Education,” is part of the G20 Interfaith Forum’s October 15–17 gathering in Salt Lake City, Utah.

His appearance comes amid mounting scrutiny of Qatar’s extensive financial relationships with American universities. According to a March 2026 Congressional Research Service report, Qatar accounted for approximately $8.8 billion in disclosed foreign gifts and contracts to U.S. higher education institutions as of February 23, the largest amount attributed to any foreign country.

Al-Naimi, however, is more than a visiting government representative. A former president of Qatar University, he has served as an undersecretary in Qatar’s Education Ministry since 2017 and chairs the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), an institution that maintains relationships with religious and academic organizations internationally. His background also includes connections to Islamic institutions whose leadership and ideological associations have attracted controversy.

Al-Naimi’s Controversial Institutional Associations

One particularly concerning association involves the International Open University (IOU), formerly known as Islamic Online University, founded by Jamaican-Canadian preacher Bilal Philips. The university’s official advisory committee lists Al-Naimi among its advisors, identifying him as a former president of Qatar University.

Philips has a history of controversies involving extremist rhetoric and government restrictions. In 2010, Britain’s then-Home Secretary Theresa May barred him from entering the country over his extremist views. Australia had previously refused him entry in 2007 over his support for extremist Islamic positions.

Among the statements that attracted scrutiny was a recorded lecture in which Philips distinguished suicide bombing from conventional suicide, portraying certain suicide attacks as legitimate military operations. He argued that such operations should not be considered suicide in the traditional religious sense. The remarks became particularly controversial after The Observer reported that a British mosque attended by the 2010 Stockholm suicide bomber had linked to his lecture.

The university does not specify when Al-Naimi joined its advisory committee or the extent of his involvement. Nevertheless, the listing establishes a formal institutional association between a senior Qatari education official and a university founded by a religious figure who has faced international controversy.

Another connection involves the late Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood until his death in 2022, who also publicly defended suicide attacks against civilians. According to Qaradawi’s official website, he explicitly identifies Al-Naimi, then president of Qatar University, as someone he could approach to distribute his writings.

In May 2010, Al-Naimi’s DICID participated in a symposium at Qatar University alongside its College of Shari’a and Islamic Studies and the Al Qaradawi Centre for Islamic Moderation and Renewal.

According to DICID’s own account, Al-Naimi and the directors of the other participating institutions headed the event, which addressed interfaith dialogue in culture and media.

These associations are particularly relevant given Al-Naimi’s senior role within Qatar’s education establishment and his growing participation in international academic and religious-policy networks.

BYU’s Longstanding Institutional Relationship With Qatar

BYU, whose president will appear alongside Al-Naimi, has its own history of cooperation with the Qatari government. According to an account published by BYU Studies, Qatar’s ambassador to the United Nations approached the university’s World Family Policy Center in 2003 about organizing an international conference on family policy.

The initiative developed into the 2004 Doha International Conference for the Family, organized under the patronage of Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation. BYU’s center helped coordinate preparations for the gathering, which culminated in the Doha Declaration concerning family policy and international social norms.

The relationship subsequently extended beyond conference organizing. Richard G. Wilkins, then director of BYU’s World Family Policy Center, was appointed the initial managing director of the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development beginning in 2006. The institute was established in cooperation with Qatar Foundation.

Qatar’s Nearly $9 Billion Footprint in American Higher Education

Al-Naimi’s appearance comes against the backdrop of Qatar’s extraordinary financial involvement in American academia. The Congressional Research Service’s March report identified approximately 1,300 Qatar-attributed gifts and contracts totaling $8.8 billion in federal higher-education disclosures.

The figures combine philanthropic gifts with contractual payments, including arrangements supporting American university branch campuses operating in Qatar. They therefore should not be interpreted as $8.8 billion in unrestricted donations to universities on American soil.

From Interfaith Dialogue to International Policy

The broader significance of the conference lies in its stated ambitions beyond religious dialogue. Founded in 2014, the G20 Interfaith Forum seeks to incorporate religious perspectives into international policymaking. Its annual conferences convene religious leaders, academics, government representatives, and civil society organizations to develop recommendations relating to priorities considered by G20 governments.

Although IF20 operates independently of the G20’s formal decision-making institutions, its 2026 program explicitly seeks to connect religious networks with practical policy proposals.

The October gathering includes discussions on expanding religious-literacy programs for teachers and students, developing educational curricula on artificial intelligence, and improving faith-based organizations’ ability to influence international policy.

Those objectives provide the context for Al-Naimi’s appearance alongside the presidents of Baylor and BYU. As a senior official from the country responsible for the largest reported financial footprint in American higher education, Al-Naimi brings both government authority and an established network of religious and academic associations to a conference explicitly concerned with the future of education and public policy.

Al-Naimi’s documented institutional associations, his previous cooperation with IF20 leadership, and Qatar’s extensive relationships with American universities raise important questions about how foreign-government education officials gain access to influential academic and policy networks, and the transparency surrounding those relationships.

An immigration judge has ruled that Salah Sarsour, president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque and a national board member of American Muslims for Palestine, can be deported from the United States, bringing renewed attention to decades-old allegations linking the Palestinian activist to Hamas fundraising and operatives.

Immigration Judge Jayme Salinardi ruled on September 30 that Sarsour is deportable, according to his legal team. The ruling relied in part on a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Sarsour’s presence in the United States could have potentially serious adverse foreign-policy consequences.

The ruling does not mean Sarsour will immediately be deported. His case will proceed to questions over whether he qualifies for relief from removal, while his lawyers are separately pursuing constitutional claims in federal court. The immigration judge also rejected government allegations that Sarsour lied on his green-card application and that he improperly registered to vote. But the decision places renewed scrutiny on a history extending well beyond Sarsour’s current role as president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

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Israeli Convictions and Weapons Charge

Federal court records confirm that Sarsour was convicted twice by an Israeli military court before settling permanently in the United States. According to a June federal court order, the Ramallah Military Court convicted Sarsour in 1989 of throwing a Molotov cocktail and stones at Israeli soldiers. In 1995, the same court convicted him of attempting to possess weapons and ammunition.

The American government, however, had known about the Israeli cases for decades. The June federal court ruling noted that U.S. authorities considered information concerning the convictions during immigration or naturalization reviews in 2000, 2008, 2010 and 2019.

The FBI Memo and Hamas Fundraising Allegations

More serious allegations concerning Sarsour appear in FBI material prepared during the federal investigation of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The Holy Land Foundation was later convicted in a major U.S. terrorism-financing prosecution involving millions of dollars prosecutors said were provided in support of Hamas.

A 2001 FBI memorandum discussed statements attributed to Sarsour’s brother, Jamil Sarsour, following his arrest by Israeli authorities in 1998. Congressional testimony quoting the FBI report said Jamil provided information regarding his own activities and those of Salah in support of Hamas.

According to the material, Jamil described Salah’s alleged involvement with Hamas and fundraising activities connected to the Holy Land Foundation. The testimony said Jamil told investigators that his brothers Salah and Imad were involved in raising money in the name of the Holy Land Foundation that was actually intended for Hamas.

The same record also described allegations involving a more direct financial channel. Jamil was arrested in Israel in October 1998 for allegedly providing financial and other assistance to Adel Awadallah, a Hamas military operative. At the time, according to the FBI material quoted in congressional testimony, he was carrying more than $66,000, two American passports and a telephone book.

The Senate HELP Committee later summarized the allegations by stating that Sarsour “raised funds for the HLF and reportedly sent funds to Adel Awadallah, a Hamas military leader.” Awadallah was a senior figure in Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank.

A Senior American Muslims for Palestine Figure

Sarsour later became a senior figure in American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), serving on its national board and playing a role in its conferences and fundraising. That position has attracted growing attention as AMP itself has faced congressional scrutiny.

In March 2025, Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy opened an investigation into AMP and Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation over their activities on college campuses and alleged historical connections to individuals associated with Hamas-linked organizations.

The committee singled out Sarsour by name, describing him as an AMP board member and AJP director who advertises and fundraises for AMP conferences. Its letter also cited the allegations that Sarsour raised money for the Holy Land Foundation and reportedly sent funds to Awadallah.

Sarsour’s leadership role in AMP also became relevant to the government’s immigration case. A June federal court order describes a memorandum from Rubio asserting that Sarsour’s presence in the United States would undermine U.S. foreign-policy efforts involving antisemitism and support for foreign terrorist organizations.

CAIR Honors Sarsour

Sarsour’s legal battle has simultaneously turned him into a celebrated figure within major American Muslim organizations. The Council on American-Islamic Relations repeatedly called for his release following his March arrest by immigration authorities. After a federal judge ordered him released in June, CAIR portrayed Sarsour as a political prisoner and continued rallying support around his case.

Then, at CAIR’s 2026 national gathering, the organization honored Sarsour with its “Courage Under Fire Award.” CAIR described him as a “freed political prisoner” and Wisconsin Muslim community leader.

The award came despite the publicly available record surrounding Sarsour: two Israeli military convictions, FBI material recounting allegations that Sarsour and members of his family raised funds for Hamas, allegations involving money sent to a Hamas military commander, and his continuing leadership role in an organization that has itself drawn federal scrutiny.

The Deportation Fight Continues

The September 30 ruling does not end Sarsour’s case. His attorneys have said they will appeal, and another immigration judge is expected to oversee proceedings concerning whether Sarsour qualifies for relief that could prevent his removal. The ruling is nevertheless significant.

Salinardi rejected some of the government’s allegations, including the accusation that Sarsour had lied to obtain his green card. But he ultimately concluded that Sarsour was removable under U.S. immigration law.

For a man who has spent more than three decades in the United States, risen to lead Wisconsin’s largest mosque, joined the national leadership of American Muslims for Palestine and recently received a national award from CAIR, the decision marks the most consequential development yet in a controversy that reaches back decades.

And it has brought the record surrounding Salah Sarsour back into focus: the Israeli convictions, the FBI material, the Holy Land Foundation allegations, the allegation that funds were sent to a Hamas military commander, and the organizations that continued to elevate him long after those allegations became public.

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Dearborn, Michigan, exposes a pattern of constitutional defiance that has cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements—and shows no signs of stopping. The American Freedom Law Center filed the complaint September 17, 2026, on behalf of journalist Margot Cleveland, alleging the city spent thousands in public funds promoting Islam while systematically ignoring Christianity and Judaism.

The lawsuit documents what attorneys call an escalating campaign of discrimination: taxpayer-funded Ramadan banners and crescent moon displays, police department shirts promoting Islamic holidays, mayoral Iftar invitations sent on government email, and aggressive retaliation against residents who complained. When Cleveland requested equal recognition for Easter and Passover, city officials froze her out—then installed more Islamic displays. The case is the latest in a string of First Amendment losses for Dearborn, which has been ordered by federal courts three times since 2010 to stop discriminating against Christians. This time, the city didn’t just violate the Constitution—it did so defiantly, in response to complaints.

The Money Trail

Cleveland discovered the displays in April 2025 while picking up pizza downtown. “Ramadan Kareem” banners hung from city property. A large lighted crescent moon—the symbol of Islam—illuminated Peace Park on public land. Easter was two weeks away. Passover was days out. Neither received acknowledgment.

A Freedom of Information Act request revealed the costs: $1,500 for the Ramadan banners, $5,000 for the crescent moon display. The city’s police department sold Ramadan-themed shirts bearing the official department emblem. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud used his government email to invite select residents to an Iftar event, with the city spending $360 on signage for the Islamic religious observance.

Cleveland, a Dearborn resident since 2007 and Senior Legal Correspondent for The Federalist, sent an email to the city attorney on April 6, 2025. She asked whether Easter and Passover would receive similar recognition. No one responded. She raised the issue at city council meetings, requesting that Dearborn allocate funds for Christian and Jewish holiday banners. The requests were ignored.

“You Are Not Welcome Here”

The mayor’s hostility toward non-Muslim residents became explicit at a September 9, 2025, city council meeting. Christian pastor Ted Barham rose to object to the city’s decision to rename a street after Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News. Siblani has publicly praised Hezbollah and Hamas as “freedom fighters.” He was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013.

Barham, who had lived in Lebanon, Israel, and the West Bank, told the council the street renaming was “quite inappropriate,” comparing it to naming a street “Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street.” He quoted Christian scripture, saying he wished “to encourage peace” and that Jesus was “called the prince of peace.”

Hammoud’s response, captured on video and detailed in the lawsuit, was unambiguous: “You are a bigot and you are a racist and you are an Islamophobe. And although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here. And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city.”

The mayor never apologized.

Retaliation and Escalation

On September 25, 2025, Cleveland’s attorneys at the American Freedom Law Center sent a formal letter to Hammoud and the city attorney. The letter described how “the City of Dearborn has become a hostile place for Christians and Jews” and requested that the city “display at the appropriate time banners similar in size and content to the Ramadan banners that recognize the holy days of Christians and Jews, such as Christmas, Easter, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur.” The attorneys offered to work with the city on design and content.

No one responded. Instead, the city commissioned crescent-moon-and-star light displays on municipal street lights for Ramadan 2026, billing it as “the first of its kind in Dearborn.” Hammoud was quoted saying of the city-sponsored display: “This initiative reflects who we are as a city.”

The lawsuit alleges Hammoud directed the city attorney to instruct council members not to communicate with Cleveland. She was barred from attending an April 2026 “Community Update” meeting as a journalist, told she could only attend as a resident, and was never invited to subsequent meetings.

A Pattern of Constitutional Violations

The complaint notes that Dearborn “has been down this road before.” In 2011, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the city violated a pastor’s First Amendment rights by restricting his distribution of Christian literature at the Arab International Festival. In 2013, the city paid $300,000 to settle a lawsuit after police unlawfully arrested members of Acts 17 Apologetics for evangelizing at the same festival. In 2015, the Sixth Circuit ruled en banc that law enforcement violated Christians’ constitutional rights when they ordered the Bible Believers group to leave the festival after a crowd pelted them with rocks and bottles. Wayne County paid the legal fees in that case.

The $300,000 settlement represents taxpayer funds spent because the city refused to respect constitutional rights.

“Despite these legal defeats, nothing has changed in the City,” the complaint states.

Legacy media coverage of the lawsuit has been sparse. Cleveland observed that multiple outlets reported on Dearborn’s denial but failed to cover the lawsuit’s documented allegations—the specific taxpayer expenditures on Islamic displays, the mayor’s statement telling a Christian resident “you are not welcome here,” or the city’s history of losing similar cases.

America’s First Arab-Majority City

Dearborn became the first Arab-majority city in the United States in 2023, with 54.5 percent of its 109,976 residents claiming Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Ford Motor Company moved its headquarters to Dearborn in the 1920s, hiring many Middle Eastern Christians who settled as refugees. Chain migration policies passed in the 1960s, combined with U.S. wars in the Middle East, shifted the demographic from Arab Christians to Muslims.

Hammoud became Dearborn’s first Arab-American and Muslim mayor in 2022 and was reelected in 2025. All seven current city council members have Democratic Party affiliations. Three council members and the mayor are publicly declared Muslims.

The city responded to the lawsuit with a statement blaming “attacks” on its “welcoming nature and the diversity of the people who proudly call Dearborn home.” The statement made no mention of the taxpayer-funded Islamic displays or the mayor’s comments to Pastor Barham.

What Cleveland Seeks

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare that Dearborn violated Cleveland’s constitutional rights, enjoin the city’s practices that favor Muslims and discriminate against Christians and Jews, award nominal damages, and order the city to pay attorneys’ fees.

David Yerushalmi, co-founder of the American Freedom Law Center, said in a statement: “Dearborn has been down this road before, and it has lost every time. What makes this case especially troubling is that City officials, up to and including the Mayor, responded to a citizen’s respectful request for equal treatment with silence, stonewalling, and outright hostility.”

Robert J. Muise, the other AFLC co-founder representing Cleveland, stated: “The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that the government may not prefer one religion over another. The City of Dearborn spent taxpayer money to light up its streets and parks for Ramadan while stonewalling a resident who simply asked that Easter, Passover, and other Christian and Jewish holy days be treated the same way.”

The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

A new Middle East Forum investigation by journalist Leslie Kajomovitz is drawing scrutiny to the Human Development Fund, a Michigan-based Muslim humanitarian charity whose revenue jumped from $1.08 million in 2023 to $33 million in 2024. Published September 14, the report identified $3.13 million in advertising and promotion, more than $1 million in domestic grants to organizations it says are linked to HDF leadership, and discrepancies in the charity’s reporting of overseas operations. Cross Currents’ review of the underlying Form 990 and HDF’s audited statements confirms the major spending figures and reveals an internal inconsistency in its foreign-operations disclosures. But it also shows that one MEF claim about anonymous foreign grantees reflects IRS reporting rules rather than a choice by HDF.

A Charity That Grew Thirtyfold in a Year

HDF was formed in Michigan in 2023 and reported just over $1.08 million in revenue that year. Its 2024 return reported $33,006,950 in revenue and $11.44 million in expenses, leaving nearly $21.9 million in net assets at year-end.

Roughly half of that 2024 revenue was not cash. HDF’s audited financial statements reported a $16.286 million in-kind medical shipment that was still in transit on December 31, 2024, recorded as both contribution revenue and inventory until distribution.

The financial statements received an unqualified audit opinion for 2024. That followed a qualified 2023 audit in which the prior auditor said it could not obtain sufficient evidence for certain program expenses because contracts, budgets or program-completion reports were unavailable. HDF’s 2024 notes state that management subsequently obtained the necessary documentation.

$3.1 Million in Advertising

The most striking verified figure is HDF’s advertising budget. Its 2024 Form 990 reported $3,132,170 in “advertising and promotion,” split exactly in half between program-service and fundraising expenses, with $1,566,085 assigned to each category.

MEF compared that advertising bill with $2.69 million in grants HDF listed for foreign organizations in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. The broader Form 990, however, reported $3.70 million in total grants and assistance to foreign organizations, governments and individuals, meaning the advertising figure exceeded the grants to foreign organizations listed on Schedule F, but not HDF’s full foreign-assistance total.

MEF also identified more than $1 million in domestic grants to organizations it says have leadership or institutional overlaps with HDF. HDF’s Schedule I reported $722,000 to an entity named “International Islamic Health,” whose EIN corresponds to the Miftaah Institute; $250,510 to Al Jazari Institute; and $52,000 to Qalam Foundation.

A Real Overseas Reporting Discrepancy

The strongest disclosure issue is more specific than MEF’s article suggests. HDF’s main 2024 Form 990 checked “Yes” when asked whether it maintained an office, employees or agents outside the United States. Yet its Schedule F listed zero foreign offices and zero employees, agents or independent contractors across the regions in which it reported activity.

At the same time, HDF’s Gaza fundraising portal says it has more than 90 “HDF team members in Gaza” and describes aid moving through HDF teams living inside the territory. The filings do not explain how those workers are classified, leaving a genuine discrepancy between HDF’s public description and the personnel totals on Schedule F.

MEF separately criticized HDF for leaving foreign recipient names blank. That point does not hold up as evidence of concealment: IRS instructions explicitly direct Form 990 filers not to complete the recipient-name or EIN columns for foreign organizations on Schedule F. HDF therefore followed the form’s instructions by reporting recipients by region, purpose and amount.

What the Filings Actually Show

The MEF report places HDF within a broader network that includes Omar Suleiman, whom HDF itself prominently features in Gaza fundraising appeals, and leaders connected to Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Minnesota. MEF said HDF did not respond to its questions before publication.

The filings do not, by themselves, establish diversion or misuse of charitable funds. They do show a two-year-old nonprofit that expanded to $33 million in revenue, spent more than $3 million on advertising, distributed large domestic grants to organizations in its religious network, and filed conflicting answers about its overseas footprint. Those are substantial questions for a charity that grew from roughly $1 million to $33 million in a single year, even after correcting the parts of MEF’s analysis that go beyond what the IRS records support.

Khdiga Metwally registered in June as a candidate for Halton District School Board trustee representing Milton Wards 1 and 2 in the October 26 election. Her son, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, was sentenced in December 2018 to four decades in federal prison after pleading guilty to terrorism charges. In December 2020, while already imprisoned for the New York terror plot, El Bahnasawy stabbed two corrections officers at a Pennsylvania prison with a homemade weapon. One officer lost his right eye. A note found in El Bahnasawy’s sock read: “This is a terrorist attack for the Islamic State.”

Amy Collard, chair of the Halton District School Board, has publicly endorsed Metwally’s candidacy. “Khdiga Metwally would bring a fresh perspective to the HDSB board table,” Collard wrote. “Khdiga fully understands the role of public school board Trustees, and is prepared to support the academic achievement and wellbeing of all our students.” The endorsement has drawn scrutiny after the story gained attention on social media and conservative outlets in early September.

The Terror Plot

U.S. prosecutors documented that El Bahnasawy, then 18, worked with ISIS operatives to plan mass-casualty attacks in New York City during Ramadan 2016. He purchased approximately 40 pounds of hydrogen peroxide for making explosives, along with Christmas lights, batteries, thermometers, and aluminum foil. Court records show El Bahnasawy told an undercover FBI agent: “These Americans need an attack. I wanna create the next 9/11.”

The plot targeted Times Square, the New York City subway system, and concert venues. El Bahnasawy coordinated with co-conspirators in Pakistan and the Philippines, shipped bomb-making materials to New York, and traveled from Canada to New Jersey in May 2016 to execute the attacks. The FBI arrested him in a hotel parking lot.

Prosecutors rejected defense arguments that mental illness mitigated his culpability. “El Bahnasawy may be polite, soft-spoken, and articulate, but make no mistake — behind that veil is a dangerous and calculating man who displayed a knowing, willing and steadfast desire to kill,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote in the government’s sentencing memorandum.

Years of Public Advocacy

Since her son’s arrest, Metwally has campaigned publicly for his transfer to Canada and blamed law enforcement agencies for his conviction. In a 2018 CBC interview, she said: “They [the FBI and RCMP] knew my son was sick, and they continued.” She characterized her son as vulnerable to “manipulation” by ISIS recruiters and undercover agents.

Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Review Agency investigated the family’s complaint that the RCMP entrapped El Bahnasawy. In October 2023, NSIRA vice-chair Craig Forcese found the RCMP conducted a “good faith investigation” based on “credible evidence of an existing willingness by Mr. El Bahnasawy to commit acts of violence.” The review concluded: “I have found no evidence on the record before me of entrapment.”

Court documents revealed El Bahnasawy’s extensive involvement in ISIS networks before the plot. Beginning in late 2015, he communicated with high-level ISIS recruiters, administered ISIS hacking groups, vetted new ISIS contacts, shipped cellphones to ISIS operatives, and wired $500 to ISIS-connected individuals. An FBI investigation found El Bahnasawy was “determined to move his plot from online into the real world,” according to the NSIRA report.

The Campaign

Metwally’s campaign materials describe her as holding a PhD in “Community Building and Human Development” and serving as founder and director of the Canadian Centre for Training and Consultation. Her candidate profile states she worked as a “University Department Chair” and “former Life Skills Teacher.” The materials make no mention of her son’s convictions or her years advocating that he was entrapped.

In her campaign statement, Metwally cited “personal family experience” that “has shown me the value of early understanding, compassionate support, and appropriate intervention” regarding mental health support in schools.

The story gained public attention in early September after a social media post alerting voters to Metwally’s family connection received more than 72,000 views. Conservative outlets subsequently covered the race. Neither Metwally nor Collard has issued a public statement since the controversy emerged.

El Bahnasawy is currently held at ADX Florence in Colorado, known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” where inmates spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 to stabbing the two prison officers and providing material support to ISIS.

The election is October 26. Metwally faces one opponent, Andrew Wood, for the Ward 1 and 2 trustee seat.

Muslim Legal founder Hassan Shibly is representing controversial influencer Milo Yiannopoulos in connection with his recent deportation from the United States, an unlikely legal partnership drawing new attention to Shibly, his firm and an institutional record spanning CAIR, Islamic publishing and international Islamic leadership gatherings.

Yiannopoulos was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on August 27. The Department of Homeland Security said he entered the United States legally in May 2019, overstayed his visa and failed to appear for an immigration hearing, resulting in a final removal order issued July 22. He was deported to the United Kingdom the following day, according to Reuters.

A September 7 preservation letter signed by Shibly says Muslim Legal was retained by Yiannopoulos in connection with civil claims arising from reported statements, communications and conduct concerning his immigration status and alleged efforts to influence government action against him. The letter requests preservation of potentially relevant communications, electronic records and other evidence.

From Deportation to a London Mosque

The relationship quickly became more conspicuous following Yiannopoulos’s return to Britain. Shibly posted photographs of the two together in London and said they had entered a mosque so Yiannopoulos could observe Muslims praying. In his post, Shibly described Yiannopoulos as a former “leading anti-Muslim voice” who had become a friend.

Yiannopoulos separately posted a photograph accompanied by an Islamic hadith. The mosque visit and Islamic imagery prompted online speculation that Yiannopoulos had converted, though neither of the two posts announced a conversion.

The episode marks a striking reversal for a commentator who has long publicly identified as Catholic and argued that Christianity underpins the values of Western civilization.

Shibly’s Controversial Statements on America

Shibly’s own remarks about Muslim life in the United States provide broader context for his ideology. In remarks from 2025 later circulated online, Shibly asked why Muslims were living in the United States and said the answer he considered “excusable and justifiable” was if they were living there to “shift this country’s political direction and spiritual direction together,” while engaging in da’wah, or Islamic religious outreach and proselytizing. A video clip captures the remarks.

CAIR Personnel at Muslim Legal

Muslim Legal carries significant personnel continuity from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The firm’s own biography says Shibly served for a decade as executive director of CAIR-Florida before founding Muslim Legal, while its current team page lists Zanah Ghalawanji as of counsel for employment matters and Kimberly Noe-Lehenbauer as of counsel for civil rights.

Both attorneys previously worked within CAIR’s national legal operation. CAIR identified Noe-Lehenbauer as a “CAIR Civil Rights Attorney” and Legal Defense Fund staff attorney in a press release, while her professional biography says she spent five years as a senior staff attorney at the CAIR National Legal Defense Fund.

CAIR likewise identified Ghalawanji as a “CAIR Staff Attorney” in an announcement. Most clearly, a 2023 federal complaint lists Noe-Lehenbauer and Ghalawanji together under “CAIR NATIONAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND” at CAIR’s Washington headquarters. Muslim Legal’s founder spent a decade leading CAIR-Florida, while two current of-counsel attorneys previously served at the CAIR National Legal Defense Fund.

Shibly’s Publishing House Issued Explicitly Anti-Western Religious Material

Another little-reported element of Shibly’s background is Madania Publications. The Yaqeen Institute identifies Shibly as its founder, while a publishing-industry profile identifies him as “Publisher, Madania Publications.” A Madania edition of The Preservation of Hadith also credited him as production manager.

Among Madania’s releases was a revised U.S. edition of Hijab: The Islamic Commandments of Hijab. The Madania edition advances a sharply hostile view of Western social norms, declaring: “The Christians, Jews and atheists of the West are truly dangerous enemies of Muslims.” It also condemns Western influence over relations between men and women and argues for extensive gender segregation and covering requirements.

Shibly Taught at an Institution Shaped by Syria’s Baathist Religious Establishment

Shibly’s biography contains another underreported chapter in Syria. Yaqeen states that he “has taught courses at the Kuftaro Institution in Damascus, Syria,” an institution closely associated with longtime Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmad Kuftaro.

A Carnegie study says Kuftaro was the only member of Damascus’s ulama to support the Baath Party candidate in a pivotal 1957 parliamentary contest. He later became grand mufti and gained government favor, while Carnegie describes the Kuftaro Complex as becoming increasingly subordinate to the Syrian regime.

Kuftaro’s record also extended to the Iraq War. In March 2003, he issued a religious edict calling on Muslims to “resist invading forces using any and all means available to them”, explicitly including “martyrdom operations” against invading soldiers, according to contemporary reporting.

From CAIR-Florida to Istanbul’s Muslim Leadership Networks

Shibly’s international record also includes two appearances in Istanbul a decade apart. The official program for the May 2016 Global Donors Forum lists “Hassan Shibly, Executive Director, CAIR Florida, USA” as a discussant in a workshop titled “Confronting Extremism, Cultivating Diversity.”

The program names Qatari Sheikha Aisha Faleh Al-Thani as forum chair and lists Turkish MP Cemalettin Kani Torun, Turkish Red Crescent president Kerem Kınık and South African diplomat Ebrahim Rasool in its conveners and patrons section. It also identifies Ayşe Böhürler as a co-founder of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party and Meryem İlayda Atlas as editor-in-chief of Daily Sabah. Rasool later served as South Africa’s ambassador in Washington before Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared him persona non grata in March 2025, according to the AP.

A decade later, Shibly appeared in Istanbul at the July 13–18, 2026 Prophetic Strategy Summit. Its official speaker roster included Bilal Philips, whom the British government previously excluded from the country after saying he had engaged in “unacceptable behavior” by fomenting and justifying terrorism and seeking to provoke terrorist acts.

The Yiannopoulos case now places that record behind one of the more improbable legal partnerships in recent memory: a controversial influencer deported from the United States, represented by a former CAIR-Florida executive who has spoken openly about shifting America’s political and spiritual direction, founded a publisher that issued explicitly anti-Western religious material, taught at a Damascus institution shaped by Syria’s Baathist religious establishment, and later appeared at an Islamic leadership gatherings in Istanbul.

Austria’s Europe and Integration Minister Claudia Bauer has begun preparing an outline for a proposed ban on political Islam through a federal constitutional law after Chancellor Christian Stocker called for the measure on August 28, declaring that a political understanding of Islam was incompatible with Austria’s democracy and Western values.

Stocker, the center-right Austrian People’s Party chancellor, said Austria would continue to protect religious freedom while drawing a line at political efforts that deny equal treatment to believers and nonbelievers or to men and women. “If Islam is understood politically, it is incompatible with our democracy and our Western values,” Stocker told Heute. He called for confronting the political use of religion “with full force” and said he supported a ban through a federal constitutional law.

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Minister Prepares Broader Legal Package

Bauer is preparing an initial framework for the government’s three-party coalition. She said the contemplated package could extend beyond a constitutional law into association law, laws governing religious communities and other legal areas.

Bauer described political Islam as “the greatest danger of our time” and said it seeks to place itself above the democratic constitutional state, reshape society and state institutions, restrict the freedom of girls and women and undermine peaceful religious coexistence.

The coalition has not yet approved a proposal. NEOS parliamentary leader Yannick Shetty said any ban would require a clear definition capable of withstanding legal scrutiny, while SPÖ State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried said his party would examine the ÖVP’s proposal. A federal constitutional law requires a two-thirds majority of votes cast with at least half the members of Austria’s National Council present.

Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence has publicly welcomed discussion of additional measures. DSN chief Sylvia Mayer said action against legalistic Islamism must take place on multiple levels and with clear objectives, warning that it poses dangers to Austrian democracy.

Muslim Brotherhood Influence Under Scrutiny

On August 28, the DSN announced that it had found indications of Muslim Brotherhood influence over DERAD, a deradicalization organization that had worked with convicted offenders and people released from prison on behalf of several Austrian ministries. The Justice Ministry subsequently ended its cooperation with the organization.

The DSN defines political or legalistic Islam as efforts to gradually reshape social and political structures according to Islamist ideology. It classifies the Muslim Brotherhood as part of that sphere and says there are efforts within the broader milieu to entrench Islamist ideas, including the long-term establishment of Sharia and a caliphate as a state or social order.

Existing Legal Restrictions

Austria’s Symbols Act already prohibits the public display, showing, wearing or dissemination of specified symbols of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other listed groups, subject to statutory exceptions.

Bauer has said she wants a broader accompanying legal package, but until legislative language and a binding definition are published, it remains unclear which organizations, activities or institutions would fall within its scope.

The City of Austin approved $1,500 in taxpayer funding for a September 10 event co-hosted by CAIR-Austin, nine months after Governor Greg Abbott designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist organization and seven months after Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to shut down CAIR’s Texas operations. The event, promoted as part of Austin’s “We All Belong” anti-hate initiative, will screen a documentary titled “Jesus Was a Migrant” at the city-owned Asian American Resource Center, with CAIR representatives participating in an interfaith panel discussion alongside immigration legal services providers.

Austin Public Information Specialist Natalie Hulsey confirmed the public funding to The Dallas Express, stating the event is “directly tied to the City of Austin’s We All Belong initiative.” The grant represents a small portion of the $150,000 Austin’s Equity and Inclusion office allocated for the We All Belong program in fiscal year 2025-2026. The event registration page lists CAIR-Austin, FaithWorks, and partner organizations as hosts, with Austin Equity and Inclusion as the official sponsor.

State-Level Legal Battle

Abbott’s November 18, 2025 proclamation designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations under the Texas Penal Code and transnational criminal organizations under the Texas Property Code. The designation, which is a state action rather than a federal foreign terrorist organization listing, prohibits the groups from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott stated in the proclamation. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”

Paxton followed with a February 5, 2026 lawsuit against national CAIR and its Austin, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth chapters, seeking to ban the organizations from operating in Texas. The lawsuit cites CAIR-Texas’s founding board member’s 2008 conviction for funneling $12.4 million to Hamas through the Holy Land Foundation, a case in which CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator, though a federal judge later ruled the government violated due process by publicizing that designation.

“Sharia law and the jihadists who follow sharia law have no business being in Texas,” Paxton said. “Radical Islamic terrorists are antithetical to law and order, endanger the people of Texas, and are an existential threat to our values.”

Austin’s Response

Rather than distancing itself from CAIR following the state designation, Austin doubled down. On January 22, 2026 — two months after Abbott’s proclamation — the Austin City Council honored CAIR-Austin with an official “CAIR-Austin Day” proclamation recognizing the organization’s “vital role in protecting the civil rights of Austin’s Muslim community.”

Council Member Krista Laine stated at the ceremony: “This proclamation reminds us that everyone belongs in Austin.”

Documentary and Event Details

The September 10 event centers on a 31-minute documentary by Tisby Studios that equates Jesus Christ with modern illegal border crossers. The film argues that Jesus’ brief childhood flight to Egypt — a temporary journey within the Roman Empire that fulfilled Old Testament prophecy — makes him comparable to asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border today. The documentary’s premise frames Christian support for border enforcement as theological apostasy.

Filmmaker Jemar Tisby, author of “The Color of Compromise,” which critiques white evangelicalism as inherently racist, described the film as “a scathing indictment of those who call themselves Christian while supporting the current administration’s racist rhetoric and cruel violence.” When a Baptist News Global interviewer asked what Christians who support border enforcement will experience in heaven, Tisby responded: “What makes you think they’ll get to heaven?”

Partner organizations include Asian Texans for Justice, a progressive AAPI advocacy group, and American Gateways, which provides immigration legal services throughout Central Texas.

CAIR’s Background

The Anti-Defamation League documents that CAIR was founded by several leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine, which federal prosecutors alleged was a Hamas propaganda front. The United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014. The U.S. federal government has not designated CAIR as a terrorist organization.

State Board of Education member Brandon Hall told The Dallas Express: “Texas taxpayers shouldn’t tolerate any government or taxpayer-funded entity, at any level, partnering or working with CAIR. Texas taxpayer dollars should never be used to legitimize, support, or collaborate with organizations designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Period.”

CAIR disputes the allegations and called Paxton’s lawsuit “another frivolous, politically motivated anti-Muslim publicity stunt.”

The event remains scheduled for September 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the Asian American Resource Center, 8401 Cameron Road, Austin.

An Egyptian-American activist sentenced to life in prison by a Cairo court in 2015 for his role supporting the Muslim Brotherhood is now routing money into the U.S. Senate campaign of Michigan Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Mohamed Soltan, president of the Washington-based American Committee for Middle East Rights (ACMER), gave the maximum personal contribution to El-Sayed’s campaign last April, while the 501(c)(4) he leads sent $25,000 to the super PAC backing him — confirmed by Federal Election Commission filings.

Soltan is the son of Salah Soltan, a senior Brotherhood figure who served as deputy minister of endowments under Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. The donations arrive as El-Sayed heads into the November general election against former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers — and as the Muslim Brotherhood’s own official publication has already celebrated his primary victory in an article headlined “Abdul Rahman al-Sayyid conquers the Zionists and runs for the Senate.”

The Money Trail

FEC records show two $3,500 contributions from Mohamed Soltan of Fairfax, Virginia to Abdul for U.S. Senate on April 15, 2025 — a combined $7,000, the maximum an individual may give to a federal candidate across the primary and general elections. On June 12, 2026, ACMER itself sent $25,000 to Fighting for Michigan PAC, the super PAC backing El-Sayed. ACMER Treasurer Muna Jondy of Flushing, Michigan added a $15,000 contribution to the same super PAC on June 7, 2026, according to FEC filings.

The pattern extends into El-Sayed’s principal campaign committee. Jondy personally maxed out her contributions to Abdul for U.S. Senate with three transactions totaling $7,000 on June 24, 2025. Four additional Jondy family members from the same Flushing address gave another $17,500 across a dozen transactions between June 2025 and February 2026, FEC records show. ACMER’s most recent Form 990, filed in November 2025 with ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, lists Soltan as president and Jondy as treasurer, and reports net assets of $766,995.

The Cairo Sentence

Mohamed Soltan was arrested in August 2013 amid the crackdown that followed Morsi’s ouster and, in April 2015, was sentenced — alongside 35 others in a mass trial — to life in prison on charges including funding and membership in the Muslim Brotherhood. Amnesty International denounced the proceedings as unjust; the court’s judgment nonetheless remains on the record. Soltan was released in May 2015 after a 16-month hunger strike and pressure from the Obama administration, and now works in Washington as a policy advocate and investment consultant.

His father, Salah Soltan, was sentenced separately to death and to life in prison for inciting violence during the 2013 unrest, identified as one of more than 50 senior Brotherhood figures Egyptian prosecutors said set up a “control room” to direct the response to the military intervention.

El-Sayed’s Own Potential Brotherhood Record

The donations track a documented history. In January 2011, El-Sayed — then writing as “Abdulrahman El-Sayed,” an assistant professor at Columbia — published a Huffington Post column arguing Americans should back the uprising against Hosni Mubarak. “Even if the Muslim Brotherhood were to take power,” he wrote, “there are several reasons why the ensuing state would look nothing like Iran.”

In November 2012, after Morsi issued a decree ending judicial review of his decisions and dismissing Egypt’s attorney general, El-Sayed appeared, according to reporting by The Midwesterner citing a translation of the Arabic original, as one of 46 signatories to a statement in state-affiliated Bawabat Al-Ahram endorsing Morsi’s “revolutionary decisions” and calling on him to “purge the media and the police.”

A Broader Network

Soltan is not the only donor of concern. El-Sayed’s father-in-law Tayeb Jukaku, a founding-committee member of the Islamic Society of North America and former president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter, has contributed $200,000 to Fighting for Michigan PAC. Both ISNA and CAIR were named unindicted co-conspirators in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation Hamas-financing prosecution, the largest terrorism-financing case in U.S. history.

A Fox News Digital review found El-Sayed’s campaign has collected over $115,000 from at least 41 individuals affiliated with CAIR, including its national board chair, treasurer, and vice chair.

On leaked audio from a March campaign strategy call obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, El-Sayed instructed staff not to comment on Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death following U.S. military strikes. “There are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today,” he said. “I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all.” El-Sayed’s campaign did not dispute the recording’s content but questioned how it was obtained.

The Bigger Picture

El-Sayed has built his campaign on the slogan of getting “money out of politics” and has singled out pro-Israel spending for particular criticism. The FEC filings tell a different story: a documented pipeline running from a man Egypt sentenced to life for financing the Brotherhood, through a Washington nonprofit, into the account of a candidate the Brotherhood’s own press already counts as a victory.

A biodiesel refinery in the French countryside has landed on the U.S. sanctions list after Washington traced it to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, whom U.S. authorities say controls a sprawling oil and shipping network used to move Iranian and Russian petroleum around the world.

In July 2025, the U.S. Treasury targeted Shamkhani’s network in its largest Iran-related sanctions action since 2018, designating more than 50 individuals and entities and identifying more than 50 vessels. His father, Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, had already been sanctioned by Washington in 2020.

Now the trail leads to France.

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La Nivernaise de Raffinage, a functioning biodiesel refinery in Prémery, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury on August 24 after being traced through Geneva-based Wellbred Trading SA and Singapore-based Wellbred Capital back to Shamkhani.

The Treasury Department says Shamkhani remained ultimately responsible for Wellbred, which pursued European alternative-energy investments “as part of its efforts to appear as a legitimate company,” including the French refinery acquisition.

The Network Behind Wellbred

Shamkhani’s network was already under heavy U.S. scrutiny. In July 2025, the U.S. Treasury described his operation as a “vast shipping empire” controlling a significant portion of Iran’s crude exports. The network used tankers, containerships, management firms and front companies to move Iranian and Russian petroleum while obscuring its ties to Iran and the Shamkhani family.

The operation generated tens of billions of dollars in profit, according to U.S. officials.

His father, Ali Shamkhani, was a top political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader and was sanctioned by Washington in 2020. U.S. authorities say Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani leveraged his father’s political influence to build and expand the network.

La Nivernaise is controlled by Switzerland-based Wellbred Trading SA, which is in turn controlled by Singapore-based Wellbred Capital PTE. LTD. Wellbred Capital was sanctioned for being owned or controlled by, or acting on behalf of, Shamkhani.

Wellbred also traded oil, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas and other petrochemicals that moved through Shamkhani’s broader network.

The IRGC Connection

La Nivernaise and the Wellbred companies were designated under Executive Order 13902, which targets sectors of Iran’s economy, rather than under Treasury’s primary counterterrorism authority. There is no public evidence that the French refinery itself processed Iranian crude or directly transferred money to a terrorist organization. But the wider Shamkhani network has been tied by U.S. authorities to funds allegedly benefiting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force.

In March 2026, the Justice Department sought forfeiture of more than $15.3 million allegedly used to fund Shamkhani’s illicit Iranian oil network. Prosecutors said the funds were subject to forfeiture because they provided a source of influence over the National Iranian Oil Company, the IRGC and the IRGC-Quds Force, with the latter two designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the United States.

According to the Justice Department, $12.97 million of the seized funds were intended for Wellbred Capital and its Dubai subsidiary, Wellbred Trading DMCC. Prosecutors allege Shamkhani and his associates operated those companies to maintain a “brand” that was not publicly perceived to be affiliated with Shamkhani or Iran.

The DOJ says that behind that public-facing image, Wellbred was actually operated by Shamkhani and close associates for the benefit of his network and Iran.

What the Records Show

A struggling French industrial plant was acquired through a court-approved deal by a Geneva commodities company presenting itself as a clean-energy investor.

The Prémery refinery now illustrates the reach of that strategy: an Iranian-linked network moving beyond shadow tankers and offshore shells into apparently ordinary commercial assets operating inside Europe.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott formally referred Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental airports to the U.S. Department of Justice on August 21, arguing that ablution facilities for Muslim travelers violate federal anti-discrimination law at government-owned airports. The DOJ referral followed an August 14 action in which Abbott threatened state grant revocations and referred both airports to the Transportation Department — moves that compelled DFW to cancel expansion plans within hours.

Abbott’s August 21 letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche argued the washing stations “single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion” and compared them to “white-only bathrooms.” The letter invoked federal grant compliance requirements under the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program, noting that airports receiving federal funds “are subject to conditions that require full compliance with laws prohibiting religious discrimination.” Both airports installed ablution facilities — DFW in 2019, Houston in February 2024 — and operated them without legal challenge until Abbott’s August intervention.

The governor’s office directed a review of all state grants to Texas airport operators on August 14, warning of “revocation of active state grant funds and the denial of any future grants” for airports found in violation of anti-discrimination law. That same day, Abbott referred both airports to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for federal investigation. DFW announced that evening it was scrapping plans for two additional ablution stations in Terminal D, stating the project “would not deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits.”

Facilities Include Islamic Religious Items

The facilities at issue are low-basin washing stations used for wudu, the ritual cleansing Muslims perform before prayer. DFW installed two ablution stations adjacent to its Terminal D Interfaith Chapel in 2019. Houston opened its Terminal D ablution room in February 2024, connected to a prayer room furnished with “copies of the Quran, prayer rugs, prayer beads and a turbah” — items specific to Islamic religious practice.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire defended the facility as open to all travelers regardless of faith, noting it was “paid for by fees charged to the international airlines” serving Middle East routes. Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines carried approximately 366,000 passengers from IAH Terminal D in 2025, accounting for 22 percent of international departures. Whitmire’s statement noted that “prior to the development of the dedicated washing station, travelers often used restroom sinks and other public water facilities for personal washing needs.”

Abbott’s August 14 letter to DFW CEO Christopher McLaughlin stated he was “unaware of either airport installing standalone facilities to meet the particular needs of the many other religious groups represented across Texas.” The letter concluded that “engaging in these discriminatory practices will subject any organizations found to be in violation to the withdrawal of grant funding and other enforcement actions.”

Funding Source Questions Preceded Cancellation

The proposed DFW expansion drew scrutiny after an initial Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing listed the project cost at $300,000 and marked it “privately funded.” State Sen. Tan Parker, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, sent DFW a list of questions on August 13 asking who provided the private donation and how it was accepted.

The filing was revised to show $115,000 and changed the funding classification to “public funds, public land.” DFW called it an “administrative error” by the design firm preparing the permit. The airport said it does not use taxpayer dollars for operations, relying instead on parking and concession revenue. Neither DFW nor Houston has disclosed the original funding source for their existing ablution facilities installed in 2019 and 2024.

Grant Leverage as Policy Enforcement Mechanism

The airport action represents Abbott’s deployment of grant compliance authority to enforce contested policy positions. In May, Abbott threatened to revoke $530,000 in state grants unless Grand Prairie canceled an Eid celebration at a city-owned water park. The event’s initial flyer read “Muslims only,” which Abbott argued violated House Bill 4211, Texas legislation banning residential and public facilities from excluding non-Muslims. Grand Prairie canceled the event.

In October 2025, Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Transportation to withhold funding from cities that refused to remove rainbow crosswalks, calling them unauthorized markings conveying “political ideologies” on public roadways. Transportation Secretary Duffy had sent governors a letter in July 2025 urging removal of “political messaging” from roads and threatening federal funding cuts for non-compliance.

The grant-leverage strategy escalates enforcement beyond legislative authority. Airports operate under dual federal-state jurisdiction, with the FAA exercising primary control over terminal security and access through its Airport Improvement Program. Airports accepting AIP grants agree to 39 grant assurances, including civil rights compliance requirements. Abbott’s letters invoked these federal conditions to justify state and federal enforcement action.

DOJ Referral Seeks Federal Civil Rights Investigation

Abbott’s August 21 DOJ letter argued the facilities are “clearly purposed to benefit the Muslim population alone” and are “not comparable to any existing interfaith chapels, which are open and available to all.” He wrote that “airports can no more offer Muslim-only bathroom spaces than they can maintain white-only bathrooms” and requested the Justice Department “immediately review these discriminatory facilities at DFW and IAH and take appropriate corrective action.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called Abbott’s action an “anti-Muslim political stunt” and argued the facilities are “universally-accessible” and comparable to interfaith chapels. CAIR is currently suing Abbott over his November 2025 proclamation designating the organization as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” under Texas law.

Neither the Justice Department nor the Transportation Department has publicly responded to Abbott’s referrals. Both airports continue operating their existing ablution facilities. DFW has not announced plans to remove its two stations installed in 2019.

The UK Home Office published a seven-page illustrated booklet in August 2026 instructing asylum seekers that rape is illegal in Britain, women have equal rights, and sex with children under 16 is a crime with no exceptions. The guide, distributed to tens of thousands of predominantly male arrivals from the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia, teaches concepts British officials determined required explicit instruction—including that marital rape is illegal, women can work without male permission, and making sexual comments to strangers constitutes harassment.

No government statement explains why asylum seekers need to be told that “both people must say ‘yes’ to sex,” but the materials arrive as Britain confronts thousands of grooming gang victims and a string of recent asylum seeker rape convictions. The booklet warns: violate these norms, and “it will affect your asylum claim.”

“This Is Called Consent”

The booklet opens with an acknowledgment. “We understand that coming to a new country can be difficult, and that laws and customs here may be different from your home country,” it states. What follows is instruction on concepts British officials determined required explicit articulation.

“In the UK, both people must say ‘yes’ to sex. This is called consent,” the booklet explains. “If you have sex with someone who does not want to, this is called rape. Rape is a serious crime.” The materials clarify that marital status provides no exception. “It is still rape if you are married to the person or in a relationship.”

The age of consent receives similar treatment. “Sex with someone under the age of 16 is a serious crime in the UK,” the booklet warns. “There are no exceptions to this rule. Even if they say yes, it is still illegal.” Consequences are spelled out: “You could go to prison, lose your support and accommodation, and it will affect your asylum claim.”

“Men and Women Are Equal”

A separate section addresses gender equality. “In the UK, men and women are equal,” the guide states. “This means: men and women are treated the same; women can work, study, travel and make their own choices.” The booklet specifies that husbands, fathers, and brothers may not stop women from working, control what they wear, or make decisions for them without agreement.

Public behavior also received detailed instruction stating, “It is illegal to harass people.” The materials prohibit asylum seekers from making “sexual comments to strangers, even as a compliment,” approaching someone repeatedly if “they are not interested,” or following someone or blocking their path.

The Home Office produced the materials using comic-style illustrations. Posters featuring the same content are “presumably to be displayed in asylum hotels and other types of migrant accommodation,” the Daily Mail reported.

Recent Cases

The materials arrive as Britain grapples with documented patterns. The Daily Mail catalogued six recent rape cases involving asylum seekers who arrived in 2024 and 2025. Three men—from Iran and Egypt—received a combined 60 years for a gang rape on Brighton beach. An Afghan who arrived in March 2024 was sentenced to 15 years for raping a 12-year-old girl four months later. A Turkish arrival raped an 18-year-old in Tamworth weeks after entering the country.

Thousands of Victims, Years of Silence

The context extends deeper. Between 1997 and 2013, approximately 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham alone by predominantly British-Pakistani gangs. Telford saw over 1,000 victims. Oxford counted 373. Operation Stovewood documented that 80% of Rotherham perpetrators were males of Pakistani heritage.

Investigations into these cases revealed systemic failures. Police and councils downplayed the scale. Council staff were instructed not to mention perpetrators’ ethnic origins. A culture of “misplaced ‘political correctness’” allowed abuse to continue for years.

A June 2025 audit by Baroness Casey found that “our collective failure to address questions about the ethnicity of grooming gangs has dominated political and institutional focus, with energy devoted to proving the point on one hand, or avoiding or playing it down on the other.”

“The Most Insane Thing I Have Ever Seen”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called the booklet evidence that immigrants are “coming from places and societies where attitudes towards women are completely incompatible with Western society.” He argued officials should “deport them” rather than “trying to train these mainly young, male illegal immigrants to behave in a civilised way towards women.”

Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf described the materials as “one of the most insane things I have ever seen,” arguing they prove “the Government knows” asylum seekers “are a menace.”

The Home Office responded with a single sentence: “We expect everyone who comes to the UK to abide by our laws.” Consequences for violations would include “refusal of their asylum claim and removal from the UK.”

Last year, 41,472 people arrived by small boat; 34,201 were male. The largest nationalities were Eritrean, Afghan, Iranian, Sudanese, and Somali. Each now receives instruction on what Britain considers consent.

The Islamic Society of North America will host its 63rd annual convention at Detroit’s Huntington Place Convention Center over Labor Day weekend, September 4-7, 2026. The four-day gathering is expected to draw tens of thousands of attendees and featured keynote speakers. A related ISNA Day conference in Tampa on October 24 will feature additional speakers.

This year’s speaker lineup includes Pakistani cleric Mufti Tariq Masood, who admitted in a 2021 sermon to forcing his 13-year-old niece into marriage and was denied entry to Canada over what activists called “pedophilic rhetoric.” New Jersey Imam Mohammad Qatanani, convicted of Hamas membership by an Israeli military court in 1993 and currently fighting deportation from the United States, is scheduled for the Tampa event. Also speaking is Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on August 4 and whose father-in-law served on ISNA’s Founders Committee.

2026 Convention Speakers

Mufti Tariq Masood: Child Marriage Advocate

Pakistani cleric Mufti Tariq Masood is scheduled to speak on a panel about “avoiding mental illness in youth.” In a 2021 sermon, he admitted to forcing his 13-year-old niece into marriage and advised his followers to do the same with their young female relatives. Masood also said it was a husband’s decision whether his wife can attend college, citing Sharia law. He spent the sermon “advising all to engage their daughters in prepubescent marriages,” according to the Pakistan Observer.

Canadian activists urged the government to block Masood’s visa in 2024 over his “pedophilic rhetoric.”

Abdul El-Sayed: Michigan Senate Nominee

Abdul El-Sayed is speaking on a panel titled “Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America.” His father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, was a member of ISNA’s Founders Committee and served as president of CAIR-Michigan.

El-Sayed has attacked President Trump and Republicans as “pedophile protectors” over Epstein files. Yet he will share a stage with Masood, who admitted on video to forcing a child into marriage. El-Sayed will appear on a panel moderated by Syed Imtiaz Ahmad, ISNA’s president, who also moderates Masood’s youth mental health panel.

Siraj Wahhaj

Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, confirmed as a speaker at the 2026 convention, was named an unindicted co-conspirator by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White in the trial of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj provided testimony in defense of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” and former leader of the Egyptian terrorist organization Gama’a al-Islamiyya. Rahman was convicted of conspiracy to murder Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and of bombing conspiracy related to a plot to bomb the FBI headquarters and New York tunnels.

During his testimony, Wahhaj called the terrorist leader a “respected scholar” and praised him as “bold, as a strong preacher of Islam.”

In a November 1991 lecture at the Islamic Association of Northern Texas, Wahhaj advocated for establishing an Islamic state in America: “Where ever you came from, you came to America. And you came for one reason—for one reason only to establish Allah’s deen.” He predicted the demise of America unless it accepted “the Islamic agenda” and said Muslims should be involved in politics because “politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.”

Other 2026 Speakers

Imam Mohammad Qatanani, scheduled for ISNA’s Tampa event, was convicted of Hamas membership by an Israeli military court in 1993 and is currently fighting deportation from the United States.

Dr. Arif Alvi, keynote speaker and Pakistan’s president from 2018 to 2023, declined to amend Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws after two Christian brothers were sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Muhammad.

Yasir Qadhi, appearing on several panels, delivered a 2001 sermon recommending a book titled The Hoax of the Holocaust, called the Holocaust "false propaganda," and said "Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews," according to a 2010 report in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

ISNA’s Muslim Brotherhood Roots

ISNA’s speaker choices make sense only when understood in the context of the organization’s founding and structure. ISNA appears at the top of a list of 29 organizations in a May 22, 1991 internal memorandum authored by Muslim Brotherhood operative Mohamed Akram. The document, seized by the FBI and entered as evidence in federal court, describes a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with an explicit goal: “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

Federal prosecutors included ISNA on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, listing it among “individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the US Muslim Brotherhood.” Though U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ruled the government had violated ISNA’s Fifth Amendment rights by not sealing the list, he found “ample evidence to establish the association between ISNA and Hamas” and declined to strike ISNA from the list.

ISNA’s Plainfield, Indiana headquarters complex was built with $21 million from Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Yusuf al-Qaradawi — who issued a fatwa calling for the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq — and from Youssef Nada and the emir of Qatar.

Current ISNA board member Muzammil Siddiqi, who also serves on the board of NAIT, has lectured extensively on jihad, telling audiences “when people really carry on Jihad, they carry on the Islam in its peak” and warning that “no people have ever neglected Jihad except they became humiliated.” In a 2001 online exchange, he stated that “once more people accept Islam, inshaallah, this will lead to the implementation of Sharia in all areas.” Siddiqi will also be a keynote speaker at the conference.

This September in Detroit, thousands will gather at Huntington Place Convention Center. Federal agencies will staff recruiting booths. A cleric who forced his 13-year-old niece into marriage will advise parents on youth mental health. An imam convicted of Hamas membership will deliver remarks in Tampa. Holocaust deniers will appear on panels. And Abdul El-Sayed — who won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary three weeks ago — will take the stage alongside them.

Hours after Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary on August 5, 2026, the Muslim Brotherhood's official news site ran a front-page article celebrating his victory. Egyptian media outlets and activists who overthrew the Brotherhood in 2013 immediately raised alarms about El-Sayed's alleged Brotherhood connections.

Arabic-language newspapers, social media figures, and Egyptian religious officials pointed to a 2012 statement circulating on social media that they say shows El-Sayed supported Mohamed Morsi's dictatorial decree, alongside his current criticism of Egypt's government and documented family ties to U.S. organizations named as Muslim Brotherhood affiliates in federal terrorism-financing cases. As Ikhwan Online featured El-Sayed's photo under a headline framing the win as a defeat of "Zionist" forces, Egyptian voices from Cairo to Dearborn are telling Americans: we lived under Brotherhood rule, and we're warning you what we see.

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Egyptian Warnings

Egyptian activists and writers who overthrew the Brotherhood in 2013 are now issuing sharp warnings. Hossam Al-Ghamry, a prominent Egyptian journalist, posted on X that El-Sayed was a “Brotherhood zombie” who “sheds crocodile tears on democracy in Egypt.” Al-Ghamry’s post alleges that El-Sayed signed a statement published in Al-Ahram newspaper on November 25, 2012, supporting Mohamed Morsi’s constitutional declaration. Cross Currents has not independently verified the existence of this document, though the claim circulates widely among Egyptian expat communities on social media.

Egyptian writer Abdel Gawad Abu Kab warned in Asharq Al-Awsat not to celebrate El-Sayed, calling his history “hostile to Egypt.” Dr. Khaled Montaser, writing in the same outlet, denounced El-Sayed’s vaccine claims as “lies.” Sheikh Ahmed Turki, head of the Senate Religious Affairs Committee, said El-Sayed’s comments “insult Egypt.”

The 2012 Constitutional Declaration

The Egyptian criticism centers on a document Al-Ghamry and others cite from November 2012 which they claimed El-Sayed signed. On November 22, 2012, President Mohamed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood issued a constitutional declaration granting himself sweeping powers. The decree placed his decisions above judicial review, immunized the constitutional assembly from dissolution, and granted Morsi authority to “take any measures” to protect the revolution.

The declaration sparked massive protests across Egypt. Critics called it a power grab that made Morsi a “new pharaoh.” The move accelerated the political crisis that led to the military’s removal of Morsi on July 3, 2013, after millions demonstrated against Brotherhood rule.

What Further Angered the Egyptians

El-Sayed told The New Arab that Egypt “lacks democracy” and that he does not want U.S. taxpayer money used to impose a “strangling grip” on Egyptians. He recalled childhood visits to Egypt, saying he “might have been a taxi driver” if his father had not migrated to the United States. He also claimed that being born in Egypt rather than the U.S. would have meant “I might not have lived past the age of five” due to vaccine shortages—a statement Egyptian doctors disputed.

The candidate opposes unconditional U.S. military aid to Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, calling such aid support for “genocide, apartheid, or a war we don’t need to fight.”

The Brotherhood Celebrates

The Brotherhood’s official news site, Ikhwan Online, ran a front-page article the day after El-Sayed’s primary win, featuring his photo and framing the victory as a defeat of “Zionist” forces. The site’s content was reported by The Midwesterner, which noted the Brotherhood website highlighted El-Sayed’s call to end unconditional U.S. military aid to what it termed the “Zionist occupation” and pointed to growing division in the Democratic Party over U.S.-Israel policy.

The celebration was not limited to one outlet. Pro-Hamas Palestinian media Shehab News described El-Sayed as an “American Muslim of Egyptian descent” whose victory came “despite his opponent’s campaign having received over $60 million, most of which came from pro-Israel groups.” Sabereen News, which supports Iran-backed Iraqi militias, noted that AIPAC had spent $36 million backing Stevens. The ISNAD Foundation— founded by Turkey-based, Muslim Brotherhood-linked Egyptian filmmaker Ezzeldeen Dwedar—congratulated El-Sayed on defeating “the Zionist AIPAC candidate” and asserted he “rejects the military coup and military rule in Egypt.”

Family and Funding Ties

El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, sits on the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Founders Committee and served as CAIR-Michigan president from 2005 to 2010. Both organizations were named unindicted co-conspirators in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case, in which federal prosecutors identified ISNA as a Muslim Brotherhood member.

Tayeb donated $200,000 to the Fighting for Michigan super PAC supporting El-Sayed—nearly half the PAC’s total first-quarter 2026 fundraising. Fox News reported that El-Sayed’s campaign received more than $115,000 from at least 41 donors affiliated with CAIR, including senior CAIR leaders Manal Fakhoury, Eyas Abdeen, and Emad Sabbah.

CAIR has been designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and was labeled as such by Texas and Florida governors under 2025 executive orders.

A Pattern Egyptians Recognize

For Egyptians who lived through 2011–2013, the pattern is familiar: a charismatic figure with Brotherhood ties rises through democratic politics while the organization celebrates from the sidelines. The Dearborn-centered Islamic community merged with Michigan’s progressive left to deliver El-Sayed’s narrow victory, replicating the coalition-building that brought Morsi to power in Egypt’s 2012 election.

Instagram posts warning about El-Sayed now circulate among Egyptian Americans, many of whom fled after the Brotherhood’s brief rule. Their message: we’ve seen this before, and we know how it ends. El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers in the November 2026 general election.

Massachusetts lawmakers are advancing the nation’s first permanent, taxpayer-funded state commission dedicated exclusively to a single religion—Islam—raising constitutional questions and exposing a network of organizations with documented ties to designated terrorist financing operations.

Senate Bill 2134, which cleared initial committees and now sits in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, would establish an 11-member panel of Muslims with authority to recommend co-religionists for government appointments, research “Islamophobia,” and evaluate hate crime statutes for potential amendments. The bill wasn’t merely supported by outside advocacy groups—it was directly co-authored by them.

Who Wrote the Bill

State Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Vanna Howard didn’t just consult outside organizations when drafting S.2134. According to Eldridge’s own press release, the sponsors “collaborated with” Jetpac, a political infrastructure organization whose stated mission is to “build American Muslim political infrastructure and increase the community’s influence.”

That collaboration extended to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which hosted a June 10, 2025 lobby day featuring 150 participants and opening remarks from both sponsors.

CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial, where five HLF leaders were convicted of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas. The Fifth Circuit later ruled the public naming violated the organizations’ due process rights, though the underlying trial evidence remains in the record.

The connection between Jetpac and Senator Eldridge runs deeper than policy collaboration. Jetpac’s current Executive Director, Mohammed Missouri, previously worked on Eldridge’s staff before joining the organization in 2019.

The Network Behind the Commission

Jetpac operates in coordination with CAIR-Massachusetts and the Islamic Center of Boston (Wayland), according to investigative findings reported by the Daily Signal. ICB Wayland’s president, Farah Abbas, publicly endorsed the legislation in Eldridge’s press release.

That same Islamic center allegedly held a fundraising dinner in October 2025 for United Hands Relief, a charity intertwined with Baitulmaal. United Hands Relief’s CEO, Suleiman Alghanem, ran Baitulmaal from 2007 to 2017, and its communications director previously worked there as well, according to his LinkedIn profile and Investigative Project on Terrorism reporting.

Baitulmaal has been accused of ties to Hamas through its membership in the Union of Good, which the U.S. Treasury Department designated in 2008 as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization for funneling money to Hamas. An Investigative Project on Terrorism report documented Baitulmaal’s contributions to Gaza-based charities with ties to the Popular Resistance Committees, a terrorist organization designated by Israel in 2006.

Baitulmaal’s current CEO, Mazen Mokhtar, previously served as Executive Director of the Muslim American Society (MAS) from 2013 to 2018. MAS was established in 1993 as the Muslim Brotherhood’s American arm, according to federal court evidence. Mokhtar has been quoted as describing suicide bombings as “an effective method of attacking the enemy and continuing jihad.”

What the Commission Would Do

The bill’s text grants the commission eight specific responsibilities, including the authority to “identify and recommend qualified American Muslims for appointive positions at all levels of government” and “evaluate the commonwealth’s hate crime statutes” to determine “whether any amendments would better protect residents from Islamophobia.”

The 11 commission members—all required to “demonstrate a commitment to the Muslim American community”—would be appointed by Governor Maura Healey, legislative leadership, the attorney general, and other state officials. “No other group in Massachusetts is granted a permanent government body with an official pipeline for placing its people in positions of power,” Amy Mek, founder of the RAIR Foundation, told the Daily Signal.

Constitutional Concerns and the Current Status

In October 2025, a Norfolk Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking Catholic statues outside a Quincy public safety building, ruling the display likely violated Article 3 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. That provision states “no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.” The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has since heard arguments in the case, raising questions about whether S.2134’s single-religion commission could withstand similar scrutiny.

Representative Randy Fine (R-FL) criticized the bill on X, writing: “They lecture us about ‘separation of church and state’ while funneling your tax dollars into a Muslim-only DEI commission. No religious group gets preferential treatment with our money. Not now. Not ever.”

The bill received a favorable committee report in November 2025, an “ought to pass” recommendation in January 2026, and currently awaits action in the Senate Ways and Means Committee — the final hurdle before a floor vote.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani held what the Muslim American Society called a “productive meeting” with the executive director of MAS Brooklyn alongside representatives of MAS-NY and the MAS Youth Center — an organization federal prosecutors described in a 2008 court filing as “the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.”

The sit-down, announced on MAS’s social channels this month, comes as MAS leaders continue to fill senior posts in the new administration and as the group’s Brooklyn youth center faces ongoing scrutiny for hosting a fundraiser where vendors sold merchandise featuring imagery of Hamas, Hezbollah, and PFLP figures.

MAS was designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates in 2014 alongside the Muslim Brotherhood. That New York’s mayor would grant three MAS chapters an official audience — months after the fundraiser controversy and while City Council-approved MAS funding remains under active review — marks an extraordinary elevation of a network long flagged by U.S. and allied governments.

What MAS Is

The Muslim American Society was registered as an Illinois corporation on June 11, 1993. According to a 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation cited in subsequent research, Mohammed Mahdi Akef — who later became the Supreme Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood — helped found MAS by lobbying for its creation during trips to the United States. The Tribune reported that Brotherhood members voted to operate under the “Muslim American Society” name and agreed not to publicly identify as “the Brotherhood” — a branding decision designed, according to documents cited by the paper, to be “more publicly active” while limiting explicit Brotherhood identification.

The Tribune further reported that internal MAS training materials instructed members on how to respond if asked about Brotherhood ties: leaders were told to say they were “an independent group called the Muslim American Society.” The same documents reportedly provided guidance on issuing generic condemnations of terrorism without condemning violent jihad against Israel.

The organization’s origins were later described under oath. In March 2012, Abdurahman Alamoudi — a convicted terrorism financier who had previously served as a U.S. government Muslim affairs advisor — testified in federal court in northern Virginia that MAS “was created as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, and continues to serve that function today.” Federal prosecutors made a similar assertion in a 2008 court filing tied to the Holy Land Foundation prosecution — the largest terrorism-financing case in U.S. history — describing MAS as “the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.”

In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated MAS as a terrorist organization on a list of 83 groups that also included the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, and ISIS. MAS has publicly disputed the designation.

The Meeting

The recent post from the MAS Youth Center stated that the Brooklyn executive director, representing MAS-NY, MAS Brooklyn, and the MAS Youth Center, “met with Mayor Mamdani and his team in a productive meeting to advocate for the needs of the Muslim community.”

The MAS Youth Center is the same Bath Avenue facility that hosted the January 18 “Thrift4Sudan” fundraiser, where vendors sold key chains, stickers, and pins in support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the New York Post. The merchandise reportedly featured reverential images of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar, and a masked figure resembling the late Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida, alongside items bearing terror-group logos and slogans calling for the destruction of Israel.

MAS Leadership Inside City Hall

MAS’s access to the Mayor did not begin with this meeting. MAS-NY announced in November 2025 that its executive director Sherif Ahmed and MAS Youth Center political director Hannah Towfeik had been appointed to Mamdani’s mayoral transition team, which the incoming administration tasked with recommending personnel and policy for City Hall.

MAS-NY leadership also includes Abdullah Akl, who is also an organizer with Within Our Lifetime, an anti-Israel group behind repeated New York City rallies where participants have chanted pro-Hamas slogans. According to Canary Mission, Akl has publicly voiced support for “resistance” following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Taxpayer Funding Continues

MAS’s Brooklyn and Staten Island operations received $85,000 in NYC Council discretionary funds this fiscal year — $70,000 from Councilwoman Kayla Santosuosso and $15,000 from Councilwoman Alexa Avilés — following the January fundraiser controversy.

The nonprofit had previously collected more than $265,000 in Council discretionary funds over three years. Council Speaker Julie Menin initially froze $80,000 pending investigation; the funds were later restored after MAS committed in writing to enhanced vendor screening, according to a Council spokesman.

International and Federal Actions

The UAE’s 2014 designation followed years of research by Emirati and Egyptian security services into the Brotherhood’s global network.

In 2026, the U.S. Treasury designated multiple Muslim Brotherhood chapters as Foreign Terrorist Organizations under Executive Order 14362, and the State Department designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as an FTO in March. A Senate Judiciary hearing in May titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America” and a July House Oversight hearing on “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Global Threat” examined U.S.-based Brotherhood-linked entities as national-security concerns. The U.S. government has not designated MAS itself.

A viral clip of streamer Sneako declaring New York an “Islamic State” and saying “Islam will be in every household” spread this week because it sounded absurd and theatrical. Taken literally, the claim is false: New York remains a secular city governed by constitutional law, and Muslim New Yorkers are still a minority. But the clip resonated because it exaggerated something real. Over the last decade, Muslim identity, Islamic institutions, and progressive politics have become far more visible and politically consequential in New York than at any point in the post-9/11 era.

The transformation is not simply demographic. It is organizational, ideological, and institutional—and it has been bankrolled and organized by networks with documented ties to extremist movements.

Following the money and the ideology

Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign drew its largest institutional backing from groups linked to organizations federal lawmakers have described as having “deep ties to terrorist organizations.” The New York Post reported that the Unity and Justice Fund PAC—which shares addresses and personnel with CAIR Action—gave Mamdani’s campaign $120,000, making it one of his biggest single donors.

CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial, where prosecutors presented evidence showing the group received “seed money” from Hamas and transferred funds for “consulting services” to a Hamas-linked charity.

Radical activist Linda Sarsour, described as a mentor to Mamdani, stated at CAIR’s 2025 Leadership Conference: “PACs that have supported Zohran, or a particular PAC that has supported Zohran is probably over 80% of Muslim-American donors in this country.”

This is not incidental. Muslim political organizing in New York has moved from the margins to the center—and it has done so with institutional backing from groups that U.S. authorities and lawmakers have repeatedly flagged for extremist ties.

The ideological package deal

Mamdani’s campaign drew heavily from the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that justifies terrorism as resistance. On October 7, 2023—the day Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis—DSA’s national organization issued a statement expressing “steadfast solidarity with Palestine” without condemning or even naming Hamas. DSA’s NYC chapter promoted a rally the next day where protesters chanted “Globalize the Intifada.”

The Guardian reported that DSA’s stances on foreign conflicts have become a defining part of its appeal to younger voters. The New York Post reported that Democratic leaders privately acknowledged ideological purity tests—not just economic populism—drove recent socialist primary victories.

The concern is not Muslim civic participation. The concern is that Muslim political ascent has been funded and organized by groups with documented extremist ties, amplified by mosques hosting calls for religious violence, and entangled with far-left movements that justify terrorism and treat dissent as bigotry.

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A city that hasn’t reckoned with what it elected

That shift in New York affects school calendars, coalition politics, nonprofit funding, policing priorities, foreign-policy posturing, campus culture, and the unwritten rules governing what can be said, questioned, or criticized in public life. And it has happened faster than the city’s institutions—or its citizens—have had time to reckon with.

The Sneako clip went viral because it converted a genuine civic transformation into a meme. The real story is more serious. New York’s Muslim political ascent is a fact. The question is whether New Yorkers understand who funded it, what ideology drove it, and what comes next.

The San Juan Unified School District in California accepted over $175,000 from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in fiscal year 2024 — an organization that two U.S. state governors have officially designated as a foreign terrorist organization, and that the FBI suspended all formal contacts with in 2009 over evidence linking its founders to Hamas. Documents obtained by the watchdog group Defending Education reveal extensive financial ties between the 40,000-student district and CAIR, including youth programming inside schools and CAIR’s participation in strategic planning committees — raising urgent questions about institutional oversight, student safety, and the protection of American values in public education.

Deep Partnership Extended Beyond Funding

Emails obtained by Defending Education reveal that CAIR’s involvement with San Juan Unified extended far beyond monetary donations. In March 2024, a CAIR youth coordinator thanked district officials for inviting the organization to “Starr King’s parent night and the SJUSD Strategic Core planning,” noting that CAIR had “successfully launched” a six-week Leadership Development program at Starr King, an elementary and middle school in the district.

A June 2024 email confirmed that “youth from the district” were attending CAIR workshops. The partnership dates back to at least 2022, when a memorandum of understanding showed CAIR provided $180,000 to the district — bringing total documented funding to over $355,000 across two fiscal years. CAIR representatives maintained ongoing communication with district staff about grant reporting requirements and discussed expanding programs to additional schools.

Student Privacy Concerns Raised

In May 2024, a CAIR representative told district staff in an email: “Along with your monthly invoice reports you are required to submit the participants served report.” A district employee then asked a colleague, “We are using CAIR to pay for the attached IntelliBricks invoices. How do I get a list of the participants served?”

According to the Washington Examiner, documents indicate that “CAIR requested student names, and district personnel provided them.” The district’s provision of student names to CAIR as part of grant reporting appears to raise concerns under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which prohibits schools from disclosing personally identifiable information from education records to third parties without parental consent.

When Defending Education submitted a public records request seeking documentation about the CAIR funding, the district provided documents containing a list of refugee students with their full names and “home language” — including Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Pashto, Russian, and Ukrainian — completely unredacted.

CAIR Executive Celebrated Hamas Attack

Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel that killed over 1,200 people including 46 Americans, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad stated at a conference: “I was happy to see people breaking the siege...the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense.” The White House subsequently distanced itself from CAIR following the remarks.

In October 2025, CAIR-Ohio Director Khaled Tuurani participated in an online conference alongside Majed al-Zeer, a Hamas official whom the U.S. Treasury designated as a Specially Designated Terrorist in 2024 for his role in Hamas fundraising efforts. The George Washington University Program on Extremism documented that both appeared on panels for an event whose purpose was to plan strategy “in the Light of Al-Aqsa Flood” — Hamas’s name for the October 7 massacre.

FBI Suspended Contact Over Hamas Evidence

In 2009, the FBI explained to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl that it had “suspended all formal contacts between CAIR and the FBI” due to evidence from the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial linking CAIR and its founders to Hamas. FBI Assistant Director Richard C. Powers wrote that “evidence was introduced that demonstrated a relationship among CAIR, individual CAIR founders...and the Palestine Committee,” which federal prosecutors showed was created by the Muslim Brotherhood to support Hamas politically and financially in the United States.

The FBI stated it could not resume relations “until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas.” That determination has never been made. CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad — the latter still serving as executive director participated in a secretly recorded 1993 Philadelphia meeting where Hamas members and supporters discussed ways to “derail” U.S.-led peace efforts following the Oslo Accords, according to FBI wiretaps introduced at trial. CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, the largest terrorism financing prosecution in U.S. history.

Two State Governors Issue Terrorist Designations

Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations in November 2025, citing the groups’ goals to “forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’” The designation authorizes heightened enforcement and prohibits both organizations from purchasing land in Texas.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a similar executive order the following month, noting that CAIR “was designated as an unindicted co-conspirator by the United States Government in the largest terrorism-financing case in American history.” The order directed Florida law enforcement to “undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities in Florida by the terrorist organizations designated.”

In Congress, Representative Randy Fine introduced H.R. 4097, the “Designate CAIR as a Terrorist Organization Act,” which directs the Secretary of State to conduct a formal review of whether CAIR meets federal criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization. The United Arab Emirates, a U.S. ally in the Middle East, designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014.

Risks to American Educational Institutions

The San Juan partnership represents a troubling pattern of CAIR embedding itself within American civic institutions despite evidence linking the organization to designated terrorist networks. The district’s leadership allowed an organization that the FBI suspended contact with and that two U.S. governors designated as a terrorist group to operate youth programs inside schools, participate in strategic planning, and potentially access student information without adequate transparency or parental notification.

By granting CAIR involvement with refugee students, many from countries affected by Islamic extremism, and including the organization in district-level planning committees, San Juan Unified prioritized funding over institutional safeguards. The lack of public disclosure about the partnership, combined with concerns about student privacy protections, raises fundamental questions about accountability in American public education and the due diligence required when accepting funds from controversial organizations.

On June 1, 2026, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) jointly announced the “Resilience and Protection Waqf,” a multi-million-dollar irrevocable endowment paired with a $1 million matching campaign to fund mosque security trainings, build a national “peer group” of mosque staff, and pursue federal and state security grants. T

he partnership formalizes operational coordination between the two largest Muslim Brotherhood-linked institutions in the United States: NAIT, which holds title to deeds for hundreds of American mosques, and CAIR, which will conduct the trainings. The launch comes just months after Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a parallel designation, and President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14362 initiating Foreign Terrorist Organization designations for Muslim Brotherhood chapters abroad. The structure of the new endowment — a waqf, legally irrevocable in perpetuity — appears designed to insulate the arrangement from any future enforcement action against either entity.

A Brotherhood Blueprint Names Both Organizations

The 1991 Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America, authored by Muslim Brotherhood operative Mohamed Akram and seized by the FBI in a Virginia raid, described the Brotherhood’s mission in the United States as “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house.”

The document identified NAIT as organization number eight on its roster of Brotherhood entities and “friends” in North America. CAIR did not yet exist when the memorandum was written — it was founded in 1994 by the Palestine Committee, which DeSantis’s executive order identifies as “an organization affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and created to support Hamas in the United States.”

Unindicted Co-Conspirators in the HLF Trial

In 2007, federal prosecutors filed a list of unindicted co-conspirators in United States v. Holy Land Foundation — the largest terror-finance prosecution in American history, which ended in 2008 with convictions for funneling more than $12 million to Hamas.

The filing identified NAIT and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) as members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, and CAIR as a member of “the US Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.” When CAIR and NAIT moved to strike their names, the district court refused, ruling that the government had “produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR [and others] with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and with Hamas.” The Fifth Circuit later found only a procedural error in how the list was filed; it did not disturb the underlying evidentiary finding.

The Real-Estate Choke Point

NAIT was established in 1973 in Indiana by the Muslim Students Association — Wikipedia notes it was founded “by some of the same Muslim Brotherhood members who started the MSA.” The trust holds title to more than 300 Islamic centers across 42 states, an arrangement that represents roughly 27 percent of all American mosques by CAIR’s own historical estimate.

Senate testimony cited by Global Muslim Brotherhood Watch places NAIT’s deed share at between 50 and 79 percent. The Philanthropy Roundtable documents that “some of the founders of the trust were members of the Muslim Brotherhood” and that NAIT has operated with “extensive funding from Saudi Arabia.” Former FBI special agent Robert Stauffer, who investigated Brotherhood finances in the 1980s, described NAIT as serving “as a financial holding company for Muslim Brotherhood-related groups,” with wire transfers received from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, and other states.

What the Partnership Actually Does

Under the new waqf, CAIR will update its “Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety manual,” conduct regional security seminars for mosque and Islamic school staff, and build “a continuous peer group” receiving “real-time security alerts” across NAIT’s mosque network. The endowment also commits to helping institutions apply for and obtain federal, state, and local government grants.

In effect, the arrangement gives a state-designated terrorist organization an operational training footprint, a personnel directory, and a real-time communications channel inside the largest network of mosque properties in America — while routing taxpayer-funded security grants through that same infrastructure.

A Designation Cascade

The federal posture shifted dramatically in late 2025. Trump’s Executive Order 14362 directed the State and Treasury Departments to designate Brotherhood chapters as Foreign Terrorist Organizations; Treasury subsequently sanctioned the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Lebanese branches.

Abbott’s November 18 proclamation prohibited the Brotherhood and CAIR from acquiring real property in Texas. DeSantis’s December 8 order directed Florida agencies to deny contracts, funds, or benefits to either group. In Washington, Representative Randy Fine has introduced H.R. 4097, the “Designate CAIR as a Terrorist Organization Act.”

The Significance

The waqf structure is not incidental. A waqf is, by Islamic legal definition, perpetual and irrevocable — the principal cannot be liquidated, and the arrangement is meant to outlive its founders. Launched within months of three separate terrorist designations targeting its co-sponsors, the Resilience and Protection Waqf institutionalizes a coordination channel that would be difficult to dismantle even if CAIR were ultimately designated at the federal level.

For policymakers focused on the Brotherhood’s American infrastructure, the question is no longer whether NAIT and CAIR coordinate. It is whether the partnership they just announced — in writing, on the record — falls within the conduct the federal government, Texas, and Florida have already moved to restrict.