Report: U.S. taxpayers funding radical Islamist organizations

Organizations accuse the Department of Education of channeling tens of millions of taxpayer dollars toward virulent antisemitic and anti-American groups promoting terror at home and abroad.

By World Israel News Staff

A report by the Americans Against Antisemitism organization, founded in 2019 by former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, reveals that the U.S. government – mainly the New York Department of Education – has been handing out millions of taxpayers’ dollars to groups linked to radical Islamists.

The report lists at least seven terror-linked organizations that have collected a total of about $23 million from state coffers since 2013.

According to Americans Against Antisemitism, “Some organizations that received millions in taxpayer dollars have problematic associations and agendas that require heightened scrutiny to ensure New Yorkers aren’t funding anti-American and anti-Jewish hatred in our own backyard.”

Hikind called on Governor Hochul to “immediately look into this alarming report, conduct a thorough investigation into its allegations, and cut funding where appropriate.”

“With 1.1 million Jewish residents of New York City and 3 million statewide, it’s unconscionable that our great state is potentially funding the seeding of hateful attitudes at a time of skyrocketing anti-Jewish hate crimes. We cannot and will not allow for antisemitism to be condemned with one hand while funding it with the other,” he said.

According to Focus on Western Islamism, one of the institutions funded by the city was in fact banned in the United Arab Emirates for espousing terror.

“New York taxpayers have given the Muslim American Society (MAS) of Upper New York $2.5 million since January 2013. In 2004, federal prosecutors said MAS’s national organization ‘was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.’ The UAE designated MAS as a terror organization in 2014,” the report says.

“Other funding recipients include a number of Islamist school including Al Madrasa Al Islamiya, a religious school in Brooklyn, which has received over $1.6 million,” it continues. The school’s curriculum includes a book that extolls the killing and enslaving of Islam’s enemies.

Furthermore, “the state has also given more than $800,000 to Al-Mamoor School in Fresh Meadows, which promotes the teachings of Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, who has defended the Taliban and called for stoning adulterers and killing homosexuals…

“Al-Ihsan Academy in Queens is another recipient of public funds, receiving more than $5.6 million since 2013. Last October, the school hosted a lecture by Deobandi Islamist Shaikh Shafayat Mohamed. Mohamed currently directs the Darul Uloom Islamic Institute in Florida and has described most Jews and Christians as ‘perverted transgressors’ and called Jews ‘apes and swine.'”

The report states that the Darul Uloom center has produced Dirty Bomber Jose Padilla, a student of Shafayat Mohamed, as well as other renowned terrorists including al-Qaeda Global Operations Chief Adnan el-Shukrijumah. The center’s Arabic teacher, Imran Mandhai, along with mosque members Hakki Aksoy and Shueyb Mossa Jokhan, planned to blow up different South Florida institutions, including local power stations, Jewish businesses, and a National Guard weapons depot.

The article describes how the state has granted $10.3 million to the Al-Madinah School in Brooklyn, which maintains close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated MAS and Muslims Giving Back (MGB), an organization cofounded by Asad Dandia. Dandia has been investigated by New York police for statements supporting violent jihad, including praise of former al-Qaeda commander Anwar al-Awlaki.

Another such group receiving state funding has been suspected as acting as a front for the Iranian regime.

The report quotes New York Councilwoman Inna Vernikov as saying that “there should not be a single dollar spent by American cities or states on organizations that brainwash children and the public with anti-American propaganda that promotes terrorism and incites violence.

“Funding organizations with terror ties may be seen as providing material support to terrorists, and that should not be tolerated by anyone, especially New York’s DOE, where a majority of the state funding comes from,” she stated.

Americans Against Antisemitism is urging NY Governor Kathy Hochul and the comptroller’s office to investigate the allegations immediately and cut funding to supporters of terror.