RUTHFULLY YOURS

As a supporter of both the terrorist organization Hamas and white supremacist icon David Duke, Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout lives on the fringe of American society. To offset the negative fallout that could come as a result of this, as well as other radical activities carried out by Zakkout, he has attempted – and successfully so – to associate himself with institutions related to law enforcement and homeland security. These institutions must be made aware of Zakkout’s extremist intentions and must be reminded that law enforcement and terror do not mix.

Sofian Zakkout is the Director of the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA), a Miami-based radical Islamic group that is linked to two dozen mosques throughout South Florida. During the beginning stages of AMANA, Zakkout was the Vice President of the now-defunct Health Resource Center for Palestine (HRCP), a Hamas-related charity whose Secretary/Treasurer, Syed Khawer Ahmad, was a web developer for Hamas in Gaza.

According to the AMANA website, Zakkout is a board member of the Miami-Dade County Citizen Corps Council. Citizen Corps was created following the September 11 attacks to provide citizens with opportunities to help in America’s response to terror, crime and disasters. Being involved with Citizen Corps is the perfect counter to Zakkout’s true identity and Islamist agenda.

On September 26th, Zakkout posted a large photo of himself on social media wearing a Citizen Corps t-shirt. As well, within the banner on top of the AMANA website, there is contained the logo for one of Citizen Corps’ main national programs, the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). There is also an old AMANA website photo from November 2005 showing Zakkout in CERT garb.

The same day Zakkout posted the photo of himself in the Citizen Corps shirt, he posted a video of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh giving a fiery speech in front of a prayer mass in the Khan Yunis neighborhood of Southern Gaza.

On October 14th, Zakkout posted a photo of himself wearing a National Guard cap. The AMANA banner also has a National Guard logo on it. The National Guard is a reserve military force under the auspices of the US Department of Defense. In April 2001, the National Guard armory located in Hollywood, Florida became a bombing target of convicted al-Qaeda operative Imran Mandhai, who was deported from the US this past May and who Zakkout knew personally.

The photo of Zakkout with the National Guard cap was taken during a July 2014 pro-Hamas rally Zakkout had organized in Miami. A video taken of the event shows Zakkout in his cap grinning, as the crowd shouts repeatedly, “We are Hamas.” Following the rally, Zakkout wrote in Arabic, “Thank God, every day we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel!”

On October 16th, two days after posting his pic with the National Guard cap, Zakkout posted a Palestinian terrorist propaganda video, which contained images of Hamas and Popular Resistance Committees militants aiming and launching rockets.

Between then and today, Zakkout has posted a long list of further outrageously bigoted and violent material. This includes:

1) a series of photos from an event in South Africa welcoming Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal and Mousa Abu Marzook; 2) a video and a banner (showcasing Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin) honoring those who committed the recent knifing attacks against Israelis; 3) a statement written by Zakkout in Arabic referring to Israeli Jews as “descendants of apes and pigs;” and 4) an anti-Semitic video narrated by white supremacist David Duke about how US foreign policy has been taken over by Jews, above which Zakkout wrote, “David Duke, a man to believe in!”

On November 2nd, Zakkout posted an additional anti-Semitic video, entitled ‘The Other Israel,’ which uses lies and extreme rhetoric to condemn Israel, Judaism and the overall Jewish community. Some quotes from it include: “Jewish power continues to increase ominously in the United States…;” “Modern Israel is the first stage in Satan’s plan to take this world from Christ and give it to anti-Christ;” and “What we are concerned about is the general trend toward Jewish domination of our society…”

Zakkout is doing all this, at the same time that he sits on the boards of Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade County and Citizens’ Crime Watch of Miami-Dade County. And as stated, his group AMANA claims that he is, as well, on the board of the Miami-Dade County Citizen Corps Council. Additionally, in 2007, AMANA’s subsidiary American Muslims for Emergency and Relief (AMER) received a $69,885 US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant, ironically and comically because DHS determined AMER to be “at high-risk of a potential terrorist attack.”

Sofian Zakkout’s involvement with radical Muslim groups and his affinity for terrorist outfits and racist icons clearly makes him a potential threat to society. Incredibly, his association with anti-crime and anti-terror organizations has led to his activities being overlooked and ignored for a number of years. It is imperative that concerned citizens voice their opposition to Zakkout’s involvement with these civic and national organizations and urge officials to cut all ties with him immediately, due to the security risks he poses to the community as well as the country.

To contact the Miami-Dade County Citizen Corps Council, call Troy Johnson at 305-468-5416 or send an email to cert@miamidade.gov. To contact Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade, call Richard Masten at 305-471-6160 or send an email to rmasten@crimestoppersmiami.com. To contact Citizens’ Crime Watch of Miami-Dade, call Carmen Caldwell at 305-470-1670 or send an email to carmen@citizenscrimewatch.org. To contact the Florida National Guard, call the National Guard Public Affairs Office at 904-823-0166 or send an email to fl.ng.pao@mail.mil.

Please be respectful in any and all communications with these individuals and groups.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.