RUTHFULLY YOURS

​This weekend, the so-called charitable arm of the Islamic Circle of North America, ICNA Relief, a group that has been linked to the financing of Hamas, will be sponsoring an event in Texas featuring Hamas operative Monzer Taleb. The title of the event is ‘Changing COMMUNITIES with COMPASSION,’ but there can never be compassion with anything concerning Hamas, only hate, violence and bloodshed.

Monzer Mostafa Taleb (Talib) loves to sing about the Palestinian cause. He has been doing so for years. This includes singing about Hamas, specifically his involvement with Hamas.

During the US government’s prosecution of the Hamas charity Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the trials of which took place in 2007 and 2008, a video was submitted into evidence showing Taleb participating at an event sponsored by the Islamic Association for Palestine as the lead vocalist of a singing troupe called Al-Sakhra. On the video, Taleb sings, “O Jew, O coward… I am from Hamas and have never cheered for anyone else besides her… And she is the one which marches with the light of Muhammad… towards Jihad… And Hamas refuses peace with its enemies, and her slogan is to forever fight the attacker.”

The Islamic Association for Palestine or IAP was the American propaganda wing of Hamas and was founded in 1981 by future Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and future Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Sami al-Arian. Both IAP and HLF were member organizations of Marzook’s Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood US umbrella group, the Palestine Committee. [Taleb has also spoken in front of and cavorted with another Palestine Committee member organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).]

In addition to his singing gig, Taleb ran the multimedia wing of the InfoCom Corporation, a now-defunct web hosting service company established by HLF co-founder Ghassan Elashi and his four brothers. Following trials taking place in 2004 and 2005, InfoCom and the Elashi brothers were convicted of money laundering and fundraising on behalf of Hamas.

Over a decade later, Taleb is still promoting Hamas and associating himself with Hamas-related groups and activists.

In August 2014, Taleb posted a graphic on his Facebook page referring to a member of Hamas as a “superhero.” The graphic depicts four characters, three of which are famous superheroes; the fourth is a masked Hamas militant with the name, GAZAMAN. The caption under the figures reads, “A SUPERHERO ALWAYS WEARS A MASK.”

In 2015, Taleb posted a video showcasing five Palestinian flags, three of which are from groups – Hamas, PIJ and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – named on the US State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

In November 2017, Taleb sang at and helped lead the 10th Annual Convention of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the most recent incarnation of HLF and IAP. At the event, Taleb is seen on video sitting next to AMP Conference Chairman Salah Sarsour and AMP Registered Agent Abdelbaset Hamayel. According to a November 2001 FBI report, Sarsour has been involved with Hamas and has been a fundraiser for HLF. Abdel Hamayel is the former Executive Director and Secretary General of IAP.

In December 2017, Taleb attended the Dallas, Texas ‘Rally for Jerusalem, Capital of Palestine’ event, where he filmed himself and others stepping and/or stomping on an Israeli flag. He, as well, posted a video on his Facebook page of Dallas imam Omar Suleiman, who is falsely touted as a moderate, speaking at the rally and calling for Israel’s destruction, stating, “Inshallah, God willing, we will live to see the liberation of Palestine in our time.”

On April 7, 2018, Taleb will be one of two keynote speakers at an event sponsored by ICNA Relief, the so-called charitable arm of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). The other keynote speaker will be Abdul Nasir Jangda, a director at the Arlington, Texas Qalam Institute. ICNA and ICNA Relief both have their own documented associations with Hamas.

In August 2006, ICNA Relief was the top donor and partner to Pakistani charity Al Khidmat Foundation (AKF), at the same time AKF took a delegation to Damascus, Syria to hand deliver $100,000 to then-global Hamas leader Khaled Mashal at Mashal’s residence. Mashal thanked the group and assured the delegation that Hamas would continue to wage “jihad” (war) on the “Zionist yoke” (Israel). ICNA Relief continues to work directly with AKF overseas.

In July 2014, ICNA co-sponsored a pro-Hamas rally held outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Miami. The rally goers repeatedly shouted, “We are Hamas,” “Let’s go Hamas,” and “Hamas kicked your ass.” After the rally, the event’s organizer Sofian Zakkout wrote, above photos from the event, “Thank God, every day we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel!”

Having Taleb speak in front of ICNA seems like a good match, and the two have been matched up a number of times before. However, considering Hamas is banned in the United States, should not Taleb and ICNA be banned as well?

Instead, they have been allowed to fundraise under the guise of “charity” and spread their terror and bigotry undeterred, at America and Israel’s expense.

Taleb, ICNA and their associates present a clear and present danger to national security and must be investigated by federal agencies charged with combating terrorism and incitement. Like the Elashi’s InfoCom enterprise, their operations should be shut down and their operatives prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

It is time that their terror and bigotry come to an end.

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