RUTHFULLY YOURS

From June 14th to the 16th, the Florida Young Democrats (FYD) held its 2019 convention, in Orlando, Florida. Participating at this year’s event was the Florida Democratic Party’s resident anti-Semite, Rasha Mubarak. Not only was Mubarak given the position of National Committeewoman, in FYD’s newly elected Board, but she also received the award for ‘Florida Young Democrat of the Year.’ Bestowing these honors upon Mubarak shows that the Florida Democratic Party is more than willing to overlook Mubarak’s bigotry and condone it.

This past April, FYD announced that Mubarak had joined its Board of Directors as the FYD Central Florida Regional Director. The announcement, as well, made mention of Mubarak’s involvement as (current) President of the Orlando chapter of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) and Central Florida Regional Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

As displayed on an earlier version of the PCRF website, PCRF has “worked with” a number of organizations associated with international terrorism. They include the Holy Land Foundation (HRF) and the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), US-based charities shut down in December 2001, and the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), an al-Qaeda-linked charity which now goes by the name International Organization for Relief, Welfare & Development (IORWD). The former PCRF spokesperson, Rosemary Davis a.k.a. Shadya Hantouli, owned a website, palestine4ever.net, that featured an ornate gallery honoring Palestinian suicide bombers.

CAIR was established, in June 1994, as part of an umbrella group headed by then-global leader of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook. CAIR has been cited by the US government for its involvement in the financing of Hamas. CAIR-Florida, itself, has been linked with support for Hamas. In July 2014, CAIR-Florida was the co-sponsor of a pro-Hamas rally held in Downtown Miami. After the rally, the event organizer, Sofian Zakkout, wrote, “Thank God, every day we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel!” In August 2014, CAIR-Florida Executive Director Hassan Shibly tweeted, “Israel and its supporters are enemies of God.”

Mubarak’s connection to such groups, including another entity linked to terror, Islamic Relief, should have invalidated any participation in Democratic politics. Yet, not only did the Democratic Party embrace Mubarak, but it proudly broadcasted her involvement in the groups, as if this were something to be applauded.

Mubarak’s engagement with terror-linked groups is a symptom of a larger problem, and that is her rabid animosity towards the Jewish homeland, Israel. It is one thing to level criticism towards Israel, but Mubarak seeks to destroy her.

This past May, when Hamas launched more than 600 rockets into Israel, leading to the deaths of four civilians, Mubarak tweeted against anyone who would dare defend Israeli retaliation. In November 2012, she tweeted, “#LiesImTiredOfHearing Israel has the right to defend herself.” At the time, Israel had launched a war against Hamas, also in retaliation for Hamas massive rocket fire. At the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict, Mubarak retweeted photos of a jubilant Hamas, who had, bizarrely, just declared victory. One of her posts read, “Thousands of people celebrating in the streets of Gaza for the victory. Alhamdulillah. #VictoryForGaza.”

It seems that the Democratic Party has embraced this propaganda as well. In December 2017, the Young Democrats of Orange County (YDOC), which Mubarak was President of at the time, along with the Seminole County Young Democrats and CAIR, co-sponsored and lent their logos to the Mubarak-organized ‘HANDS OFF JERUSALEM RALLY FOR PALESTINE.’ A video from the rally depicts Mubarak’s uncle, Orlando real estate investor Said Lutfi, barking horrifically anti-Semitic comments, including referring to Jews as “the crappiest piece of s**t on this planet,” “baby killers” and “Jesus killers.”

In September 2018, Mubarak did a live streamed video with then-FYD President Jake Sanders to discuss BDS, the bigoted movement to boycott Israel. In the video, Sanders, who claims to have a “Jewish heritage,” seemed clueless of the fact that he was being used by Mubarak, in order to legitimize BDS. An uncomfortable moment occurred, when Sanders declared both he and Mubarak “believe in a two-state solution”; she quickly corrected him saying she does not. Sanders let it go, just as he did, earlier in the video, when Mubarak crassly labeled then-soon-to-be Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a “racist” for speaking out against BDS and CAIR.

Last month, FYD held its 2019 convention in Orlando, during which a new Board was named. Mubarak was given the position of National Committeewoman. She also received the award for ‘Florida Young Democrat of the Year.’ In accepting her award, Mubarak wrote on Facebook, “After this weekend, I have faith in FYDs that we can run and elect the RIGHT people to run our great State.”

Question: Are those “RIGHT people” only the crude fringe who share her bigoted views or do they represent the true face of the Democratic Party?

While the National Democratic Party has circled around and embraced its two radical Muslim anti-Semitic Congresswomen, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the Florida Democratic Party has done the same with its ‘Democrat of the Year’ Rasha Mubarak. And now, she too has been provided a national platform to spread her brand of anti-Jewish filth, as National Committeewoman.

The Democratic Party likes to pretend that it is a party against intolerance and hatred, but instead, it is promoting it. The Democratic Party must be condemned – on both the local and national level – for supporting and spreading such extremism and bigotry.

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