RUTHFULLY YOURS

Nezar Hamze has two paying jobs. In one, he is a Deputy Sheriff at the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), under oath to watch over, protect and promote the best interests of the community. In the other, he is the Regional Operations Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Florida chapter of CAIR, an Islamist group with numerous ties to international terrorism. It is disturbing and dangerous that someone from CAIR is involved with law enforcement. It is more disturbing that Hamze has his job at CAIR with the blessings of the Sheriff’s office.

In June 2014, Hamze applied for the position of Certified Reserve Deputy with the BSO. He had applied for the same position in March 2012 but was rejected. At the time of his 2012 application, Hamze was serving as the Executive Director of CAIR-Florida. His 2014 application states (in type) that he, at the time, had the title of Regional Operations Director of CAIR-Florida and has the word “current” penciled next to it.

The 2014 application states that the Broward Sheriff, Scott Israel, recommended Hamze for the job. The application was approved, and soon after, Hamze was sworn in.

In order to keep his position with CAIR, at the same time as serve the BSO, Hamze had to fill out a form asking the BSO if he could do so. On his ‘Broward Sheriff’s Office Off-Duty Employment Form,’ dated February 2015, it states, “I, Nezar Hamze… request that I be granted permission to accept off-duty employment for the year 2015.”

Hamze stated for his job description, “As Coordinator for CAIR Florida I will be responsible for assisting in community events and educational lectures. My job duties include: public speaking, fundraising, media relations, lectures, employment training, diversity and culture training. The nature of this job does not require any regular office hours and I am able to work on my days off and at my leisure.”

Along with Hamze, both the Unit Supervisor and the Division Commander signed the form.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand the conflict of interest with respect to Hamze’s two jobs. There is not even an issue of ‘dual loyalty’ in this case, since it is obvious that Hamze is exploiting his position in law enforcement solely to further his Islamist agenda as a CAIR official. Hamze’s hiring is no doubt a coup for CAIR, but it is a ‘coup de grace’ for counter terrorism efforts within the BSO and beyond, as it could result in grave harm done to criminal and/or terrorist investigations.

CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations was established, in June 1994, as one of four groups under the leadership of then-global head of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook, who had been residing in the US for decades. Following the White House’s January 1995 designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization, Marzook was arrested and placed in prison. Two years later, in May 1997, he was deported to Jordan. Marzook is currently residing in Egypt, as the number two leader in Hamas.

Since CAIR’s founding, a number of representatives for the group have been imprisoned in and/or deported from the U.S. for various reasons related to terrorist activity. CAIR itself was named a co-conspirator by the US government for two federal trials dealing with the financing of Hamas. And the hierarchy of CAIR is still intact, as the national office’s founding Executive Director, Nihad Awad, and founding Communications Director, Ibrahim Hooper, still hold the same positions.

In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government officially named CAIR a terrorist organization.

When Hamze applied for the BSO in 2014, he e-mailed the Backgrounds division of the Sheriff’s Office, giving permission for them to contact CAIR-Florida. He stated, “I report to the Board of Directors and you can contact them for any information you need,” and he proceeded to give the numbers for two individuals who sit on CAIR-Florida’s Board, Board Member Rashid Abbara (a.k.a. Muhammad Abbara) and the Chairman of the Board Zaid Abdur-Rahman.

Abdur-Rahman, who is a black belt in karate, has called the arrest and conviction of terrorist Syed Fahad Hashmi an “atrocity” that future Presidents and politicians should “apologize” for. In June 2010, Hashmi, a former student at Brooklyn College in New York, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after pleading guilty to providing material support to al-Qaeda.

In July 2014, Abdur-Rahman posted a video to his Facebook page denouncing Israel for conducting air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza. The individual posing as a reporter on the video, states, “[W]hen the IDF talks about hitting quote Hamas targets, remember that Hamas is the democratically elected leadership of Gaza, which could mean any government building or social services.”

In July 2014, a BSO ‘Employment Verification’ form for Hamze was filled out by CAIR-Florida’s Community and Government Relations Director Ghazala Salam.

This past July, Salam was featured on a video interview for al-Hikmat, the media arm of the radical Darul Uloom mosque located in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Darul Uloom has been associated with a number of al-Qaeda terrorists, including now-deceased al-Qaeda Global Operations Chief Adnan el-Shukrijumah, “Dirty Bomber” Jose Padilla, and possibly one of the 9/11 hijackers. Interviewing Salam for the video was the imam of the mosque, Maulana Shafayat Mohamed. Shafayat Mohamed was thrown off a number of boards in Broward County for his outspokenness against homosexuals. In February 2005, Darul Uloom published an article by him claiming that homosexual sex caused the 2004 Indonesian tsunami.

In viewing Nezar Hamze’s applications for employment with the Broward Sheriff’s Office – both his 2012 and 2014 applications – CAIR’s fingerprints are all over them. And for someone like Hamze that makes sense, because CAIR is Hamze’s real life and loyalty.

On Hamze’s BSO ‘Off-Duty Employment Form’ asking to keep his job at CAIR, the form reads, “I further understand that the Sheriff reserves the right to approve, deny, suspend, and or revoke this request at any time for any reason.”

Given Hamze’s role in CAIR, Hamze should have never been hired for any position within the Broward Sheriff’s Office, let alone a position where he gets to walk around with a badge and a gun. No matter how one looks at it, Hamze’s hire is a risk to national security.

Yet what is entirely unfathomable is the fact that the BSO signed off on allowing Hamze to keep his job with CAIR, while serving in his capacity as Deputy Sheriff. If Hamze’s hire reflects the BSO’s approach to combatting terrorism and engaging the Muslim community, they have effectively sabotaged themselves.

All of this took place under the watch of Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, and for that Israel should resign his office immediately. Hamze should be fired, and Israel should go with him.

If you wish to contact Sheriff Israel to discuss this matter, you can do so by sending an e-mail to: ask_the_sheriff@sheriff.org, or you can call the Broward Sheriff’s Office, at 954-764-4357. Please be respectful in any and all communications with this office.

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