Gavin Newsom is pulling his typical tricks again.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the California governor has funded anti-Semitic mosques as well as Islamic advocacy groups with claimed ties to Hamas.
In January 2022, Newsom’s office released $47.5 million to provide “physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk for violent attacks and hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs or mission.”
According to the Free Beacon, $40 million of such money has gone to “mosques whose leaders cheer the annihilation of Jews and Israel.”
Despite California’s $32 billion budget gap, Newsom said last month that he would boost financing for the program following the October 7 Hamas terrorist strikes on Israel.
The Sajjadia Islamic Society, where a preacher last month said that Allah sent “the rockets from Hamas or Hezbollah” to strike Israel and hailed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was among the receivers of the donations, according to the Free Beacon.
At another recipient mosque, the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco, a preacher claimed this month that it is a “lie” that Hamas’ attack on Israel was “unprovoked.”
“If I hear that term again, I’ll go crazy,” the preacher said. “Unprovoked in what dictionary?”
At another, the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley, a preacher expressed support for “the Palestinian brothers and sisters that are fighting” Israel.
“Shame on you if you label them terrorists,” he said. He also denied that Hamas murdered Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, saying, “If you’re going to make a claim that Muslims killed innocent civilians, you better be able to prove it.”
At the Islamic Center of San Diego, which the Free Beacon noted was the home mosque of two 9/11 hijackers, an imam said “resistance [against Israel] is justified.”
“We cannot accuse somebody who is fighting for his life to be a terrorist. The terrorist is the one who started the occupation, not the one who is defending himself,” he said in an Oct. 20 sermon.
Masjed of Riverside, which is linked with the Islamic Center of Riverside, received a grant of $200,000 from the Islamic Center of Riverside. (Among those attending the mosque service was Syed Rizwan Farook, the perpetrator of the 2015 San Bernardino terror incident that killed 14 people.)
Mahmoud Harmoush, the imam of the Islamic Center of Riverside, is well-known for his aggressive anti-Semitic remarks.
“Oh, Allah, liberate the Al Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and all the Muslim lands from the unjust tyrants and the occupiers,” he said in a 2017 sermon, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Oh, Allah, destroy them; they are no match for you. Oh, Allah, disperse them and rend them asunder. Turn them into booty in the hands of the Muslims.”
“Wake up; it is time to be a Muslim,” he urged his listeners. “Prayer is not the only thing.”
At the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, which also received a $200,000 grant, imam Hamdy Sadek prayed last year, “Oh Allah, purify the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the malevolence of the Jews.”
The Free Beacon reported that grants have also been awarded to “several Islamic advocacy groups with alleged links to Hamas.”
Through Newsom’s funding program, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which the federal government has named a “co-conspirator of Hamas,” earned $135,330.
Newsom, who is frequently mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, pledges to support Israel.
He visited Israel last month in the aftermath of the Hamas assault to meet with survivors and government officials, infuriating many of his anti-Israel supporters.
According to Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for California’s Office of Emergency Services, the state is examining whether any of the mosques in question violated the terms of their subsidies.
“If it is determined they have, their funding will be immediately revoked,” he said. “As a matter of principle, the State of California rejects hate speech and discrimination in all of its forms. Such speech is a menace to democratic values, social stability and peace.”
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