A Confession

I’m sure you have all noticed how many articles I have published lately about Muslims and the proposed “Ground Zero” mosque. The reason is that the attempt to build this mosque there – plus the clearly different treatment given to Muslims over Christians by the liberal media and by the Obama administration have had a major effect on my thinking.

Like many of you I was greatly shocked and outraged that 19 Muslims would create such mayhem and murder on 9/11, but for years I accepted and agreed with President Bush’s attempts to shield American Muslims from criticism and anger. After all, I also have two Muslim friends who are gentle people and loyal Americans, but all these years of Muslim atrocities, disgusting displays of whining by American Muslim spokesmen and now the push to shove our noses into the sacred ground of “Ground Zero” have really affected me and my attitude. It has taken a toll. They can all go to Hell.

Backer of NYC mosque gave to Hamas-linked charity

By DAVID B. CARUSO September 3, 2010 (Excerpt)

NEW YORK (AP) – “One of the investors in a proposed Islamic center near ground zero is a Long Island medical clinic owner whose expressions of sympathy for Palestinians included a donation to a charity later shut down for links to Hamas.

The developer leading the project confirmed Friday that Hisham Elzanaty, 51, is among the members of a real estate partnership that paid $4.8 million last year for the vacant clothing store that is to be torn down and replaced by a cultural center and mosque.

The partnership's general manager, Sharif El-Gamal, confirmed Elzanaty's role in response to a media report about his reputed involvement.

"All of these investors are committed, as I am, not to receive funding from any organization that supports terrorism or is hostile to America," El-Gamal said in a statement.

Reached by telephone, Elzanaty declined to speak immediately with The Associated Press on Friday, but said he may have something to say later.

El-Gamal has so-far declined to reveal the names of his other financial backers, but has said the eight-member group is diverse and includes Jews and Christians, Polish-Americans, Italian-Americans, and others. El-Gamal, who was born in Brooklyn, and Elzanaty are the only Muslims.

Those involved with the Islamic Center proposal have come under intense scrutiny from groups opposed to the project, and critics point to a donation Elzanaty made to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development a decade ago as evidence that its backers secretly harbor extremist views.

Tax records show that Elzanaty gave $6,050 to the foundation in 1999. At the time, it was the largest Islamic charity in the U.S. It raised millions of dollars from Americans in the 1990s, telling donors the money would fund schools, orphanages and social welfare programs.

Two years after Elzanaty made the donation, the U.S. government froze the foundation's assets and accused it of acting as a fundraiser for Hamas, which was labeled a terrorist organization by President Clinton in 1995.

The foundation and some of its leaders were indicted in 2004 on charges of supporting Hamas. Five were ultimately convicted.

A New York television station, Fox affiliate WNYW, was the first to report Elzanaty's investment in the Islamic center project and his donation to the Holy Land Foundation. The tax filing listing the donation was provided to The Associated Press by The Investigative Project on Terrorism, a nonprofit group headed by Steven Emerson.” AP