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Recent Appearances...

Government Corruption

Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez spent years helping developer and imam behind controversial ground zero mosque

2023-09-24

[NY Post] Sen. Robert Menendez spent years helping the Egyptian-American imam behind the controversial Ground Zero Mosque — a plan the embattled Democrat later championed.

Menendez, 69, was indicted on federal bribery charges Friday, along with his wife, for schemes that allegedly benefited the government of Egypt and three New Jersey businessmen.

Starting in 1989, when the senator was the mayor of Union City, NJ, Menendez reportedly secured more than $2 million in public cash and loans for Egyptian-American imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

The funding was meant to renovate three low-income apartment buildings Rauf owned there, according to reports — buildings that, tenants complained, remained dilapidated for years after the money was received.

At the same time, Rauf was in business with developer Fred Daibes — the Menendez political benefactor who allegedly bribed him with gold bars and cash, and who was named as a Menendez co-defendant Friday.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say they found gold bars from Daibes in the home Menendez shares with his wife Nadine.

Rauf is not named in the federal indictment against Menendez and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

In 2010, when controversy erupted over Rauf’s plans to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, Menendez cheered the proposed 13-story structure.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT BOB MENENDEZ'S INDICTMENT
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is facing federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long scheme.

Menendez allegedly accepted bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for helping three businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, and the country of Egypt, according to officials.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were charged with taking hundreds of thousands in bribes, according to a Manhattan federal indictment.

When the feds raided Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022, they found a 2019 Mercedes C-Class, at least 13 gold bars, and $566,000 in cash "stuffed in envelopes." Another $70,000 in cash was found in Nadine’s safe deposit box.

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Olde Tyme Religion

Ground Zero Mosque Officially Defeated!

2015-09-27

We did it! We the people. President Obama pushed for it, then-Mayor of NYC Michael Bloomberg supported it, the media actively campaigned for it -- the elites in their increasingly fragile ivory towers stumped for the mosque.

But the people stood up and fought it and won.

Hey Obama, YES. WE. CAN.

Photo above: One of our rallies against the Ground Zero mega-mosque. Never give up. Never give in. Never surrender. Here's the Ground Zero mosque story. Watch this documentary, it tells the whole story. You can buy the DVD of this documentary here.

'Ground Zero mosque' officially scrapped 'Market-maker' skyscraper planned for controversial site The infamous "Ground Zero mosque" debate is officially over. A "market maker" 70-story skyscraper will soon break ground at lower Manhattan's 45 Park Place, ending any possibility of resurrecting plans for the religious building.Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's proposal four years ago to create a 15-story Islamic cultural center near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks sparked a national uproar. Developer Sharif El-Gamal of Soho Properties, who was originally on board with the plan, rendered the whole debate moot by opting to build a 667-foot condominium tower for the property instead, Crain's New York Business reported Friday.

El-Gamal told Crain's his skyscraper will include 5 full-floor units of 3,200 to 3,700 square feet, and average prices higher than $3,000 a square foot.

"Every day that we've been waiting, the market has been getting stronger and showing incredible signs of resilience," Mr. El-Gamal said, the magazine reported. "The appreciation and absorption this market is showing is unprecedented."

El-Gamal put aside plans for the "Ground Zero Mosque" in 2011 after he had trouble finding financial backers, but until now was unsure what would take its place. Public records show he bought the lot in 2009 for $4.85 million, the magazine reported.

The developer expects to break ground on the project -- just two blocks from where the former World Trade Center towers stood -- in early 2016, Crain's reported.

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Home Front: WoT

Developer Scales Back Plans for Muslim Center Near Ground Zero

2014-05-04

[NYT] The developer whose proposal to build a Moslem community center and mosque near the World Trade Center failed amid a national controversy three years ago said Tuesday that he now plans to construct a museum devoted to Islam in the same location.

Sharif El-Gamal, the developer, said through a front man that instead of a $100 million, 15-story community center and prayer space, he now planned a smaller, three-story museum "dedicated to exploring the faith of Islam and its arts and culture." The building would also include a sanctuary for prayer services and community programs.

Daisy Khan, who along with her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, was originally a partner with Mr. El-Gamal in the Park51 Community Center project, said that they had not been contacted or involved with these latest plans. "I am just as surprised as anyone else," Ms. Khan said.

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Home Front: WoT

Ground Zero Mosque Fraudsters Settle With Each Other

2013-06-13

The donor, Robert Leslie Deak, had accused the former leader, Feisal Abdul Rauf, of diverting millions of dollars in charitable donations meant for the Cordoba Initiative, founded by the imam, as well as the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which is led by the imams wife, Daisy Khan to buy real estate, luxury vacations and a fancy car. It also accused Mr. Abdul Rauf of failing to report approximately $3 million in donations from the Malaysian government.

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Home Front: Culture Wars

Former Ground Zero Iman in WaPo

2011-04-04

The piece is called "Five Myths about Muslims in America"

Iman (and slumlord) Feisal Abdul Rauf says that Muslims in America are nice, law abiding, Sharia hating, loyal Americans who pay lots of taxes and never kill fluffy bunnies.

Fortunately, because of a recent change in format and the presence of alternate sources of opinion (including opinion that pretends to be fact), very few people read the 'five myths' piece in the WaPo (or the Sunday opinion pieces).

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Home Front: Politix

Rep. King Gets Security Upgrade Because of ~~Moderate~~ Muslim Threats

2011-03-08

"American Muslims are part of the American family and are Americans, too!" Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said.
Prove it.

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Home Front: WoT

2nd imam is out at Islamic center near WTC site

2011-02-06

[Arab News] A Mohammedan scholar recently named as the new senior imam at the Islamic center being built near the World Trade Center has parted ways with the project. Shaykh Abdallah Adhami said Friday in a joint statement with the center's developer that he will no longer serve as a religious adviser to the center.

"It is important for me now to devote my time to the completion of my book, which assists English readers in understanding and facilitating the language of the Qur'an. I wish the project leaders well," Adhami said.

The 44-year-old had been announced as the new imam at the center just weeks ago, on Jan. 14, after its co-founder, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, was given a reduced role in the project.

Rauf had been the public face of the center but hadn't always seen eye to eye with its developer, Sharif El-Gamal.

Rauf also spent much of his time traveling, often to far corners of the globe, and El-Gamal said he preferred to have someone leading religious programming at the center who could spend more time on building a local congregation.

Adhami was to have been one of several New York City imams fulfilling that role, but shortly after his appointment, news reports questioned his views on homosexuality. In one recorded lecture, he said he believed that homosexuality was linked to childhood abuse.

That prompted El-Gamal to issue a statement last month in which he said that Adhami would not be a leader of the center, called Park51, but just one of a number of religious leaders invited to participate in programing.

"The opinions voiced by this diverse group of advisers will not always represent the official position of Park51," El-Gamal said at the time.

In the statement he released Friday announcing Adhami's departure, El-Gamal made no mention of a rift over his beliefs on homosexuality. He said he still hoped Adhami would continue to lead prayers at the facility from time to time.

"We have been humbled by Imam Adhami's contributions to this project over the past few months. His teachings and scholarly work on the Islamic faith remain an important part of our community," the statement said.

The planned Islamic center would sit two blocks from the rebuilt trade center and Sept. 11 memorial, on a site now occupied by a former clothing store that has been converted into a mosque.

Critics have assailed the center as an insult to the victims of the 2001 attacks. They say it is inappropriate to build an Islamic institution so close to the site of an attack by Mohammedan fanatics.

Plans for the center call for it to include a health club, a daycare center, a swimming pool, gallery space, an auditorium, offices and a two-level, below-ground prayer space with room for a congregation of 1,000.

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Home Front: Culture Wars

Dupe URL: New director for Ground Zero mosque project

2011-01-16

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will no longer be the chief religious figure in the Ground Zero mosque project -- though he will still play a lesser, behind-the-scenes, role in support of the planned building, organizers of the controversial project said.

Rauf's replacement, Imam Abdallah Adhami will now handle religious programming for the project, known as Park51.

Park51 organizers played down Rauf's reduced role, focusing on the imam's nationwide tour on interfaith relations. He speaks to the Islamic Society in North America's diversity conference today in Detroit. He remains on Park51's board of directors.

There have been rumors that relations between Rauf and Sharif El-Gamal, the president and chief developer of Park51, had worsened.

"It is an honor for me, personally, to welcome Imam Adhami to our team. I look forward to his leadership and assistance in the development of Park51," said El-Gamal.

Project critics pointed to Adhami's links to Imam Siraj Wahhaj whom prosecutors called an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 WTC bombing. Wahhaj was a character witness in the trial of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.

Tim Brown, a retired fireman who responded to 9/11 and has sued to block the mosque, said it seemed like Park51 and Rauf had "got a divorce."

"Imam Rauf can't raise money needed for the project. He's toxic. He's only hurt the 9/11 survivors, not built bridges," said Brown.

Brown was troubled by Adhami's link to Wahhaj.

"Siraj Wahhaj is as radical as you can get," he said.

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Home Front: WoT

'Terror' not firma for GZ imam

2010-10-25

Ground Zero imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who came under fire for once saying Osama bin Laden was "made in the USA," yesterday stopped short of using the word "terrorists" to describe the murderous 9/11 hijackers, instead calling them "those who attacked America."

During an interview on Al Jazeera TV, recorded during a trip to Doha in the Persian Gulf, Rauf was asked whether 9/11 affected the "discourse of American Muslims."

Rauf, who has said he wants to be a bridge between the US and the Muslim world, said 9/11 caused some Americans to view Islam with suspicion.

"Islam was seen as a national security threat in America because the . . .," Rauf said, pausing in mid-sentence before continuing, "because those who've attacked America utilized the vocabulary of religion."

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Home Front: WoT

Daisy Khan claims death threats

2010-10-04

[Arab News] The wife of the imam planning an Islamic community center at Cordoba House said she and her husband have received death threats.

Daisy Khan said Sunday that her life and that of her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf were "under threat."

Police could not confirm the threats.

Khan was part of a wide-ranging discussion of Islam broadcast on ABC's "This Week."

She also said that moderate Mohammedans like herself must lead the fight against forces of Evil in their religion, but that if moderate Mohammedans are branded as snuffys, they will be thrown into the arms of Al-Qaeda.

The developer of the Islamic center has released preliminary sketches of the 16-story planned structure. Sharif El-Gamal said groundbreaking was probably two to three years away.

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Home Front: WoT

Michael Moore Raises $50,000+ for Ground Zero Mosque

2010-09-20

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore says he has raised over $50,000 for the construction of a mosque and Muslim community center near Ground Zero.

Moore made an appeal to his supporters on the ninth anniversary of 9/11 for donations to the construction project, pledging to match contributions up to $10,000.

Less than 48 hours later, five times that amount had poured into the contribution coffers as hundreds of people from around the country heeded Moores call.

"Times are tough economically, and supporting our Muslim brothers and sisters is not a popular thing to do right now," Moore said on his blog. "I am truly touched by your generosity and people around the world will know that you, too, represent an America they rarely get to see."

The proposed mosque, known as Park51, will include a swimming pool and a theater and is expected to cost more than $100 million.

More than 70% of the American people oppose its construction.

Moore on his blog took these people to task.

"Blaming a whole group for the actions of just one of that group is anti-American," Moore wrote. "Timothy McVeigh was Catholic. Should Oklahoma City prohibit the building of a Catholic Church near the site of the former federal building that McVeigh blew up?"

In a further attempt to add gas to the fire, Moore urged Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is spearheading the Park51 project, to build the new mosque not two blocks from Ground Zero but on Ground Zero.

I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero. I want it built on Ground Zero, Moore said.

The director rationalized this statement by insisting that Islam was "stolen" from the real Muslims at the Twin Towers, and it should be given back to them on the same spot.

There is a McDonald's two blocks from Ground Zero. Trust me, McDonald's has killed far more people than the terrorists, Moore added.

In his statements, Moore likened Mohammad Atta and the other 9/11 terrorists to the Catholics on the Supreme Court. He wrote:

Let's face it, all religions have their whackos. Catholics have O'Reilly, Gingrich, Hannity and Clarence Thomas - - in fact all five conservatives who dominate the Supreme Court are Catholic. Protestants have Pat Robertson and too many to list here. The Mormons have Glenn Beck. Jews have Crazy Eddie. But we don't judge whole religions on just the actions of their whackos. Unless they're Methodists.

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Home Front: WoT

Ground zero mosque site not hallowed: imam

2010-09-14

[Al Arabiya] The imam leading the plan for an Islamic center near Ground Zero rejects arguments from Sept. 11 survivors that he was seeking to build on "hallowed" ground

"It's absolutely disingenuous... that that block is hallowed ground," imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said, noting that the immediate area, a busy commercial district, contained a strip club.

Opponents to the planned Islamic center two blocks from the epicenter of the Sept.11, 2001 attacks say that a Muslim presence there would be offensive to the memory of the 2,752 people killed in the World Trade Center.

Many critics go further, claiming the positioning of a mosque so close to Ground Zero desecrates sacred ground and would celebrate terrorism.

Abdul Rauf, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York, said that radicals had hijacked the debate and spread "deliberate misinformation and harmful stereotypes."

"I regret that some have misunderstood our intentions. I am deeply distressed that in this heated political season some have exploited the issue for their own political agenda," he said.

The imam refused to say whether he might move the center further from Ground Zero, as opponents demand, but indicated that he is considering this.

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