Despite California’s current budget shortfall of $32 billion, Governor Gavin Newsom recently confirmed that he would double the funding for a program released in January 2022 which provided $47.5 million for physical security enhancements to non-profit organizations at high risk for violent attacks or hate crimes due to their ideology, beliefs, or mission.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, this money went towards mosques whose leaders praised the annihilation of Jews and Israel as well as Islamic advocacy groups with alleged connections to Hamas.
Furthermore, after the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th, Newsom increased his support of this program.
Examples of recipients include the Sajjadia Islamic Society where a preacher declared that Allah had sent rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah to strike Israel and praised Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah; and another mosque, Islamic Society of Corona-Norco where a preacher claimed it was 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.
Newsom has allocated funds to mosques associated with the Islamic Center of Riverside, including Masjed of Riverside which received $200,000. Syed Rizwan Farook, perpetrator of the 2015 San Bernardino attack that resulted in 14 deaths, was a worshipper at this mosque. Mahmoud Harmoush, Imam of the Islamic Center of Riverside is known for advocating violence against Jews.
“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 received a $200,000 grant, Imam Hamdy Sadek prayed last year to “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, including Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) which was labeled a “co-conspirator of Hamas” and received $135,330 through California Governor Gavin Newsom’s funding program.
While Newsom is a self-proclaimed supporter of Israel who recently visited survivors and government officials in wake of Hamas attacks, sparking angst among his anti-Israel constituents; California’s Office of Emergency Services is investigating whether any of these mosques violated their grant conditions.
“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.”
ICYMI: Georgia’s Ruby Freeman Says She Doesn’t Want to Talk with “WHITE GUYS”
