Ritchie Torres and the Million-Dollar Grant to the Bronx Muslim Center

New York Congressman Ritchie Torres represents District 15, that covers most of the south Bronx and is the poorest district in the country. He is known not only for being the first openly homosexual Afro-Latino member of Congress, and for his sponsorship of housing legislation for the poor, but in foreign affairs he has gained a reputation of being a stout defender of Israel. This is pleasantly surprising at a time when so many “progressives” — led by the Squadroons Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — have become so hostile and unsympathetic toward the Jewish state, even as it is doing nothing more than defending itself from those who would destroy it.

Torres has consistently spoken up for Israel, infuriating the Squadroons. Like Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.), he never wavers in his support for the embattled Jewish state. Recently he led a delegation of officials and clergy from Riverdale, the district he represents that is mainly in the Bronx, to Israel, as a way, he said, to remind Israelis that they are “not alone.” He wanted to see for himself the kibbutzim where the atrocities took place, and the field where so many participants in the Nova dance party were murdered. He wanted to assure his Israeli hosts that all these stories of Americans now changing their mind about Israel are not to be believed. He says that support for Israel, both among the American people, and among those in Washington who run the country, remains strong. I’d like think that he’s right.

But now Congressman Ritchie Torres has been under attack for obtaining more than one million dollars in federal funding for the Bronx Muslim Center, which will be run by an extreme Islamic group, the Muslim-American society, whose officials openly support Hamas and the October 7 attacks. More on this disturbing news can be found here: “Rep. Torres Secures $1 Million for Oct. 7 Supporters,” by Sam Westrop, Focus on Western Islamism, April 16, 2024:

In late March, Torres’ office confirmed that he had successfully ensured $1,050,000 from the taxpayer would be provided to the Bronx Muslim Center, a branch of the deeply controversial Muslim American Society (MAS). In 2019, congressional colleagues of Rep. Torres called for an investigation into the MAS after its Philadelphia branch hosted an event in which children sang about torturing and beheading Jews, to widespread media condemnation.

Five years ago, Ritchie Torres was given a heads-up about the Muslim American Society (MAS) by congressional colleagues who called for an investigation of the group after it had hosted an event in Philadelphia, where children lisped the ghastly lyrics to songs about torturing and beheading Jews. Torres surely knew of this event, and of the reaction of his colleagues. Did he not suspect that the MAS branch in the Bronx would have shared the views of the MAS branch in Philadelphia?

Today, MAS and its Bronx Muslim Center (BMC) are closely aligned with pro-Hamas causes.

In Arabic posts on his social media, the BMC imam, Hamud Alsilwi, disseminates praise for Hamas founder Ahmad Yassin for “making the Jews sleepless in Palestine.”…

The Bronx Muslim Center — for which Torres has just obtained $1,050,000 in taxpayer dollars — is led by Imam Hamud Alsilwi, who in his Friday sermons (khutbas) lavishes praise on Hamas’ late founder Ahmad Yassin for “making the Jews sleepless in Palestine.” Hamas, of course, is designated as a terrorist organization by the American government. Should federal funds be going to a group being led by someone who praises Hamas to the skies?

Meanwhile, BMC official Akram Omar has shared Hamas-produced propaganda on his social media. On October 7, he re-posted praise for the October 7 attacks, featuring video of cheering crowds….

Akram Omar is another BMC official — his precise duties are not specified — who reposts praises of the October 7 attack, when 3,000 Hamas operatives pushed into Gaza in cars, on motorcycles, and on paragliders, in order to rape, torture, mutilate, and murder. That is what Akram Omar and Imam Alsilwi, both of the BMC, think is fit for praise.

Previously, BMC’s social media accounts have also posted footage, noticed by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, of senior Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal at the funeral of the late Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide and internationally infamous cleric, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi.

For his jihadist views and his close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi was expelled from Egypt, his native land, in 1997, and had to move to Hamas-supporting Qatar, which provides both financial support and refuge both to Hamas leaders and to members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas, after all, is merely the Gazan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The BMC has posted videos on-line of the funeral of the late Islamic scholar and spiritual godfather of Hamas, showing the two top Hamas leaders — Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal — at the funeral of Al-Qaradawi, paying their respects, as terror leaders….

One more bit of evidence that the BMC is deeply, truly, madly committed to Hamas, with its posting of videos of the two Hamas leaders at Al-Qaradawi’s funeral. And Ritchie Torres needs to know this.

Despite ostensible blocks on government monies benefiting religious activities, Congressman Torres has confirmed that the money is for the construction of the “Bronx Muslim Center so that more Muslim residents of the Bronx have a place to worship freely.”

There are already dozens of mosques open in the Bronx where “Muslims can worship freely.” Not all of them are run by Hamas supporters and members, as is the BMC. This Bronx Muslim Center, because of its imposing size, will plant the flag of Islam firmly in the Bronx earth, and help attract young Muslims susceptible to radicalization. Taxpayers should not be paying to support, even indirectly, a designated terrorist organization.

In obtaining this government grant for the BMC, did Congressman Torres never think to investigate what kind of Muslims were associated with the Center? Apparently not, for if he had, he would have discovered that the BMC staff is riddled with Hamas supporters. He would have discovered that according to federal prosecutors, the Muslim American Society, the parent organization of the BMC, is the “overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood” in America. He might also have become alarmed to discover that the BMC’s social media is full of praise for Hamas members and, specifically, for the October 7 massacres.

It is hard to believe that Ritchie Torres intended to benefit this Hamas-linked group. Was he ignorant of all this disturbing information provided by Sam Westrop at Focus On Western Islamism? Did he believe that the Bronx Muslim Center was not being used as a place for radicalization of young Muslims, that there was no reason for alarm, that the money he obtained was for what he had been led to believe was merely a keep-them-off-the-streets community center for young Muslim men who might otherwise become delinquents? It is hard to know what to make of this strange support for the BMC by Ritchie Torres. Can he speak up and relieve — or will he confirm? — our anxieties?