A convention program tells you everything a stump speech tries to hide. This Labor Day weekend in Detroit, Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed will take the stage at the Islamic Society of North America’s 63rd annual convention – and the roster of fellow speakers reads less like a religious gathering than a roll call of radicals.
ISNA was founded as an American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism funding case. El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, has sat on ISNA’s founding committee since 2007 and funneled $300,000 into a PAC backing his son-in-law’s campaign. In case you’re wondering – yes, it’s exactly as cozy as it sounds.
But the real story is who else will be behind the microphone.
The company he keeps
Start with cleric Baqir Berry, who offered this during a June sermon:
From Fox News:
We pray to Allah to save our people in South Lebanon from the evil of these Zionists, to support the Muslims and the mujahideen on His path in the East and the West, especially our mujahideen in Palestine, Lebanon, and everywhere. Oh Allah, grant them a mighty victory.
Then there’s Hassan Qazwini, head of the Islamic Institute of America, who appealed to God to “grant victory to our brothers in Iran” – a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism. Even Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign denounced Qazwini for pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Hellbound and Down 