Gavin Newsom is up to his usual tricks.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that the California governor has provided funding to mosques that preach anti-Semitism as well as Islamic advocacy groups with alleged ties to Hamas.
In January 2022, Newsom’s office released $47.5 million to provide “physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk for violent attacks and hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs or mission.”
Of that money, $40 million has gone to “mosques whose leaders cheer the annihilation of Jews and Israel,” according to the Free Beacon.
Despite California having a budget shortfall of $32 billion, Newsom confirmed last month that he would double funding for the program after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel that took place on Oct. 7.
The Free Beacon reported that recipients of the funds include the Sajjadia Islamic Society, where a preacher this month declared that Allah sent “the rockets from Hamas or Hezbollah” to strike Israel and praised Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
At another recipient mosque, the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco, a preacher claimed this month that it is 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 also funded mosques whose imams have previously called for the destruction of Israel.
Masjed of Riverside, which is affiliated with the Islamic Center of Riverside, received $200,000. (Among the worshipers at the mosque was Syed Rizwan Farook, the perpetrator of the 2015 San Bernardino terror attack that claimed 14 lives.)
The imam of the Islamic Center of Riverside, Mahmoud Harmoush, is known for his violent anti-Semitic rhetoric.
“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 also received a $200,000 grant, imam Hamdy Sadek prayed last year, “Oh Allah, 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.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which the federal government has labeled a “co-conspirator of Hamas,” received $135,330 through Newsom’s funding program.
Newsom, who is regularly touted as a future presidential candidate, claims to be a supporter of Israel.
Last month, he visited Israel in the wake of the Hamas attacks to meet with survivors and government officials, sparking anger among many of his anti-Israel constituents.
Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for California’s Office of Emergency Services, told the Free Beacon that it is investigating whether any of the mosques in question have violated the conditions of their grants.
“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.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.