More questions and controversy swirling around the Boston mosque. By Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe:
…Questions have been raised about the Islamic Society’s past and present leaders, some of whom have supported Islamist terrorism or indulged in virulently anti-American and anti-Semitic rhetoric. There are concerns about the sweetheart deal in which the land for the mosque was acquired from the City of Boston for a fraction of its value. Especially disturbing has been the Islamic Society’s response to its diverse critics: a lawsuit accusing them of anti-Muslim conspiracy and libel.
That libel, the lawsuit charges, included claims that the “ISB receives funds from Wahhabis and/or Muslim Brotherhood and/or other Saudi/Middle Eastern sources” and that “the ISB Project was supported financially by donors from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states ‘with known connections to radical Islamists.’ ” Given the Saudi role in disseminating jihadist fanaticism, it might indeed be defamatory to falsely accuse the ISB of financial ties to Saudi Arabia.
But such ties are quite real.
According to financial documents supplied to The Boston Globe, major funding for the mosque is being provided by the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In December 2005, two payments of approximately $250,000 each were wired from Jeddah to the Citizens Bank account of the mosque’s general contractor in Boston. Messages confirming the payments were faxed from Jeddah to the Islamic Society of Boston on Dec. 19; these refer to the payments as “USA-52” and “USA-53.” Other documents suggest that subsequent payments have been made as well.
The Islamic Development Bank is a subsidiary of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and each of the conference’s 56 member nations are shareholders. But the largest shares are owned by Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Iran, which together control 48 percent of the bank’s stock. Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Iran are also three of the world’s foremost sponsors or incubators of terrorism. It is perhaps not surprising that the Islamic Development Bank, through its Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa funds, has become a leading funder of Palestinian suicide bombing, paying large financial subsidies to the families of terrorists.
Read it all.