• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Hamas-linked North American Islamic Trust received thousands in farm subsidies, never produced any crops

Feb 1, 2014 8:23 am By Robert Spencer

image5

“NAIT’s farm subsidies stopped in 2008 during the trial and were first received again in 2011.” That was right around the time that the Obama Administration scrubbed all mention of Islam and jihad from counterterror training materials, while collaboration with groups linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood was in full swing in numerous government agencies. So this is no surprise. It is consistent with established administration policy.

“Islamic group once tied to terror trial received thousands in farm subsidies, without growing crops,” by Emily Walker for FoxNews.com, February 1 (thanks to all who sent this in):

An Islamic organization once listed by the Justice Department as a co-conspirator in a high-profile terror case is among many groups that have received thousands in federal farm subsidies, without producing any crops.

The subsidies to the North American Islamic Trust are just a slice of the questionable payments that, as has been well documented, go to millionaires and non-farmers every year. But as Congress moves to rein in the program, these subsidies stand out considering the group’s involvement in the Holy Land Foundation case of 2008. During the trial, the group’s farm subsidies stopped, only to be reinstated after a federal judge cleared them.

Records show that since 1998, the North American Islamic Trust has received over $10,000 across 34 separate taxpayer-funded programs. NAIT’s two relatively small land plots are tax-zoned as “agricultural” — but they aren’t developed.

The group has been able to obtain farm subsidies legally without producing any crops because it is a nonprofit “charity group” landowner — so it received subsidies on top of being tax-exempt.

“Organizations with no history in agriculture are getting in on taxpayer-provided farm subsidies,” said Adam Andrzejewski, founder of the transparency database OpenTheBooks.com and former Republican candidate for governor of Illinois.

He said the NAIT’s subsidies are “probably legal,” adding: “The federal farm bill has become so large that it has nothing to do with ‘preserving the family farm’ or ‘creating a stable food supply’.”

The North American Islamic Trust’s history is complicated — as the offshoot of the Muslim Students Association and its financial arm, NAIT was founded in 1973 by Middle Eastern-born college students. The majority of NAIT’s founders were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the group continues to be backed by Saudi Arabia. NAIT uses Shariah-approved investing with its own company, Allied Asset Advisors, to buy and pool mosques and community centers. Former Allied Asset Advisor board member, Jamal Said, preached the most conservative forms of Islam and was specifically named as a co-conspirator in the terror-funding case.

In the Holy Land Foundation case of 2008, which prosecuted investors charged with sending money to Hamas, NAIT was named by U.S. federal prosecutors as a co-conspirator and an entity that is or was “a member of the Muslim Brotherhood” (the parent organization of Hamas).

The Holy Land Foundation’s five accused individuals were sentenced for funneling $12.4 million to the terror group, which controls the Gaza Strip and is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. NAIT never was formally charged in the case.

NAIT’s sheer size may have worked against it. An estimated one in five mosques in the United States is owned by NAIT; those properties are estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Several of these mosques, though, have been places of worship for those convicted in terror activities.

But even before a verdict in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation case had been reached, NAIT appealed their co-conspirator status, saying that they had “suffered injuries” from a “public branding.”

In October of 2010, the Fifth Circuit Court overturned the group’s “co-conspirator” status after NAIT’s appeal and pressure from the ACLU. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said “if NAIT could have been accurately characterized as a joint venture,” that “does not carry an inherently criminal connotation.”

NAIT’s farm subsidies stopped in 2008 during the trial and were first received again in 2011.

Every farm subsidy to the North American Islamic Trust has been received at the mailing address of the Islamic Center of Central Missouri Mosque, records show. The USDA lists the “farm location” as Boone County, Mo. But aerial searches of the “agricultural” properties owned by the North American Islamic Trust reveal that the plots are undeveloped, tree-dotted land combined to form just over 100 acres valued at about $59,000.

The North American Islamic Trust and the Islamic Center of Central Missouri did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

According to the USDA and OpentheBooks.com, about half of NAIT’s subsidies were “Direct Payments,” a program which costs taxpayers an annual $5 billion. By 2011, the North America Islamic Trust began obtaining subsidies under the auspice that it is a “church, charity, or non-profit organization.”…

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Barack Obama, NAIT Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Salah says

    Feb 1, 2014 at 12:04 pm

    Committed to Destroying Islam.
    Join us!
    http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfect-man-of-islam.html

  2. mortimer says

    Feb 1, 2014 at 2:46 pm

    How long will Obama’s gross naivety and criminal negligence be tolerated vis-à-vis Islam?

    The IRS should audit the stuffing out of ALL Islamic organizations. There is a near 100% certainty that MOST OF THEM have financial matters to hide.

    In my dreams, I would then exile all the conspirators.

    • Brian C. Hoff says

      Feb 1, 2014 at 3:23 pm

      First they are paid to not grow anything by the government like many other farmer are. Turning IRS against Islamist organizion would be illegal due to lack of porable cause. Then IRS would have same right to go after the Roman Cathority churches for the prief who where sex criminal.

  3. livingengine says

    Feb 1, 2014 at 3:44 pm

    From the Fox News article – “In October of 2010, the Fifth Circuit Court overturned the group’s “co-conspirator” status after NAIT’s appeal and pressure from the ACLU. ”

    The co-conspirator status was NOT changed. The Fifth Circuit Court merely ordered the decision of Judge Jorge Solis unsealed. That’s it. No names were taken off the “Attachment A” list, no no legal status was changed.

    “NAIT asked the appeals court to unseal Solis’s opinion and to strike the part linking NAIT to HLF and Hamas. However, the appeals court declined to erase or vacate that part of Solis’s opinion, which found there was “ample evidence to establish the association of … NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association of Palestine (‘IAP’) and Hamas.””
    http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1010/Judge_Feds_violated_Islamic_groups_rights.html

    • Brian C. Hoff says

      Feb 1, 2014 at 5:35 pm

      It was clear by the 5th cirrict court of appeal of being than co-conspirator was remove.

      • gravenimage says

        Feb 1, 2014 at 5:55 pm

        Why even pretend you are not a supporter of Jihad, “DefenderofIslam”?

      • Pumbar says

        Feb 1, 2014 at 9:19 pm

        Was that in English?

      • Stephen David says

        Feb 1, 2014 at 10:35 pm

        “Brian C. Hoff” ??? More likely, “Mohammad” something-or-other.

        It might help if you learned even passable English before pretending you are a non-Muslim westerner.

  4. gravenimage says

    Feb 1, 2014 at 5:53 pm

    Hamas-linked North American Islamic Trust received thousands in farm subsidies, never produced any crops
    ……………………………………..

    So—the question is, where did all those tax-payer dollars go? The best case scenario—still pretty appalling—is that this is simple corruption.

    Far *more* likely is that our own money went to fund violent Jihad.

    More:

    An Islamic organization once listed by the Justice Department as a co-conspirator in a high-profile terror case is among many groups that have received thousands in federal farm subsidies, without producing any crops.
    ……………………………………..

    Boy, this is blatant—they aren’t even trying to be subtle. Nut why should they bother, considering the enabler-in-chief in the White House?

    More:

    The subsidies to the North American Islamic Trust are just a slice of the questionable payments that, as has been well documented, go to millionaires and non-farmers every year…
    ……………………………………..

    This is *very* true—but at least I’m not concerned that most Infidel recipients are using these subsidies to fund Jihad terror attacks…

  5. Rose B says

    Feb 2, 2014 at 1:22 pm

    Muslims do seem to take advantage of Welfare, don’t they? Well, it is easier than working for a living!

    • gravenimage says

      Feb 2, 2014 at 10:18 pm

      Rose B wrote:

      Muslims do seem to take advantage of Welfare, don’t they? Well, it is easier than working for a living!
      ………………………

      Actually, it runs a *lot* deeper than this, Rose. The “Prophet” instructed his followers to live off Infidels—through keeping slaves, caravan raiding, piracy, and demanding Jizya.

      He despised productive labor, and claimed that Allah would curse any household that kept farm implements.

      And it is just the same today—pious Muslims live off theft, welfare, “foreign aid”, and piracy whenever possible.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • curious george on Israel At A Crossroads?
  • Crusades Were Right on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • William Garrison on The Fantasy Islam of Rice University’s Craig Considine (Part 3)
  • Vladimir on Islamic Republic of Iran: Turkey’s Erdogan champions Islam only as a tool to further his own interests
  • John on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.