Joe Kaufman is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center; a writer for the Counter-Islamist Grid, a project of the Middle East Forum; and the Chairman of the Joe Kaufman Security Initiative. He was the 2014, 2016 and 2018 Republican Nominee for U.S. House of Representatives (Florida-CD23).
United States Representative Rashida Tlaib is known for her intense hatred of Israel. Indeed, she was recently banned from entering the country. So it makes sense that she would want to hire an individual like Muslim activist Rasha Mubarak, someone who equally despises the Jewish state. Mubarak has gone so far as to say that it is a lie that Israel has a right to self-defense and has attacked anyone who states otherwise. However, Mubarak’s ire extends well beyond that of Israel, including against leaders in her own party, even Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Mubarak is the Finance Director for Congresswoman Tlaib. According to Tlaib, who was interviewed this month by Mubarak for Mubarak’s online show, Unbought Power Hour, Mubarak helped her raise over $3 million for her re-election campaign. Mubarak, as well, is the Democratic National Committeewoman for the Florida Young Democrats (FYD) and a member of the Orlando, Florida Committee on Multicultural Affairs, appointed by Democratic Mayor of Orlando Buddy Dyer.
Mubarak has acquired all of these titles, while exhibiting the most dangerous of extreme behavior, including support for terrorists. At the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict, along with photos of a jubilant Hamas, Mubarak tweeted, “Thousands of people celebrating in the streets of Gaza for the victory. Alhamdulillah. #VictoryForGaza.” This past June and July, Mubarak posted memorials onto her social media for car-ramming terrorist Ahmed Erekat, who was shot and killed after attempting to run over an Israeli border officer. Last month, she promoted then-jailed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Maher al-Akhras with a message to free all like him.
Mubarak has worked with radical Muslim groups, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has foundational and financial ties to Hamas; Islamic Relief (IR), which has been banned by a number of nations; and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), which has partnered with terrorist charities that have been shut down. And Mubarak has organized rallies that have featured the worst of anti-Semitism, including one, in December 2017, where her uncle, Said Lutfi, referred to Jews as “baby killers,” “Jesus killers,” and “the crappiest piece of s**t on this planet.” Mubarak has mocked Orthodox Jews, herself.
Apart from the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) recently cancelling an event, due to Mubarak’s participation in it, the party has largely ignored her radical activities. In fact, the party has even ignored her attacks against the leaders of the Democratic Party.
This past June, when two dozen Democrat members of Congress draped in African garb, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, knelt in silence, following the death of 46-year-old black man George Floyd, Mubarak retweeted a statement labeling the event “racist” and describing the lawmakers as “kneeling like white gods in unity.”
This past August, following Joe Biden’s pick of Kamala Harris as his running mate, Mubarak retweeted a derogatory post portraying Harris, whose husband happens to be Jewish, as supporting “illegal Israeli settlements” and championing “Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem.”
Last month, as Joe Biden considered his choices to head up the State Department, the CIA, the UN Ambassadorship and more, Mubarak sought to accuse Biden of wishing to place “war criminals” in his administration. She tweeted, “Biden’s cabinet looking like it will secure some top war criminals. My bad, ya’ll still need some time to celebrate?”
And this month, after President Barack Obama questioned the extreme Left’s call to defund police throughout the US, Mubarak tweeted, “So all of y’all who been missin’ Obama – which part of his legacy exactly: when he was bombing Iraqi families, deporting immigrants, or undermining the people’s call to #DefundthePolice? Y’all must be too busy reading his book over brunch.”
Another of Mubarak’s Unbought Power interviews was with the National Research and Advocacy Director of CAIR, Abbas Barzegar. In June 2014, the Kilis, Turkey division of Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Insani Yarden Vakfi (IHH) posted onto social media photos of Barzegar and others near the Syrian border at its IHH offices. Later, Barzegar did the same. In January 2014, Kilis IHH was raided and its personnel arrested, alleged to be involved with al-Qaeda. IHH has been known to provide money to and help terror-related militants cross over the border into Syria. Barzegar has praised IHH as “the front lines of the Syrian conflict.” He has also mourned the death of Hezbollah icon Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah as “a major loss.”
During the interview with Barzegar, Mubarak acknowledged this author’s efforts to have her removed from positions related to the Democratic Party. She stated, “I’ve had the right wing call on the Democrats to unseat me from the Young Democrats or to unseat me from the Mayor’s Advisory Board,” yet she just laughed it off.
It is easy to comprehend why the Democratic Party would sit by and do nothing as Rasha Mubarak attacks Jews and Israel; this type of rhetoric has become all too prevalent within party circles. Shame on party leaders for not taking the anti-Semitism of one of their own seriously! Yet, Mubarak’s bigotry is now targeting the Democratic Party, itself, and clearly that should cause the party to take action, but it has not.
The time for party leadership to enact ‘damage control’ and remove and repudiate Mubarak is long overdue. Failure to do so means they are complicit in her prejudice and condone her terrorist support by giving her legitimacy and providing her cover. Her recent position as Finance Director/Fundraiser for Rashida Tlaib helps to solidify her status within the Democratic Party and is an indication that her Jew and Israel bashing has served to further her career within its ranks.
Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.
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