The men behind the mosque

NY Post ^ | August 31, 2010 | Editorial

[Scanian]

No wonder the guys who want to build that Islamic center near Ground Zero are quiet as mosque mice about financing: Turns out, as The Post first reported, their own financial records are, well, a bit short of blue chip.

Indeed, Sharif El-Gamal, who owns the site -- as The Post's Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein reported Sunday -- owes nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the city in back payments.

His firm, 45 Park Place Partners, simply skipped its property-tax bills in January and July, according to the Finance Department. Gamal's folks say he delayed payments while seeking a lower tax rate, The New York Times reported.

Gamal, 37, also reportedly pleaded guilty to at least six misdemeanors while in his teens and 20s. Charges included disorderly conduct, drunk driving and attempted shoplifting.

And he was arrested once for punching a man who owed his brother money and another time for soliciting a prostitute.

Meanwhile, tenants in New Jersey buildings owned by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who's leading the mosque project, describe him as a veritable slumlord.

"All he likes is money," one tenant, Vilma Then, says. "Nothing [in her building] ever gets fixed."

[CitizenM]

I think all the fray about the Cordoba mosque plan is EXACTLY what the imam wants. He probably hoped for it from the beginning. If the opposition gets loud, and it looks like Muslims are being mistreated here, the imam will attract more money from America haters and terrorist groups in Muslim countries, and those who support anti-American groups here in the U.S.

It was all a ploy to begin with. That is why he selected the site. He could have built a mosque anywhere else in NYC, but that would not have been funded with hate-money. This way, he will be sure to get what he needs by escalating the battle. Such as he is doing on his trip around the world, paid for by our tax dollars, and dissing Americans as he goes.