A Muslim civil rights group that federal lawmakers described as having “deep ties to terrorist organizations,” has emerged as one of many greatest single backers to Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral marketing campaign, based on public data.
The Unity and Justice Fund political motion committee, which gave the Democratic Socialist frontrunner $120,000 is linked to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the biggest Muslim nonprofit within the US, marketing campaign filings present.
The Unity and Justice PAC, which has places of work in Sacramento and Washington, shares addresses and personnel with CAIR, based on the Federal Election Fee and Open Secrets and techniques, a authorities transparency group that tracks cash in politics.
CAIR’s leaders denied they’ve any organizational ties to the opposite teams to The Publish Tuesday, however declined to remark additional.
One other PAC linked to the California chapter of CAIR — Unity Lab PAC — gave $23,500 to Mamdani’s PAC on September 16, based on marketing campaign finance filings.
Unity Lab lists Tasneem Manjra as its president. Manjra can be listed because the communications contact for the Sacramento chapter of CAIR.
In the meantime, the Unity and Justice Fund PAC is run by Basim Elkarra, the previous longtime government director of CAIR California, and the treasurer of CAIR Motion, which mobilizes Muslim voters throughout the nation.
It shares its Washington, DC, tackle with CAIR Basis, the nonprofit’s nationwide workplace.
The Publish has reached out to Manjra and Elkarra for remark.
CAIR Motion was instrumental in mobilizing Muslim voters to again Mamdani, based on radical anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, who has been described as a mentor to the Democratic Socialist candidate.
“As soon as November 4th comes round, I’ll inform the story. The story is not only that it’s random that Zohran ascended to this place, it’s our Muslim-American neighborhood,” Sarsour stated in a speech at CAIR’s 2025 Management & Coverage Convention final month.
“And I’ll additionally say that it’s Muslim cash. PACs which have supported Zohran, or a specific PAC that has supported Zohran might be over 80% of Muslim-American donors on this nation,” she stated.
Elkarra, who’s listed because the Sacramento-based treasurer of the PAC, has promoted the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) motion and in contrast Israel to apartheid South Africa, based on a report by Canary Mission.
CAIR California is the biggest chapter of the Muslim civil rights group, raking in additional than $17 million in donations in 2023, based on its newest accessible federal filings. The group didn’t reply to The Publish’s request for remark.
Manjra is a member of the United Nations Aid and Works Company for Palestine Refugees within the Close to East (UNRWA) USA board, based on social media posts. Earlier this yr, president Trump yanked federal funding for UNRWA after Israel accused a few of its members of involvement within the October 7, 2023 assaults.
Final yr, Manjra, an grownup Lady Scout Troop chief, threatened to cease promoting Lady Scout cookies until the leaders of the group backtracked on their condemnation of a Missouri troop that was promoting handmade bracelets to boost cash for youngsters in Gaza.
Lawmakers have referred to as for investigations into CAIR’s alleged terrorist connections. Arkansas senator Tom Cotton and New York Rep Elise Stefanik despatched a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent final month, urging the division to research CAIR’s alleged hyperlinks to the Hamas terrorist group.
Within the letter, the lawmakers highlighted a 2008 “terrorism financing trial” the place the Holy Land Basis of Aid and Improvement and 5 of its leaders have been discovered responsible of “offering materials assist to Hamas,” based on experiences.
Stefanik and Cotton wrote that CAIR was named as “an unindicted co-conspirator” through the trial and that “proof confirmed direct monetary interactions between CAIR and the now-defunct Hamas-linked charity.”
In 2017, Mamdani praised the administrators of the Holy Land Basis for Aid and Improvement — often known as “the Holy Land 5” — in a rap track referred to as “Salaam,” which the Queens Assemblyman stated is about rising up Muslim in New York.
The track, carried out beneath his rap moniker Mr. Cardamon, consists of the lyrics: “My like to the Holy Land 5. You higher look ’em up.”
In August, Cotton wrote to IRS Commissioner Billy Lengthy, calling on him to strip CAIR’s tax-exempt standing due to its “deep ties to terrorist organizations.”
“CAIR’s deep ties to terrorist teams…ought to stop them from sustaining nonprofit standing, Cotton stated. “The standing is a privilege not a proper.”
