By Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack
**SHOEBAT EXCLUSIVE**
The former Chairman of perhaps the most notorious mosque in the U.S. sits on the Board of an organization that has received 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Bassam Estwani, who led the Dar al-Hijrah mosque for years prior to 9/11 and who welcomed Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi into the mosque, as reported by Shoebat.com [see photo here] is listed as a member of the Board of Directors for a group identified as Mercy Without Borders. The Tax ID is listed as 45-5259026.
Bassam Estwani with Hillary Clinton at White House EID in 2000.
As the IRS scandal, which involves the targeting of law-abiding conservative groups and the awarding of tax-exempt status to stealth jihadists, continues to unfold, it is becoming obvious that the groundwork for such an egregious disparity began years ago – in the Clinton White House. As recently uncovered photos reveal [click here], Estwani is an extremely heavy hitter for the Muslim Brotherhood in America.
The American Spectator’s Jeffrey Lord rightly likened close Hillary Clinton adviser Huma Abedin to Alger Hiss. However, the top priority of a good spy is stealth. Abedin was good at that but not good enough. Until now, Estwani has largely flown under the radar, despite leading the Dar al-Hijrah mosque for several years. That mosque was visited by three 9/11 hijackers and Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan’s notorious imam, Anwar al-Awlaki served as an imam there.
Estwani resembles Hiss a bit more than Abedin does.
Mahdi Bray (far left) and Estwani (far right).
Estwani sits on the Board of another organization with 501(c)(3) status. His fellow board member is named Dr. Yahya Basha, who is also a Foundation Board Member of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and is associated with several other Muslim groups. None other than Mahdi Bray once served as MPAC’s Executive Director.
In this video, Bray can be seen standing next to convicted terrorist Adurahman Alamoudi in Lafayette Park, directly across the street from the White House, on October 28, 2000. In the video, Bray can be seen raising his arms in support of Alamoudi’s expressions of support for Hamas and Hezbollah:
Shoebat.com recently posted a photo of Estwani posing with Alamoudi and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA):
Alamoudi (top left), Rep. Jim Moran (center), and Estwani (right).
In 2010, Bray was captured on video raising funds for Hamas inside a Florida mosque:
The Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), on whose board both Basha and Estwani sit, was at the center of controversy last year after it was learned that its Political Director – Elizabeth O’Bagy – had a glaring conflict of interest. In the days and weeks that followed, the SETF incrementally scrubbed photos of its staff members from the website, as Shoebat.com chronicled. The first staff member to be pulled down from the website was Research Associate Ahmad Soliman, who in 2012 attended a University of Michigan Reunion held by Muslim Brotherhood front, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto just a couple of days before Soliman’s name and photo were removed from the website, O’Bagy was called out, as Shoebat.com reported at the time. It was this interview following U.S. Senator John McCain’s introduction of O’Bagy’s Wall Street Journal column into a Senate Committee hearing, that played a major role in the SETF going into scramble mode:
A screenshot of the SETF website shows that Soliman, Basha, and Estwani are all members of the organization:
Ahmed Soliman, Yahya Basha, and Bassam Estwani all still work for SETF.
Basha
The Executive Director of the tax-exempt SETF is Mouaz Moustafa, who last year accompanied U.S. Senator John McCain to Syria. While there, McCain was photographed posing with terrorists:
McCain, Moustafa, and terrorists.
Estwani’s involvement with at least two groups that have received tax-exempt status raises serious new questions. As Shoebat.com has reported on extensively, the organization founded by Malik Obama – brother of President Barack Obama – received 501(c)(3) status in 2011 courtesy of Lois Lerner under very suspicious circumstances (approved in less than one month and retroactively backdated 38 months). Malik’s Barack H. Obama Foundation (BHOF) continues to operate under such status despite its founder being connected to Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan is listed as a State Sponsor of Terrorism and al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges relating to mass genocide.