Earlier this year, the Muslim Brotherhood launched its political party in the United States – the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO). One of the leaders of the USCMO is a man named Mazen Mokhtar, who has also been connected to both al-Qaeda and an Imam who delivered an Islamic prayer from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives last week, as Shoebat.com reported.

Mazen Mokhtar (IIS Facebook)

Mokhtar, who is a regular speaker at the New Jersey-based Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS), is also a colleague of Imam Hamad Chebli, the President of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey (ISCJ). Earlier this month, at the invitation of Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Chebli delivered an anti-Christian prayer from the floor of the U.S. House after being introduced by Speaker John Boehner. Holt’s connections to both the ISCJ and IIS are significant and would be criminal in a sane world.

ISCJ’s Imam Hamad (far right) at event on IIS Facebook page.

Here is what the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote about Mokhtar:

From August 2001 through November 2005, Mazen Mokhtar was the administrator of the Web site created to mirror a jihadi propaganda site called Azzam Publications. Azzam Publications regularly disseminated statements by Al Qaeda leaders and videos until it was shut down after September 11.

The name “Azzam” comes from Abdullah Azzam, the mentor of Osama bin Laden.

Screen shot from 1994 Documentary Jihad in America.

Shockingly, on the IIS facebook page, is a photo that shows Mokhtar and Rep. Holt at an IIS event:

Mazen Mokhtar (far left) and Rep. Rush Holt (far right).

In April of last year, another figure who reared his head at an IIS fundraiser was Omar Shahin. Some may remember him from 2006, when he was at the center of the ‘flying imams’ controversy in which a handful of imams went out of their way to raise suspicions among passengers and then later cried discrimination. As Shoebat.com has reported in the past, being a rabble rousing imam may be the least to be concerned about when it comes to Shahin. As is the case with Mokhtar, Shahin is also connected to al-Qaeda. One of Shahin’s predecessors at the Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT) was Wael Hamza Julaidan, an al-Qaeda founder along with Azzam.

‘Flying’ Imam Omar Shahin.

While WND rightly points out that Mokhtar was once jailed by then U.S Attorney Chris Christie, Mokhtar is shockingly working toward being a political power broker in New Jersey today thanks to politicians like Holt and even Boehner, who elevated one of Mokhtar’s colleagues (Chebli) by allowing him to pray an Islamic prayer from the House floor.

Though Mokhtar was arrested because of his ties to terrorism, he was charged with tax fraud but Christie ultimately dropped those charges:

In April 2007, Mokhtar was arrested by FBI agents at his New Jersey home and charged with filing false tax returns. Christie, now New Jersey’s governor, was the U.S. attorney who signed the indictment.

Though on their face the charges involved tax fraud, counter-terrorism agents used them to leverage the jailed Mokhtar for leads in their terrorism investigation of the broader international conspiracy involving Ahmad and other al-Qaida terrorists.

In September 2008, Christie dismissed the tax fraud charges, explaining “further prosecution is not in the interests of the United States at this time.”

The dismissal of the charges against Mokhtar are instructive, as are the reports that Mokhtar was apparently being used as an informant. It’s safe to say that New Jersey doesn’t have much to show for this strategy, especially when Mokhtar is now leading a group that is trying to amass a consequential Muslim voting bloc.

As Shoebat.com has reported, Mokhtar and Chebli are not just connected through the IIS. The two men shared a podium at Rutgers University.

Below is a photo of Chris Christie with Chebli and a man named Ali Chaudry, a regular visitor and good friend of Chebli’s mosque. As Shoebat.com reported, Christie appointed Chaudry to the New Jersey Commission on National and Community Service.

Chebli (far left) and Christie (talking with Ali Chaudry).

Christie, who is now the Governor of the State, appears to be no different than Holt, and may be worse. Back in 2011, Christie appointed Sohail Mohammed to a Superior Court judgeship in his state. Mohammed’s connections to a Hamas-supporting Imam named Mohammed Qatanani added to the very questionable decision by Christie to appoint Mohammed to the post.

Christie embraces Sohail Mohammed at the latter’s swearing in ceremony in 2011.

According to one report:

Christie appointed an Islamist, Sohail Mohammed, to the New Jersey state superior court. Mohammed’s record includes serving as general counsel to the American Muslim Union (which has stated that a “Zionist Commando Orchestrated The 9-11 Terrorist Attacks”), acting as spokesman for Muslim prisoners who went on a hunger strike after being jailed during Ramadan, defending Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian (his indictment, Mohammed said, was “nothing but a witch-hunt”), and helping Qatanani’s legal defense. Mohammed established himself not just as the Islamists’ lawyer but as one of them.

It’s worth noting that the Hamas-supporting Qatanani and Chebli have served on at least one board together (Able Community):

Chebli and Qatanani on Board of Able Community.

Here is an excerpt from a report on Christie’s relationship with Qatanani:

When serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie embraced and kissed Mohammed Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, and praised him as “a man of great goodwill.” He did this after Qatanani had publicly ranted against Jews and in support of funding Hamas, a U.S. government–designated terror organization, and on the eve of his deportation hearing for not hiding an Israeli conviction for membership in Hamas. In addition, Christie designated a top aide, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McKenna, to testify as a character witness for Qatanani.

In the summer of 2012 at the Governor’s mansion, Christie presided over a Muslim iftar dinner and accused those who had a problem with his appointment of Sohail Mohammed as being bigots. In the same speech, he praised Qatanani, who was shockingly in the audience. The YouTube has been taken down but here is the speech broken up into six short audio files:

In this first clip, Christie refers to a ‘graze of intolerance’ and defends his appointment of Sohail Mohammed in the face of what Christie sees as bigotry from people who had a concern over that appointment:

In clip #2, Christie refers to people who have a problem with his appointment of Sohail Mohammed as ‘bigots’ who are causing ‘hysteria’ and ‘nonsense’ while calling Sohail a ‘pioneer’ who will overcome the bigotry:

In clip #3, Christie calls out Qatanani by name and refers to him as a ‘force for good’ while saying this ‘association’ has led some people to refer to him as ‘an Islamist’. The New Jersey Governor mocked this claim, saying he’d been ‘called worse things’ in the past:

In clip #4, Christie confusingly says that he will continue to ‘judge people based upon their relationships with me’ and then implies that Sohail, Qatanani, and presumably others are his ‘friends’ whom he makes no apologies for:

In clip #5, Christie eerily makes reference to having a spirit of ‘brotherhood’ and says people should ‘lower their suspicions and increase their faith in each other’. Whether Christie knows it or not – he should – that is exactly what groups like Hamas want, though for completely different reasons:

Here is Christie admonishing those who objected as “crazies” he was tired of dealing with. Just three years earlier, Christie let Mokhtar – a professed supporter of Hamas – go.

Christie continued to defend this appointment when he was asked about it at the Republican Jewish Convention earlier this year:

Another Muslim with whom Christie has schmoozed is Mustafa El-Amin, who filed a lawsuit against the Newark Board of Education for essentially being discriminated against:

Legal discovery continues in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by prominent Newark Muslim leader Mustafa El-Amin against the Newark Board of Education and former Newark Central High Principal and current Newark Mayor Ras Baraka among other defendants. The five count lawsuit, filed by Ryan Linder, Esq., alleges that El-Amin was denied a previously granted religious accommodation and wrongfully terminated because of his religious beliefs.

Christie has developed a reputation for being bombastic toward teachers unions. What do you think he has to say about Mr. Mustafa’s case?

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with Imam Mustafa El-Amin

Mustapha has also appeared with Qatanani. In this photo, Qatanani can be seen in the blue and Mustapha is to the right with his back to the camera.

Qatanani (on left in blue) and Mustapha (far right).