Tim Walz administration awarded millions to group that raised funds for al-Qaida-linked organization

Under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota awarded millions to an Islamic American association that later raised funds for a Muslim charity that collaborated with an organization linked to al-Qaeda.

The Minnesota Department of Health pledged to give the Islamic Association of North America more than $2 million in public health-related grants between 2020 and 2026, coinciding with Walz's term as governor of Minnesota, according to the state. expense records first informed by the Washington Examiner. The Islamic Association of North America, following the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel, celebrated a fundraiser for Rahma Worldwide, a Muslim charity he has collaborated on an aid program in Gaza with the Islamic Heritage Revival Society of Kuwait, a US government organization sanctioned to fund al-Qaeda and that US intelligence officials believed to be part of a Hamas fund-raising operation.

The governor is responsible for appointing the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, seconds at MinnPost.

“Determined to pick the worst possible partners at every turn, we now know that Walz oversaw $2.1 million in grants to another terrorist-aligned organization, with whose officials the governor appears to have close ties,” Sam Westrop, a terrorism analyst at the Middle East Forum, said the examiner. “This is not only a reprehensible use of Minnesota taxpayer dollars, it is also a complete betrayal of all those moderate Somali and Muslim activists who work every day to fight this extremism in their communities.”

Walz, now the presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee, is under fire for his ties to Asad Zaman, an Islamic cleric who shared a pro-Hitler video on social media, defended the October 7 terrorist attacks and posted a link to a Hamas press release on his Facebook page. “The governor and he have no personal relationship. Governor Walz strongly condemns the terrorism of Hamas,” said a spokesman for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign. he said CNN.

Walz, however, called Zaman a “master teacher” at a 2018 event, the Examiner informed.

“I'm a teacher, so when I see a master teacher, I know it,” Walz said of Zaman, according to the Examiner. “During the time we've spent together, one of the things I've been privileged to do is see things in life through the eyes of a master teacher, to try to understand each other.”

The Walz administration also gave more than $100,000 in grants to the American Muslim Society of Minnesota, which Zaman heads.

The Islamic Association of North America says it represents “Muslim communities nationally and speaking on behalf of member organizations on all matters relating to Muslims.” seconds on your website.

At least some of the grant funds sent to the organization by the Walz administration paid for it to help increase vaccination rates against COVID-19, for a press release. The Islamic Association of North America was part of a statewide “Community COVID-19 Coordinators” program that sought to engage minority stakeholders to “support Minnesotans who need information about COVID-19 specific to their communities, even in their languages.”

Yusuf Abdi Abdulle, director of the group, he said on Facebook that “Palestine has the right to defend itself” after the October 7 terrorist attacks in which Hamas militants killed 1,200 people, violated women and kidnapped children

The Islamic Association of North America, the Minnesota Department of Health and the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Latest messages from Robert Schmad (see everything)

We have zero tolerance for comments that contain violence, racism, profanity, profanity, doxing, or rude behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it, click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for engaging with us in a fruitful conversation.