A new report has surfaced linking Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s mother to a designated terrorist organization accused of funding Osama bin Laden, Hamas and the Taliban.
The report, published by The Midwesterner, states that El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) from 1999 until at least 2004. IARA, which also operated under the name Islamic African Relief Agency, maintained dozens of offices worldwide and presented itself as a humanitarian organization focused on health care, orphans and disadvantaged people in conflict zones.
The U.S. Department of Treasury designated IARA as a “specially designated global terrorist” organization in 2004, alleging the group had “provided direct financial support” for bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks. The Treasury Department stated that “information available to the U.S. Shows that the overseas branches IARA provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to UBL in 1999,” using the acronym for Usama bin Laden. The department also accused IARA of supporting Hamas and Taliban fighters.
IARA-US was charged by the Department of Justice in March 2007 for illegally transferring funds to Iraq. The organization pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiring to violate sanctions by illegally funneling nearly $1.4 million to Iraq and agreed to dissolve. “The plea agreement acknowledges that, due to its designation as a specially designated global terrorist and the subsequent blocking of all its property, IARA has no funds readily available to it to pay any fine,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in July 2016.
Elkomy was never accused of any wrongdoing, and no individuals cited in the federal case against IARA were charged with terrorism-related crimes. She denied any connections between IARA and terrorists in a 2004 interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I’ve been working there serving orphans and children with at least one deceased parent, and it breaks my heart they’re not going to get any help,” Elkomy told the newspaper.
El-Sayed’s parents divorced and each remarried after immigrating to the United States in the early 1980s. Throughout his Senate campaign, El-Sayed, 40, has consistently referenced his father Mohamed El-Sayed and stepmother Jacqueline El-Sayed while making little to no mention of Elkomy, according to The Midwesterner. Elkomy eventually returned to the Middle East after remarrying but later relocated back to the United States, where she continues working as a nurse practitioner in Missouri.
The report on Elkomy’s employment history comes as El-Sayed faces mounting scrutiny over various associations. During a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing last Wednesday on Muslim Brotherhood threats in the U.S., counterterrorism analyst Kyle Shideler testified that El-Sayed’s candidacy raises homeland security concerns. “Yessir, it does,” Shideler told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, when asked whether El-Sayed’s bid raised such concerns. Shideler cited connections involving El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Dr. Tayeb Jukaku, who he said had served as president of CAIR-Michigan and was part of the Islamic Society of North America Founders Committee.
El-Sayed’s campaign has also drawn attention for collecting more than $115,000 from individuals affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. The donor list includes CAIR national Board Chair Manal Fakhoury, national Board Treasurer Eyas Abdeen and El-Sayed’s father-in-law Jukaku, who has been a major financial backer of the super PAC supporting El-Sayed’s campaign.
El-Sayed has faced additional criticism for his stance on Israel, including describing the country as a “rogue state” that has committed “genocide” and “apartheid” during a CNN interview in April. He also appeared alongside far-left streamer Hasan Piker at campaign events, where Piker unleashed a profanity-laced tirade against Democrats who opposed El-Sayed during the primary. “Like everyone being like, Abdul has a f— ton of work to do mending bridges. Here’s the f—ing take nuke for you, OK? You are all unbelievably Islamophobic pieces of s—, OK?” Piker said at El-Sayed’s election night event.
In the viral moment that sparked broader scrutiny of El-Sayed’s associations, investigative journalist Laura Loomer published documents and video allegedly showing El-Sayed pledging support to the Muslim Brotherhood and its former leader Mohamed Morsi. “How is he allowed to run for US Senate when he’s on the record pledging support to a designated Islamic terrorist organization?” Loomer wrote. She added, “In a sane country, this document I published would disqualify Abdul El-Sayed from running for US Senate.”
El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on August 5 and will face Republican Mike Rogers in the November general election.