Sadia Saifuddin (center), a Muslim student at UC Berkeley, meets with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks (back to camera) after Saifuddin was appointed as the student regent at a meeting of the UC Board of Regents in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Saifuddin has been criticized by some for her views on certain Israeli and Jewish political issues. (Photo By Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom awarded $40 million in taxpayer funds to mosques whose leaders have preached antisemitic hate and called for violence against Israel.
  • Newsom’s administration awarded $200,000 this year to the Sajjadia Islamic Society as part of its Nonprofit Security Grant program, which aims to help nonprofits protect against terrorist attacks.
  • Some mosques that received grants, including the Islamic Center of Hawthorne and Islamic Center of Riverside, have leaders who have decried the “malevolence of the Jews” and prayed for Allah to “destroy them.”
  • A spokesman for California’s Office of Emergency Services, which administers the grants, stated that they are investigating whether any of the mosques have breached their grant requirements by facilitating hate speech. If confirmed, their funding will be immediately revoked.  
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