Pro-Hamas activists display a banner lionizing Matt Nelson, a radical leftist who immolated himself in front of the Israeli Consulate in Boston on September 11, 2024. They displayed the banner during a September 24, 2024 vigil organized by the Muslim Justice League, a Boston-based nonprofit that has received substantial funds from charitable foundations headquartered in the city.
(Photo by Dexter Van Zile)
A Massachusetts nonprofit recently announced that it has ceased providing financial support to the Muslim Justice League (MJL), a charity that conflates Islamism and leftism while promoting anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda in the Boston area. The Lenny Zakim Fund also rebuked the MJL for stoking hate and bigotry at a vigil it held in September.
The Distancing
Officials from the Lenny Zakim Fund (LZF), which held more than $9 million in assets in 2023, made the announcement after Focus on Western Islamism (FWI) documented the support it provided to MJL in two articles, the first published on the Middle East Forum’s website in late September and the second published by the Massachusetts-based Jewish Journal in early November. In particular, FWI reported that LZF had given at least $100,000 between 2018 and 2022 to the radical organization.
“The Zakim Fund has not provided grant assistance to the Muslim Justice League since 2021,” LZF declared in a letter to the Jewish Journal published on November 18, 2024. Allison E. Picott, LZF’s executive director, and Felicia Heywood, who serves as acting chair of its board of directors, signed the letter , which also declared that the organization engages in a robust vetting process when making grants.
“Some of our former grantee partners may change their leadership, tone, or goals throughout their life cycle. In some cases, such as this one, these organizational changes would be deemed to have violated our core principles and preclude future support through funding or partnership,” the letter stated.
LZF’s decision clearly represented a blow to MJL’s finances. According to data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service, the Zakim fund had given the Islamist organization a total of $40,000 in 2021, representing almost 40 percent of the MJL’s revenue for that year.
MJL’s Extremism
Lenny [Zakim] would have strongly condemned MJL’s recent demonstration of what is reported to be hate and bigotry.
LZF, established by Lenny Zakim, a legendary civil rights activist who had a bridge crossing the Charles River in Boston named in his honor after his death, had refused to respond to FWI inquiries about its support for MJL, but finally went public with its decision after the Massachusetts-based Jewish Journal published an article highlighting the previously documented extremism on display at a “vigil” organized by the radical organization in late September 2024.
At the vigil, MJL speakers praised Matt Nelson, who immolated himself on September 11, 2024, in protest of American support for Israel, and Caleb Gannon, a troubled young leftist from Newton, Massachusetts, who tackled a pro-Israel activist after apparently falling under the spell of pro-Hamas propaganda broadcast on the internet. During the vigil, speakers accused Israel of genocide and one MJL official declared that “Muslims love justice and there’s nothing this country [the United States] hates more than justice.” Masked agitators harassed a reporter at the vigil as well. The MJL has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
LZF’s Rebuke
The details of the vigil prompted LZF to issue a rebuke of the organization it once funded in its November 18 letter.
“When board member Joyce Zakim read the recounting of the incident, she responded, ‘The Lenny Zakim Fund embodies Lenny’s activism, which brought people together to make a difference, strengthen communities, and stand up to hate and prejudice of all kinds,’” the organization reported. “’When LZF decided to support the Muslim Justice League several years ago, it appeared that it fit our mission to bring positive change to local communities. Just as we do at The Fund, Lenny would have strongly condemned their recent demonstration of what is reported to be hate and bigotry.’”
LZF’s rebuke indicates the Muslim Justice League crossed a red line that responsible progressives could not countenance. One can only hope that American political and intellectual leaders follow LZF’s example and kick Islamist extremists and their allies to the curb in the coming year.
