Pro-Palestinian activist Rasha Mubarak interviews her friend and employer, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, on a December 2020 episode of her podcast. Both women are outspoken critics of Israel who have been accused of espousing anti-Semitic views. |
This article is an abridged version of the one that appears at FrontPage Mag.
U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is known for her intense hatred of Israel. Indeed, she was recently banned from entering the country. So it makes sense that she would want to hire an individual like Muslim activist Rasha Mubarak, someone who equally despises the Jewish state. Mubarak has gone so far as to say that it is a lie that Israel has a right to self-defense and has attacked anyone who states otherwise. However, Mubarak’s ire extends well beyond that of Israel, including against leaders in her own party, even Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Mubarak is the Finance Director for Congresswoman Tlaib. According to Tlaib, who was interviewed this month on Mubarak’s online show, Unbought Power Hour, her staffer helped her raise over $3 million for her re-election campaign. Mubarak is also the Democratic National Committeewoman for the Florida Young Democrats (FYD) and a member of the Orlando, Florida, Committee on Multicultural Affairs, appointed by Democratic Mayor of Orlando Buddy Dyer.
Mubarak has acquired all of these titles while exhibiting the most dangerous of extreme behavior, including support for terrorists. At the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict, along with photos of jubilant Hamas militants, Mubarak tweeted, “Thousands of people celebrating in the streets of Gaza for the victory. Alhamdulillah. #VictoryForGaza.” This past June and July, Mubarak posted memorials onto her social media for car-ramming terrorist Ahmed Erekat, who was shot and killed after attempting to run over an Israeli border officer. Last month, she promoted then-jailed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Maher al-Akhras with a message to free all like him.
One of several online tributes that Mubarak has posted to honor Ahmed Erekat, who was killed at an Israeli checkpoint after trying to run over a policewoman in his vehicle. |
Mubarak has worked with radical Muslim groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has foundational and financial ties to Hamas; Islamic Relief (IR), which has been banned by a number of nations; and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), which has partnered with terrorist charities that have been shut down. And Mubarak has organized rallies that have featured the worst of anti-Semitism, including one in December 2017, where her uncle Said Lutfi referred to Jews as “baby killers,” “Jesus killers,” and “the crappiest piece of s**t on this planet.” Mubarak has mocked Orthodox Jews for seeking “beard friendly” gas masks to protect themselves from terrorist attacks.
Apart from the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) recently cancelling an event because of Mubarak’s participation in it, the party has largely ignored her radical activities. In fact, the party has even ignored her attacks against the leaders of the Democratic Party.
Mubarak characterized the Florida Democratic Party’s decision to cancel an event over her appearance as “violence against Palestinians.” |
This past August, following Joe Biden’s pick of Kamala Harris as his running mate, Mubarak retweeted a derogatory post portraying Harris, whose husband happens to be Jewish, as supporting “illegal Israeli settlements” and championing “Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem.”
Last month, as Joe Biden considered his choices to head up the State Department, the CIA, the UN Ambassadorship and more, Mubarak accused Biden of wishing to place “war criminals” in his administration. She tweeted, “Biden’s cabinet looking like it will secure some top war criminals. My bad, ya’ll still need some time to celebrate?”
And this month, after President Barack Obama questioned the extreme Left’s call to defund police throughout the U.S., Mubarak tweeted, “So all of y’all who been missin’ Obama – which part of his legacy exactly: when he was bombing Iraqi families, deporting immigrants, or undermining the people’s call to #DefundthePolice? Y’all must be too busy reading his book over brunch.”
Another of Mubarak’s Unbought Power interviews was with CAIR National Research and Advocacy Director Abbas Barzegar, who has advocated for the “natural steps of accepting Islamic experiments in modern governance.” Barzegar has defended the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and attacked a Muslim campus club for pursuing interfaith outreach with a prominent Jewish student group.
Besides calling for an Islamic state, Barzegar is an outspoken advocate for the release from prison of convicted cop killer and Islamist Jamil Al-Amin. |
In June 2014, Barzegar appeared in photos taken at the Syrian border with members of the Kilis, Turkey division of Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a charity which law enforcement raided months earlier over concerns that it was involved with Al Qaeda. He subsequently praised the group for working on “the front lines of the Syrian conflict,” where IHH is alleged to fund and assist jihadists.
During the interview with Barzegar, Mubarak acknowledged this author’s efforts to have her removed from positions related to the Democratic Party. She stated, “I’ve had the right wing call on the Democrats to unseat me from the Young Democrats or to unseat me from the Mayor’s Advisory Board.” Mubarak merely laughed off the attempts to have her removed from local government positions as a result of her history of anti-Semitism.
It is easy to comprehend why the Democratic Party would sit by and do nothing as Mubarak attacks Jews and Israel; this type of rhetoric has become all too prevalent within party circles. Party leaders must learn to hold their members accountable for overt anti-Semitism. Yet, Mubarak’s bigotry is now targeting the Democratic Party itself, and its ranking officials have failed to respond with appropriate action.
The time for party leadership to enact “damage control” and remove and repudiate Mubarak is long overdue. Failure to do so means they are complicit in her prejudice and condone her terrorist support by giving her legitimacy and providing her cover. Her recent position as Finance Director/Fundraiser for Rashida Tlaib helps to solidify her status within the Democratic Party and is an indication that her hatred of Jews and Israel has served to further her career within its ranks.
Joe Kaufman is a writer for the Counter-Islamist Grid, a project of the Middle East Forum, and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
