Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

In San Diego, controversy surrounds an antisemitic imam and his wife

Imam Taha Hassane has justified Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, while Lallia Allali posted an image of a Star of David decapitating babies.

Islamic Center of San Diego
The Islamic Center of San Diego. Source: Google Street View.

On Dec. 8, the Palestine, Arab and Muslim Caucus of the California Faculty Association hosted an event—listed with the California State University, San Bernardino logo—titled “Endangered Education: Teaching Palestine in Liberated K-12 Ethnic Studies.”

Among the speakers at the event, for which the Council on American-Islamic Relations was listed as a co-sponsor, was Lallia Allali, whom the group listed as a doctoral candidate at the University of San Diego.

Last month, Allali quit a University of San Diego position and the community advisory board of The San Diego Union-Tribune after the revelation that he had posted an image on her Facebook account of a Star of David decapitating five babies. A caption read: “The devil is killing.”

The Union-Tribune, which referred to it as “a graphic and deplorable antisemitic image,” stated that “Once we had the opportunity to confirm that Allali had reposted it, we accepted her resignation and removed her from the list of board members and contributors on our website.”

“This is a double blood libel, 40 Israeli babies were mass murdered, 30 Israeli children are being held hostage, and many others were murdered in southern Israel,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, stated at the time.

“This blood libel against the Jewish people would bring tears of joy to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels,” he added.

The university said in a statement that “while individuals have the right to express their views on their personal accounts, they do not reflect the views of USD’s leadership nor any official position of the university.”

“In the interest of safety, Allali has decided to step away from teaching the course,” it added. “The safety of our community is the university’s top priority.”

Allali is married to Imam Taha Hassane, of the Islamic Center of San Diego, “a mosque best known as the home to two 9/11 hijackers,” The Waashington Free Beacon reported. The San Diego mosque received $150,000 in federal funding on Aug. 15, the paper reported.

“When people are occupied, then the resistance is justified,” Hassane said in a sermon on Oct. 20, justifying Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack. “We cannot accuse somebody who is fighting for his life to be a terrorist. The terrorist is the one who started the occupation, not the one who is defending himself.”

Either Iran “agrees to abide by international law, or a coalition of nations from around the world and the region will make sure that it’s open,” the U.S. secretary of state said.
Lawyers for the council said that Queens councilmember Vickie Paladino sought the subpoenas “with the sole purpose of creating a public spectacle.”
The holiday appears as “a living educational framework—a connection between Jewish communities in Israel and abroad, and a reflection of the strength of these communities across generations.”
“It becomes comfort, continuity and a way to feel connected to tradition and to one another at home,” Talia Sabag, of the Manischewitz parent company Kayko, told JNS.
The mayor said the NYPD informed him of the alleged firebombing plot against Within Our Lifetime co-founder Nerdeen Kiswani a day after a New Jersey man was charged for the threat.
“Life-changing consequences—civil and criminal—will follow” if a cover-up is found, judge warns, as Jewish National Fund–Canada challenges loss of charitable status.