The New York chapter of the Muslim American Society, which has received $265,000 in City Council discretionary funding, is facing a fiscal freeze after an event in Brooklyn, N.Y., allegedly featuring merchandise praising U.S.-designated terrorist groups.
MAS hosted a “Thrift4Sudan” on Jan. 18 at its youth center in Brooklyn. The New York Post reported that the vendors sold key chains, stickers, pins and other items that referenced Hamas, Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, based on footage from a now-deleted Instagram video posted by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation.
Merchandise at the event allegedly featured images of Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah and Yahya Sinwar of Hamas, both slain by Israeli forces during the two-year multifront war that began after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
The chapter has been awarded $265,000 in discretionary funds since fiscal year 2023 to support youth programming and other community initiatives, with $150,000 of that linked to allocations from former Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin said she is pausing payment of $80,000 in funding previously awarded for the current fiscal year while city lawyers conduct an internal review.
