A sheikh at a Dearborn Heights, Michigan, mosque said Islam and the Shiite faith are “coming to America” and declared that believers will help “build America” on what he called a foundation of Islamic moral civilization.
Sheikh Ibrahim Yassine, a resident scholar at the Islamic Institute of America, made the remarks during his August 14 sermon, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which documented and translated the speech from a video posted by the mosque.
“We will build America on the basis of moral civilization and Islam,” Yassine said. “What they have is no civilization. It is nothing but worldly life, nothing but technology. For them, civilization means killing nations and plundering their resources, even if it means killing all the people.”
Yassine then turned his attention to President Donald Trump, invoking the president&#8217;s warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” as an example of what he described as a dangerous American mentality. 
“He wants to kill you,” Yassine said of Trump. “This is a sick mentality.”
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Shiite Islamic Scholar Ibrahim Yassine at Dearborn Heights Mosque: Islam and the Shiite Faith Are Coming to America; We Will Build America on the Basis of Moral Civilization and Islam <a href="https://t.co/6oOacD1Yp7">pic.twitter.com/6oOacD1Yp7</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://x.com/MEMRIReports/status/2092908378687152464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Yassine said the growth of Islam and the Shiite faith in America would not be an effort to sow discord, but would be pursued through “reason,” “logic,” religion, and “moral values.” 
“We should be among the best citizens in America,” he said.
The remarks are not the first time Yassine has criticized Trump. During a March 6 Ramadan gathering at the Islamic Education Center in Orlando, Florida, Yassine mocked Trump over his interest in Iran&#8217;s selection of a new supreme leader following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Trump, he wants to choose the jurisprudent leader of Iran,” Yassine said, according to MEMRI&#8217;s translation. “I mean this man is stupid and crazy.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://x.com/hashtag/ICYMI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ICYMI</a>: In Orlando Mosque, Shiite Scholar Sheikh Ibrahim Yassine Congratulates Mojtaba Khamenei on Election as Iran’s Supreme Leader, Adds: Trump Is a Stupid and Crazy Man Surrounded by Thugs and Smugglers, While Khamenei Did Nothing Bad to Anyone, Everybody Loved Him <a href="https://t.co/X4Qr4imfJ1">pic.twitter.com/X4Qr4imfJ1</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://x.com/MEMRIReports/status/2033277806453604738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Yassine went on to praise Khamenei, describing him as a “pious” and “humble” man who was loved by the oppressed around the world. 
He then congratulated Khamenei&#8217;s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, on his selection as Iran&#8217;s new supreme leader.
“I would like to congratulate us and the whole Shiite Islamic nation on the election of Mojtaba Khamenei,” Yassine said, according to MEMRI. He called the development an “important and blessed step” by the people of Iran and the Assembly of Experts.
In 2016, he attacked Israel at a Quds Day event in Detroit, claiming the Palestinian issue was not merely a political or regional dispute.
According to remarks documented by MEMRI, he described Israel as a “plundering entity” that spreads corruption beyond the Middle East.
“Allah has promised that this plundering entity will be annihilated, and it must be annihilated, by the efforts of the believers,” Yassine said, according to MEMRI&#8217;s translation.
Yassine is not the only imam at the institute whose sermons have drawn scrutiny. In a July 17 sermon at the Islamic Institute of America, Shiite scholar Mohammad Qazwini celebrated the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), saying Allah had “taken his soul and threw him in Hell.” 
“Last Sunday, we woke up with very good news,” he said. “Suddenly we hear that Lindsey Graham … Allah took his soul and threw him in Hell. Blessings upon Muhammad and the household of Muhammad.”
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<a href="https://x.com/hashtag/ICYMI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ICYMI</a>: Dearborn Heights Shiite Scholar Mohammad Qazwini Celebrates Lindsey Graham’s Death: Allah Slapped Him and Took His Soul to Hell; Says Graham Told His Friend President Trump That He Had More Plans to Finish His Job, Let’s Ask Allah to Also Take Graham’s Friend <a href="https://t.co/gFjFxFocGw">pic.twitter.com/gFjFxFocGw</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://x.com/MEMRIReports/status/2086498491237535845?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Qazwini blamed Graham for what he called the “genocide in Gaza” and the killing of civilians in Lebanon, then asked congregants to pray that Allah would also take Graham&#8217;s “friend,” President Trump.
Qazwini also called on the congregation to pray for “victory to Islam and the Muslims” and for Allah to “humiliate the infidels and the hypocrites” and bring “wrath, vengeance, and punishment upon Israel.”
In a July 31 sermon, Qazwini endorsed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, telling congregants that Muslim men and women had a responsibility to elect him because he is Muslim and would support Muslim interests in the United States.
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Michigan Shiite Scholar Mohammed Qazwini: It Is Mandatory to Support Brother Abdul El-Sayed; Every Muslim Man and Woman Has an Obligation to Elect Him Because He Is a Muslim and Will Support Muslim Issues in This Country <a href="https://t.co/dCwezhuu3V">pic.twitter.com/dCwezhuu3V</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://x.com/MEMRIReports/status/2084252010799403197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The founder and senior scholar of the mosque, Hassan Qazwini, also urged congregants to vote in the August 4 Democratic primary, in which El-Sayed was seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, according to MEMRI. 
Qazwini said “Zionists” were spending more than $16 million to “hijack” voters&#8217; voices and urged Muslims to use their ballots to “deal the Zionists a big blow.” 
The institute has also hosted memorial events for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Lebanese Shiite cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, according to MEMRI. After Nasrallah was killed, Qazwini praised martyrdom. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Dearborn Heights Shiite Scholar Hassan Qazwini: Please, Please Vote on Tuesday; The Way to Deal the Zionists a Big Blow is to Go and Cast Your Vote – Don’t Allow the Zionists to Hijack Your Vote <a href="https://t.co/XtJ3Nlv4t2">pic.twitter.com/XtJ3Nlv4t2</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://x.com/MEMRIReports/status/2084524192737665142?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Sheikh Ibrahim Yassine

Dearborn Sheikh Declares Muslims ‘Will Build America’ On Islam

Dearborn

Islam

Islam in America

Michigan

The national organization Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) has responded to accusations that it is promoting Islam.
“Girl Scouts is proudly for every girl. Contrary to misinformation circulating online today, Girl Scouts is not a religious organization and does not teach religion,” a GSUSA spokesman told The Daily Wire in a statement. 
“For more than a century, we&#8217;ve welcomed girls of every faith and background. Our national My Promise, My Faith pin invites girls to connect the Girl Scout Law with their own faith. Any other faith-based patches are developed by independent faith organizations, not GSUSA, and participation in these programs is always optional.”
The statement comes following a <a href="https://nataliegwinters.substack.com/p/exc-from-hijab-try-ons-to-islam-patches">report</a> by White House reporter Natalie Winters. In it, she accuses certain mosque-based troops of “embedding ‘Islamic values’ into girl scout programs across America.” 
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EXCLUSIVE: The Islamization of Girl Scouts across America:
• GSUSA-approved “GIRL SCOUT OF THE ISLAMIC FAITH” medals 
• Non-Muslim girls invited to mosques to observe Islamic prayer 
• Hajj patches, Shahada lessons, required white hijabs and Ramadan lock-ins
Nationwide. 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/HbyAXeCQoT">pic.twitter.com/HbyAXeCQoT</a>
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) <a href="https://x.com/nataliegwinters/status/2091908255521845724?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
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One example Winters provided was the troop affiliated with the SALAM Islamic Center in Sacramento. In 2025, the troop hosted a “hijab photo booth” and provided an “informative booth about Palestine” to all attendees. 
One troop leader admitted to “[incorporating] our religion into the framework that Girl Scouts provides.”
As Winters pointed out in her article, this is not an isolated incident. She discovered mosque-affiliated troops promoting Muslim practices across the nation, from Illinois and New York to several other places.
These troops are consistently using Girl Scout programming to teach Islamic practices, including prayer, Ramadan, and hijab. Individual troops and local councils are imposing these rules, meaning it’s not done through the Girl Scouts as a whole. But there also hasn’t been any attempt by the organization to shut it down. 
There are also Girl Scout-style badges available through the National Islamic Committee on Girl Scouting. As Winters noted in a post on X, “GSUSA’s linked chart says it approved the programs and allows the insignia on official uniforms.”
Former Girl Scout leader and founder of the Christian-based organization American Heritage Girls Patti Garibay said none of this is surprising to her.
&#8220;Sadly, for us, this isn’t news. We watched the Girl Scouts move away from their Christian roots decades ago, removing references to God wherever they could. That’s why American Heritage Girls was founded in the first place, because since 1995, common-sense American families wanted a place where girls could be encouraged to live out their Christian faith,” she said.
“[Girl Scout founder] Juliette Gordon Low stood for something at the heart of the organization she founded: an abiding faith in Jesus Christ. Somewhere along the way, the Girl Scouts lost that core in an effort to stand for everything, or perhaps nothing at all,” Garibay added, urging current Girl Scout members to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-happened-to-the-girl-scouts-so-many-americans-grew-up-with?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=What+Happened+To+The+Girl+Scouts+So+Many+Americans+Grew+Up+With%3F">consider an alternative</a>.

Muslim girl scotus

Girl Scouts Respond To Firestorm Over ‘Islamic Faith’ Patch

Girl Scouts

Muslim

Religion

The inspector general’s office for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) <a href="https://oig.usaid.gov/node/8198">reported</a> Wednesday that over 100 current and former staff members from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of over 1,200 Israelis.
Critics have warned for years that taxpayer-funded UNRWA is thoroughly infested with Hamas terrorists. Wednesday&#8217;s report was also shared by President Donald Trump.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1166557 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-27T084632.931-728x576.jpg" alt="" width="728" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-27T084632.931-728x576.jpg 728w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-27T084632.931-300x237.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-27T084632.931-768x608.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-27T084632.931.jpg 853w" sizes=" (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" />
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Despite the overwhelming evidence that the U.N. agency serves as a subsidized wing of Hamas, Democrat politicians are still begging to hand them more cash. Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has explicitly championed restoring U.S. taxpayer funding to UNRWA. Pushing a radical foreign policy platform that demands an end to military support for Israel, El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign <a href="https://abdulforsenate.com/priority/money-out-of-politics/#h-sensible-foreign-policy">officially calls</a> for an &#8220;immediate re-investment in foreign aid, including to UNRWA.&#8221;
El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign did not respond when asked by The Daily Wire if the Democratic candidate still wants to use U.S. tax dollars to re-invest in UNRWA after the troubling report.
According to federal watchdog records, the referrals detail UNRWA staffers actively engaged in horrific acts during the 2023 massacre. Among those flagged are former UNRWA school teachers who also acted as Hamas terrorists, including one who allegedly engaged in kidnapping, one who held civilian hostages, and another who commanded communications for terror cells from his post as a school principal. One former UNRWA social worker involved in kidnapping a civilian from Kibbutz Be’eri had his debarment proposal terminated only because he was already dead.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Investigations by the USAID Inspector General, dubbed &#8220;<a href="https://freebeacon.com/israel/exclusive-un-is-actively-obstructing-us-probe-into-links-between-its-gaza-relief-groups-and-hamas-as-americans-warn-un-to-divorce-cancerous-unrwa/">Operation Stop the Carousel</a>,&#8221; have been examining UNRWA-linked individuals suspected of terrorism. Yet, despite receiving billions in international backing, U.N. entities are actively stonewalling the probe. Watchdogs report that U.N. agencies, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, have repeatedly refused to hand over employee records and payroll data, effectively shielding suspected Hamas terrorists.
Seized Hamas military records revealed that senior staff at UNRWA schools, including principals, deputy directors, and classroom teachers, were active fighters in the Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. UNRWA facilities were routinely earmarked as military hideouts and weapons depots, while Gaza residents openly acknowledged the agency&#8217;s terror ties as an open secret.
As U.N. Watch Director Hillel Neuer told Congress in January 2024, “As we have shown in numerous reports over the past decade, teachers and schools at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which runs education and social services for Palestinians, regularly call to murder Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis, and incite antisemitism.&#8221;
From 3,000-member teacher group chats<a href="https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1744883114042658902"> celebrating</a> the October 7 massacres to classroom materials inciting violence against Jews, American tax dollars have systematically underwritten radicalization.
While figures like El-Sayed push to reopen the money flow, leaders in Washington are moving to shut it down forever. State Department officials and key lawmakers are calling for UNRWA to be permanently dismantled.

Michigan Democratic Senate Primary Winner Abdul El-Sayed Holds News Conference Day After Primary Win

Feds Uncover Disturbing U.N.-Oct. 7 Link As El-Sayed Pushes More Cash For Org

Abdul El-Sayed

Hamas

October 7

UNRWA

When Muslim extremists killed nearly 3,000 people on the morning of September 11, Americans awoke to the dangers of radical Islam. Though hardly the first instance of terrorism perpetrated by the hands of Muslims, nor the last, 9/11 was a crystallizing moment in the American psyche, and it led to intense debate about the nature of the “religion of peace.” Now, 25 years after 9/11, Americans are having a renewed discussion about Islam and whether the religion is compatible with Western values. While it may not come as a surprise that some on the Right do not believe Islam is compatible with the West, what you might find surprising is that many on the Left agree.
In our <a href="https://igc.fsu.edu/sites/default/files/2026-08/IGC_Report16_West_Civ_Final.pdf">survey</a> of 1,067 adults, conducted by Ipsos for the Institute for Governance and Civics, we find that many are skeptical of Islam. In the survey, we randomly assigned participants to receive a question with one key difference. Half of participants were asked to agree with the following statement: “Overall, Western civilization has done more harm than good in world history.” The other half received the same question, but the word “Western” was replaced with “Islamic.” While 6% strongly agreed and 17% somewhat agreed that Western civilization has done more harm than good, 22% strongly agreed and 22% somewhat agreed that Islamic civilization has done more harm than good. Replacing “Western” with “Islamic” increased total agreement with the statement by 21 percentage points.
Though interesting, this is not the most important conclusion to draw from the survey; that is — majorities on the Right and the Left believe that Islam is not compatible with the West.
We asked whether Western civilization bears responsibility for the world’s current problems, whether core traditions and values are worth preserving, whether Western societies are a force for good in global affairs, whether individuals have an attachment to Western civilization, and whether survey participants value Western civilization. Overall, Americans are generally pro-West. For example, 67% said they value Western civilization’s achievements compared to just 4% who said they did not. Fifty percent said they felt attached to Western civilization, while 9% said they did not.
Using these five items, we created a five-point pro-West index where 1 was low, and 5 was high. As you might expect, those who scored high on our pro-West index were less inclined to agree with the statement that Western civilization has done more harm than good and more likely to think Islam has done more harm than good. As my colleagues put it in their report, “Among respondents at the most pro-Western end of the index, with a score of 5, the estimated probability of agreeing that Western civilization has done more harm than good is just 3%, compared with 73% when the statement refers to Islamic civilization.”
The results on the left-hand side of the distribution are flipped: “At the most anti-Western end, with a score of 1, the pattern reverses: the estimated probability of agreeing that Western civilization has done more harm than good rises to 84% for Western civilization but falls to 9% for Islamic civilization.”
There are a couple of important threads to pull out here. First, people who are anti-West express negative views about the West more deeply than pro-West individuals do about Islam. In other words, the Left appears to hate the West more than the Right hates Islam. Second, those who dislike the West have a much higher view of Islam than they do of the West. On the Right side of our pro-West index, the difference in our experimental Western/Islamic question was 70 percentage points in favor of the West; on the Left, it was 75 percentage points in favor of Islam.
Current debates have been spurred by the surge of Democrat-Socialist candidates who happen to be Muslim. In New York, the site of the 9/11 attacks, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor in November 2025. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination for Senate. New Jersey Democrats selected Adam Hamawy as their nominee for the 12th Congressional District, and throughout the country, Democratic Socialism seems to be in the political air. While the political ideology is certainly getting its due attention and criticism, so too is the fact that many Democratic Socialists are Muslim.
The criticism is not simply that Islam has radical extremist elements, but that Islam itself is extreme and contrary to the American way. Representative Brandon Gill (TX-26) put it plainly when he <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/15/florida-georgia-lawmakers-call-for-mass-expulsion-of-american-muslims/87786534007/">said</a> Islam is “incompatible with our culture and our governing system.” In January 2026, Republican Congressmen Keith Self (TX-03) and Chip Roy (TX-21) <a href="https://keithself.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-self-and-congressman-roys-sharia-free-america-caucus-surges">founded</a> the “Sharia Free America Caucus.” Congressman Andy Ogles (TN-05), a member of the caucus, said, “Islam is a religion of violence, abuse of women, and ruthless political conquest.” The caucus launched with 24 members in under a month.
It should shock precisely no one that the Sharia Free America Caucus has quickly been labeled “Islamophobic.”
If you ask people on the Right if Islam is compatible with the West, chances are, if our poll is to be believed, that about three-fourths of them would say that the two worldviews are not compatible. Whereas, if you ask the same question to those on the Left, they would likely tell you Islam is compatible with the West. Then again, they would tell you that the West is terrible and responsible for the world’s worst. So, in their own way, they are telling you they too do not believe that Islam is compatible with the West.
***
James V. Shuls, Ph.D., is a Research Faculty member of the Institute for Governance and Civics at Florida State University

Arbaeen Commemoration In Tehran Amid Tensions Between Iran And U.S.

Survey: Both The Left And Right Doubt Islam’s Fit In The West

DW Opinion

A Nigerian journalist imprisoned for reporting on Christian persecution says Americans must fight the rise of Islam in the United States if they want to preserve their freedom.
Luka Binniyat issued the warning while speaking about a five-year legal battle that saw him spend over 80 days in prison after officials took issue with a story he wrote on an attack on a Christian village by Islamic militants. Binniyat, from the religiously divided, mineral-rich Nigerian state of Kaduna, is haunted by the violence he has witnessed.
“You should not allow Islam to gain root in America. They’ll come there with values that are not your own, and even if they are a minority, they will eventually try to enforce their own religion, their own beliefs over the community,” the 60-year-old Binniyat told The Daily Wire in an interview. “In Nigeria — here in the Muslim-dominated areas — Christians do not have rights.”
The warning is personal for Binniyat, who has seen firsthand the violent implementation of Sharia law. Northern Nigeria is largely Islamic, and the southern part of the country is Christian. The middle, where Binniyat has spent most of his time reporting on, is divided. What he has witnessed, he told The Daily Wire, is genocide.
“When you select a group of people for extermination, based on their race, based on their belief, or based on their ideology, you select them for mass murder. That is what genocide is all about,” he said. “That is what we&#8217;re experiencing.”
In many of the attacks he has reported on, he said the “Muslim community is not touched” while “it is the Christian community that is attacked.”
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<div id="attachment_1162877" style="width: 942px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1162877" class="size-full wp-image-1162877" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-21-at-10.36.55-AM.png" alt="" width="932" height="881" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-21-at-10.36.55-AM.png 932w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-21-at-10.36.55-AM-300x284.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-21-at-10.36.55-AM-609x576.png 609w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-21-at-10.36.55-AM-768x726.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 932px) 100vw, 932px" />World Watch Monitor.</div>
Binniyat’s use of the term genocide got him into legal trouble in October 2021, when he <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/in-nigeria-police-decry-massacres-as-wicked-but-make-no-arrests-4075998?slsuccess=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> a story in The Epoch Times that quoted a local politician accusing an official of covering up attacks on Christians. The official accused Binniyat of defamation while the local politician denied making the comment.
In November 2021, officials charged him with using a computer to transmit knowingly false information &#8220;for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will, or needless anxiety to another.&#8221;
The resulting legal battle, which lasted until May 2026, saw Binniyat spend months in prison. He said he was kept in a small, insect-infested prison cell with dozens of other inmates where they were forced to poop in buckets and given food Binniyat described as “punishment.”
In October 2024, Binniyat’s defense filed a “no case submission,” which was approved by the Federal High Court in Kaduna in November 2025, but no written decision was issued until May 26, 2026. His defense throughout the case was assisted by the Alliance Defending Freedom International.
The decision found that there was “no evidence to prove the essential elements of the alleged offense” and said the evidence presented against Binniyat was “manifestly unreliable,” according to ADF International.
“Luka Binniyat did nothing more than accurately quote a Nigerian legislator&#8217;s own words. This ruling is a vindication for Luka, but it should also be a wake-up call: Accurate reporting on atrocities is not a crime, and journalists covering religious persecution deserve protection, not prosecution,&#8221; Sean Nelson, senior counsel for Global Religious Freedom at Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Wire.
ADF International has another case pending before Nigeria’s Supreme Court looking to strike down its stringent blasphemy laws.
Binniyat’s case was <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/forb-victims-database/luka-binniyat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">championed</a> by the United States Council on International Religious Freedom and other watchdog organizations, including the <a href="https://cpj.org/2021/11/nigerian-journalist-luka-binniyat-detained-over-complaint-by-kaduna-state-official/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Committee to Protect Journalists</a> and Reporters Without Borders.
“I&#8217;m walking as a free man today. Thank God for the pressure around the world that was put on the government,” he said.
Thousands of Christians across Nigeria are killed annually with many advocates faulting the government for not doing enough to crack down on the violence. The continuous state of violence led to the Trump administration labeling Nigeria as a country of particular concern in 2025, putting it under greater international scrutiny.
Several militant Islamic groups typically are behind the violence, including insurgent group Boko Haram, the largely nomadic Islamic Fulani herdsmen, and the Islamic State of West Africa.
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<div id="attachment_1162889" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1162889" class="size-full wp-image-1162889" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1234007408.jpg" alt="TOPSHOT - The remaining wares of students of Bethel Baptist High School are seen inside the school premises as parent of abducted students wait for the return of their children whom were abducted by gunmen in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state, northwest Nigeria on July 14, 2021. - The girls are just two of the more than 100 Nigerian children snatched from Bethel Baptist High School nearly three weeks ago, herded by gunmen into the forests after a kidnapping raid on their dormitories.The July 5 attack in Nigeria's northwest Kaduna state was just the latest mass abduction at a school or college as kidnap gangs seeking quick ransoms zero in on soft target of young students. Armed kidnappings for ransom along highways, and from homes and businesses now make almost daily newspaper headlines in Africa's most populous country. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP) " width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1234007408.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1234007408-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1234007408-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1234007408-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />The scene outside a school where gunmen abducted children (KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images.)</div>
While not describing himself as a typical “born-again” Christian, Binniyat said it is his mission to expose violence against Christians, even if it means writing reports critical of the government. His home state of Kaduna demonstrates a “clash of values” that could not be more different.
Binniyat said that the Muslims want to impose Sharia law on the whole middle Nigerian region over Christians who want to embrace Western values with traditional African practices sprinkled in. A Christian converting to Islam can be killed for that conviction and many of the Muslim children do not attend schooling.
“They believe in violence. They say it&#8217;s a religion of peace,” he said of Islam. “As far as we know, it is a religion of violence.”
There is one attack that he said haunts him to this day. He said he showed up on the scene and found the smoldering bodies that were burnt during an attack targeting a Christian wedding. He said he helped locals gather over 20 bodies and bury them in a mass grave.
“It is something that I don&#8217;t want to recall. You could smell the flesh of humans burning. We had to bring out bodies that were roasted like animals — children, women,” he said.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1162891" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1162891" class="size-full wp-image-1162891" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2159375313.jpg" alt="Injured men lay in a van as they arrive for treatment after a wave of suicide attacks in the North East of Nigeria, in Maiduguri on June 29, 2024. At least 18 people were killed and 19 seriously wounded in suicide attacks targeting a wedding, a hospital and a funeral in northeastern Nigeria on June 29, authorities said. The region has been scarred by more than a decade of violence by jihadist group Boko Haram, which did not immediately claim responsibility for the string of attacks. (Photo by Audu MARTE / AFP) " width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2159375313.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2159375313-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2159375313-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2159375313-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Injured men lay in a van as they arrive for treatment after a wave of suicide attacks in Nigeria (AUDU MARTE/AFP via Getty Images.)</div>
With his legal battle over, Binniyat says he plans to continue writing on the plight of Christians, which he says has not improved during his journalism career. He said he would consider entering politics and push for policies that would provide more protection for Christians.
As someone who has seen the violence of a society dominated by militant Islam, Binniyat wants Americans to be careful.
“Americans should not take the liberty and the freedom which they are enjoying now for granted. If they allow Islam to establish a root in America, you are going to lose your country,” he said. “That is [why] I want the Americans to protect their religion, to protect their culture, and to assert their values on every immigrant that comes.”

Image (48)

He Was Jailed For Exposing Muslim Violence In Nigeria. Now, He’s Warning Americans To Fight Sharia.

Africa

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Christian Persecution

Nigeria

Persecution

Sharia Law

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would &#8220;absolutely&#8221; prohibit Sharia law in the United States, joining a growing number of Republican lawmakers pushing measures aimed at preventing Islamic law from superseding American law.
&#8220;You do have pockets of it,” Trump told Glenn Beck, founder of Blaze Media. “You go to London, you go to Paris — it&#8217;s almost like their second way of life. &#8230; I would absolutely prohibit the Sharia law thing. &#8230; You have to take it out.&#8221; 
Several GOP lawmakers have similarly called for restrictions on the application of Sharia law in the United States.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), who <a href="https://emmer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/whip-emmer-joins-sharia-free-america-caucus">joined</a> the Sharia Free America Caucus earlier this year, has said that “Sharia is completely incompatible with the American way of life and threatens the very fabric of our society.” 
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced legislation in October to ban Sharia Law in the United States. 
“Sharia law is fundamentally anti-American and has no place in our country,&#8221; Tuberville said. &#8220;If you want to peacefully practice your religion, you have every right to do so under the Constitution. But if you want to come to the United States and advocate for the practice of Sharia law over U.S. law, you should not be here.”
Tuberville&#8217;s No Sharia Act would prohibit courts from enforcing judgments, decrees, or contracts based on foreign laws when doing so would violate constitutional rights. It would also bar the application of foreign law in matters including marriage, divorce, custody, adoption, and inheritance when it conflicts with U.S. law.
Some applications of Sharia have previously come into conflict with American law. In 2008, Maryland’s highest court <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/gender-justice/resource/aleem_v._aleem">refused</a> to recognize a husband’s unilateral divorce under Pakistani law incorporating Islamic law because doing so would have allowed him to avoid Maryland&#8217;s rules governing the distribution of marital property. 
Traditional interpretations of Sharia law can also differ from American law on marriage, divorce, inheritance, and the legal rights of men and women. For example, a man may have as many as four wives, while a woman may have only one husband. Men can also initiate divorce without establishing fault, while women generally face greater restrictions. In some legal proceedings, a woman’s testimony may receive less weight because of her gender, whereas American courts evaluate witnesses under the same standards regardless of sex. Sharia law also traditionally imposes stricter dress requirements on women than on men.
The debate over Sharia has also surfaced in the Michigan Senate race following renewed attention to comments Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed made as a 24-year-old medical student.
El-Sayed discussed his Islamic faith with The New York Times in 2009 while explaining his decision to use a Sharia-compliant mortgage, which was structured to avoid the payment of interest prohibited by Islamic law.
“Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way,&#8221; El-Sayed said. &#8220;Not because of fear but because of obligation.”
El-Sayed has repeatedly defended his adherence to Sharia while maintaining that his religious beliefs would not be imposed on others.
The renewed debate comes as the number of Muslim elected officials in the United States has grown. A total of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-disturbing-rise-of-muslim-political-power-across-america?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=The+Disturbing+Rise+Of+Muslim+Political+Power+Across+America">255</a> Muslims now hold elected office across multiple levels of government.
“This record-breaking number represents far more than a statistic. It reflects an American Muslim community that is increasingly engaged, organized, and committed to serving our nation,” said Executive Director Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

President Donald J. Trump

‘You Have To Take It Out’: Trump Vows To Ban Sharia Law

Donald Trump

President Trump

Michigan has a Democratic Senate seat that the Democrats need to maintain, and it has now become open. The candidate they have chosen for this is Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim who supports radical Islam in pretty much every manifestation he can find.
He lies about it, but it&#8217;s not much of a lie considering he has openly stated that he was not going to talk about the death of Ayatollah Khamenei because too many of his friends and supporters were upset about it. He literally equated a radical Muslim attacking a bunch of Jewish schoolchildren in Detroit with the idea of the IDF killing a member of Hezbollah.
He spends his days hanging out with CAIR; his family members are pretty much openly connected with Muslim Brotherhood-associated groups. And of course, he has campaigned alongside anti-American Twitch streamer Hasan Piker over and over and over again.
On Monday, he decided to go on Fox News for an interview with Jesse Watters, and it got awkward because one of the very weird things about the sort of red-green alliance, the radical Left-radical Islam alliance, is that it makes for strange bedfellows.
Muslims generally don’t want transing of the kids. But Abdul El-Sayed is a good Democrat because he needs the coalition, and they support transing of the kids.
“You&#8217;re a doctor, right?” Watters asked. “So you think it&#8217;s okay for a parent to slash his kid’s ding-a-ling off?
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-show-ep-2492?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
“Do you really want to have this conversation?” El-Sayed replied. “Are you circumcised?”
“Yeah, but, I mean, that&#8217;s a personal question,” Watters answered.
“You probably should want to move on,” El-Sayed warned. “You probably should want to move on.
“And circumcision is different than castration,” Watters added.
“I think it&#8217;s a problem,” El-Sayed said. “It&#8217;s a problem that you think that you get to decide what happens between a parent, a doctor and a patient. And I&#8217;m just saying that, yes, circumcision is surgery on a kid&#8217;s ding-a-ling. So if you really want to bring that up, you can. I just think you guys are really selective about these things.”
Watters: “Abdul, Michigan&#8217;s not going for that.”
Imagine if El-Sayed asked whether it&#8217;s okay to cut people&#8217;s heads off, and he responds, “Hey, have you ever had a tonsillectomy?”
This is where we are now. He is asked about cutting small boys’ genitals off, and he answers with, &#8220;Are you circumcised?&#8221;
These are not the same thing. In fact, the only sort of female or male surgery for a child that would be in the same category would be female circumcision, but even that is different, because male circumcision still leaves the member intact and fully working. That is not the case with female circumcision, which is commonly practiced in many areas of the world.
El-Sayed’s comparison is crazy, even more so when you consider that Muslims are generally very pro-circumcision and against transing the kids.
But the Democratic coalition and power are all that matter here.
El-Sayed is a radical. In July 2025, he openly said that it was America that had created terrorists, saying:
<blockquote>I think the approach that we&#8217;ve often taken in terrorism has been to figure out how to leverage the might of the U.S. military to go in and root out certain terrorist organizations and where that&#8217;s necessary, that&#8217;s necessary.
But I also think we need to be curious about why those things happen in the first place. Like what drives somebody to want to commit such a heinous act? &#8230; part of what we have to understand is that sometimes when we move, we create so much collateral damage, because too often we have been on the wrong side of our own policies.</blockquote>
This is a person who truly hates America.
He compared Sharia law to canon law, saying, “The idea that I could practice my faith as I choose is a problem. Nobody is trying to push Sharia on anyone else. Just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon law on anybody else.”
“Nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else” is a hell of a statement globally, because that is not true on a global level at all.
El-Sayed has been out campaigning with Hasan Piker, who mocked Charlie Kirk’s death. Piker has no redeeming features. His fans are worse than he is because when he tried to walk back some of his anti-American rhetoric, his fans booed him for doing it. He told them America didn’t deserve 9/11, and his fans booed him because they know he&#8217;s lying about what he thinks; they know he&#8217;s lying because, of course, he believes America deserved 9/11.
Then he came out and suggested that the Democrats who have condemned his remarks about Charlie Kirk are somehow worse than Republicans. He said:
<blockquote>I think if you are a liberal and you lean into the Republican pearl-clutching operation around the martyrization of Charlie Kirk, you are literally in my estimation, you&#8217;re lower than the Republicans. Okay? You are the dogs*** that is stuck to the bottom of my shoe.</blockquote>
The fact that this person is treated as a mainstream voice within the Democratic Party and by the entire media is amazing. He also spent the weekend suggesting that Jews who support Israel are fair game.
I want to hear about real Judaism from Hasan Piker. What does Judaism mean? I think Hasan Piker should define it. His knowledge of Judaism is distilled wisdom.
Here&#8217;s what he&#8217;s really doing. His whole idea is that if you are a Jew who believes in truly Jewish ideas, you&#8217;re not really a Jew. Thus, if you&#8217;re attacked, you&#8217;re not being attacked for being a Jew. You&#8217;re being attacked for being bad. The Jews who agree with Hasan Piker are the ones who are okay.
This is the entire game right now of the antisemitic Left and some of the antisemitic Right: to say Zionist instead of Jew, because most Jews are Zionists, meaning that they believe there ought to be a Jewish state in Israel.
You know why we believe that? Because we have been praying for that three times a day for 3,000 years. We have been praying for it since the destruction of the Second Temple. It is a core part of Jewishness to believe there ought to be Jewish governance in Israel. That is a core part of being Jewish.
El-Sayed put out a statement: “I believe all Americans deserve the right to advocate for what they believe without fear of violence. This is particularly true for communities that have been intimidated for their beliefs in the past. My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters.”
I don&#8217;t believe him for one solitary second, because I promise you that if somebody attacked his daughter&#8217;s preschool, he would not be saying “Hurt people hurt people,” which is what he said when a Jewish preschool was attacked by a radical Muslim.
He says anti-Semitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all of its forms. He said, “To be crystal-clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople.”
Piker said on Tuesday:
<blockquote>There are going to be a lot of people who are already questioning Abdul El-Sayed’s sincerity on these issues that will then turn around and say, &#8220;Oh, he’s, you know, he’s moderating his position on Israel,&#8221; all this stuff. I don’t think he is. Okay, I will say this. I am literally the person that is being dangled. And I’m going to tell you once again, he’s not moderating on his perspective on Israel or anything like that. His reaction to this has always been very good, which is, &#8220;Look, I deal with people that I don’t fully agree with and don’t fully subscribe to on a daily basis.&#8221; This is politics. Politics is about addition, not subtraction, right?
It’s smart. It’s the right way to deal with it and then deflect back to the issues because they are the ones who are engaging in the deflection, okay?</blockquote>
That should make things perfectly clear.

IMG_6348

The Radical Transformation Of The Democratic Party Is Almost Complete

Ben Shapiro

Hasan Piker

Jesse Watters

Opinion

Radical Left

Here&#8217;s a shocker: at least 13 donors have contributed to the campaigns of leftist Michigan Democrat Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed and trust-fund Instagram playboy Dan Bilzerian, both of whom are virulently anti-Israel.
Federal Election Commission records reveal a shocking overlap in financial backing between El-Sayed and Bilzerian, who launched a losing Hitler-praising primary campaign for a Florida congressional seat, the Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/elections/exclusive-multiple-abdul-el-sayed-donors-also-gave-thousands-to-hitler-praising-jew-hating-dan-bilzerians-congressional-run/">reported</a> on Wednesday. At least one dozen donors have given funds to both men. Both men have expressed hatred for Israel, which may well be the donors’ motivation for supporting them.
Heading the list of donors is Georgia personal injury attorney Ibrahim Awad, who dumped more than $19,500 into both campaigns combined. Awad, a self-described &#8220;AIPAC Slayer&#8221; whose former clients have trashed his legal skills online, according to the Free Beacon, sent $12,652 to the Bilzerian Victory Fund — an amount exceeding the federal contribution limit.
Awad&#8217;s record of vile online rhetoric matches that of El-Sayed and Bilzerian. The anti-Israel activist posted on X that &#8220;Zionism is Nazism&#8221; and dubbed anyone claiming to be a proud Zionist a &#8220;Genocide Enabler.&#8221; He’s also praised figures who dismiss Holocaust history and celebrated the death of U.S. politicians, all while proudly showcasing his anti-Israel non-profit work.
Joining Awad as a donor to both men is Texas subprime auto-loan tycoon Hussein &#8220;Sam&#8221; Mahrouq, who has dropped over $150,000 on anti-Israel political bids nationwide. Mahrouq threw cash to both Bilzerian and El-Sayed, as well as &#8220;Squad&#8221; members Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). He even sent $1,000 to an anti-Zionist PAC run by a conspiracy theorist who blamed Jews for the September 11 terror attacks.
Bilzerian’s Florida Republican primary bid against Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) was defined by open Nazism. While burning through more than $1 million of his own cash before losing by 40 points, Bilzerian released a sickening AI-generated campaign ad showing imagery of Adolf Hitler while asking voters, &#8220;Should we revisit that Austrian painter&#8217;s opinions?&#8221; The video depicted Fine, who is Jewish, with devil horns and dubbed him a &#8220;fat Jew&#8221; and a &#8220;Shylock.&#8221;
Bilzerian, who once dodged charges of bomb-making and was accused of throwing a porn star off a roof, was ranked at the <a href="https://www.ajc.org/news/dan-bilzerian-and-the-rise-of-antisemitism-in-the-manosphere">top of the list</a> of global antisemitic influencers by Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs. Bilzerian routinely uses his platform to push 9/11 conspiracies, deny the Holocaust, and blame &#8220;Jewish supremacy&#8221; for the world&#8217;s problems.
While El-Sayed attempts to package his anti-Israel platform in polished liberal rhetoric, his campaign relies on some of the exact same pockets bankrolling Bilzerian&#8217;s pro-Nazi megaphone. El-Sayed won the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan earlier this month and faces Republican Mike Rogers in November.
When it comes to hating Israel, the Left and the extreme Right draw from the same pot.

Michigan Democrats Hold General Election Campaign Kickoff Rally

El-Sayed Attracts Over A Dozen Donors Who Also Gave To Hitler-Praising Congressional Hopeful

antisemitism

Dan Bilzerian

Donors

Four male high school students entered a Muslim prayer room at their public school, where two Jewish students prayed and sang in Hebrew and one did a handstand. Within moments, they were accused of “trashing” the room, making sexual maneuvers and engaging in offensive conduct they say never happened.
The incident at the public Academy at Palumbo in Philadelphia is the subject of a federal lawsuit against the School District of Philadelphia, with the students alleging that school officials failed to correct false accusations about what happened or protect them from threats that followed.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the lawsuit can move forward against three Philadelphia school officials, rejecting their effort to have the case thrown out. The judge found that the students had made a sufficient case that their constitutional rights may have been violated when they were disciplined for entering the prayer room.
According to the lawsuit, the students were confronted by classmates, threatened, and subjected to increasingly serious allegations about what they had done inside the room on June 11, 2024. Two families eventually left the Philadelphia School District, the lawsuit says, so their sons could finish high school elsewhere.
<div id="attachment_1163875" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1163875" class="size-large wp-image-1163875" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/5-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/5-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/5-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/5.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Outside the Muslim Prayer Room at Academy at Palumbo in Philadelphia (Courtesy)</div>
Only two of the four students were Jewish, but that apparently didn&#8217;t matter. The lawsuit claims the school district subjected them to different treatment because they were “not Muslims and were—or perceived to be—Jewish,” and because some of them expressed Jewish and pro-Israel views inside a prayer room used by Muslim students.
&#8220;Philadelphia high school boys had their lives threatened for daring to enter a room they later learned was reserved only for Muslim students,” Lori Lowenthal Marcus, legal director of the Deborah Project, which is representing the boys, told The Daily Wire. “The School District did nothing to protect these boys and instead their actions fanned the flames of hatred against them.&#8221;
The room was labeled a “Quiet Room” with a Palestinian flag on the door on the outside, but the lawsuit describes it as a Muslim prayer space. Inside were exclusively Islamic religious images, Arabic prayers, and materials identifying the room with the school’s Muslim Student Association. In a police report following the incident, Palumbo Principal Kiana Thompson herself described the dispute as involving “a particular room designated for one religion and with a particular flag on it.” The lawsuit also alleges that the room had gender designated times for Muslim students and that the Muslim Student Association held its meetings there.
<div id="attachment_1164017" style="width: 532px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1164017" class="size-large wp-image-1164017" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.13-AM-522x576.png" alt="" width="522" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.13-AM-522x576.png 522w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.13-AM-272x300.png 272w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.13-AM-768x848.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.13-AM.png 1080w" sizes=" (max-width: 522px) 100vw, 522px" />Police report by the principal of Academy at Palumbo (Courtesy)</div>
The judge’s opinion notes that the plaintiffs allege access to the room was effectively restricted to Muslim students. It also cites a large sign welcoming students to the “Prayer Room” and wishing them a “Happy Ramadan,” as well as guidelines from the Muslim Student Association.
The lawsuit says the students entered the room after seeing the door open. Several Muslim girls were inside, and the boys remained there for fewer than 10 minutes.
One of the Jewish students, M. Danowitz, said a brief Jewish prayer in Hebrew, told the girls he had a right to pray, asked why they were laughing and said he was a “proud Zionist.” Another Jewish student, identified as J2, who was recording the encounter, sang “Am Yisrael Chai,” meaning “the people of Israel live,” while Danowitz did a handstand and removed one poster and placed it on the floor.
The two non-Jewish students, identified as Hiester and Parmar, did not say anything.
The encounter was recorded on video but cannot be published because a court order protects the identities of the minors involved.
Within moments of leaving the room, the boys began facing threats from other students, according to the lawsuit. 
Hiester received 11 phone calls from A.B., a Muslim Palumbo student who had previously assaulted him and made death threats. Hiester ignored the first 11 calls but eventually answered one, at which point A.B. demanded to know where Hiester and Danowitz were because he had “unfinished business” with them and wanted to fight them. A.B. allegedly told the boys that if they did not return to school, he would come to their homes.
The lawsuit says the boys took the threats seriously because of A.B.’s history of assault and previous threats against both Hiester and Parmar. Hiester also received multiple threatening phone calls, text messages and FaceTime calls from other students who were close to A.B., according to the complaint.
<div id="attachment_1163877" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1163877" class="size-large wp-image-1163877" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/6-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/6-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/6-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/6.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Muslim prayer room at the Academy at Palumbo in Philadelphia (Courtesy)</div>
Meanwhile, Parmar and J2 returned to their computer lab, where A.B. and several other students confronted them, the lawsuit says. A.B. and five other students allegedly entered the classroom, surrounded the boys and demanded to know what they had done in the prayer room, accusing them of “trashing” it. 
When one student said he had been praying, A.B. allegedly shouted, “Which religion?”
The allegations quickly grew more serious. According to the lawsuit, Thompson later told the mother of one of the students that girls inside the room had accused her son of saying he “hates Muslims,” making sexually suggestive movements, including “humping the floor,” ripping posters from the walls and trashing the room.
Two days after the incident, Philadelphia School District teacher Kristin Luebbert addressed the Board of Education, despite not teaching at Palumbo and having no firsthand knowledge of what had occurred. No District investigation had yet begun, according to the complaint.
Luebbert described the incident as an “appalling display of sacrilegious defilement” and alleged that male students had entered a prayer space where Muslim girls were gathered, ripped items from the walls, thrown prayer rugs around and “grind and writhe on the floor in an imitation of sex acts.”
“Take that in,” Luebbert told the board. “This was a planned action that included acts which any Muslim girl or woman would be deeply offended and traumatized by.”
She called on the District to publicly denounce what she described as “anti-Muslim and anti-Black hate.”
The lawsuit notes that Luebbert made her comments long before any investigation was conducted by the school and relied on rumors.
The families say the school failed to stop the allegations from spreading or adequately respond when the boys began receiving threats. When three of the students’ parents went to Palumbo seeking help, the lawsuit says that Thompson refused to meet with them because they did not have appointments. When one mother emphasized that her son was receiving threats, Thompson allegedly laughed and responded, “Well, there’s multiple sides to that story.” The complaint says Thompson then called school security and police to remove the families from the building.
The families later went to the School District&#8217;s central office, where they provided statements and showed officials the video, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege that despite being given evidence contradicting the allegations, District officials failed to adequately protect the students or correct the accusations.
<div id="attachment_1163879" style="width: 569px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1163879" class="size-large wp-image-1163879" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.55-AM-559x576.png" alt="" width="559" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.55-AM-559x576.png 559w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.55-AM-291x300.png 291w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.55-AM-768x791.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-9.40.55-AM.png 832w" sizes=" (max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px" />Prayer room at Academy at Palumbo in Philadelphia (Courtesy)</div>
The two boys were then suspended at the direction of Assistant Superintendent Richard Gordon, purportedly because they had snuck Danowitz, who was no longer a Philadelphia School District student, into the school building through a back door. The boys disputed that account, saying they had not let Danowitz into the building and that security footage supported their version of events.
Although the school had possession of that video, its leaders allegedly did not look at it before suspending the boys, which validated the rumors that the boys had trashed the prayer room and did sexual maneuvers in the room.
The judge ultimately dismissed Danowitz’s claims for damages and injunctive relief, finding that he lacked standing because he was not a member of the Palumbo school community and was on school property without permission.
But the judge found that Hiester and Parmar had sufficiently alleged a violation of their due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. They were never told they were being suspended for helping an unauthorized visitor enter the school. Officials only questioned them about entering the prayer room.
The two non-Jewish families said the dispute eventually drove them out of Philadelphia, so their sons could finish high school elsewhere.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court last year, alleges that the students&#8217; treatment violated their constitutional rights and that school officials discriminated against them because they were Jewish or perceived to be Jewish.
In explaining his decision, U.S. District Judge John Milton Younge wrote that “a reasonable jury could find” that school officials violated the Establishment Clause by disciplining the students for entering the prayer room. He also rejected the officials’ claim of qualified immunity, writing that their argument was “unpersuasive.”
Younge also dismissed the students’ Title VI claims without prejudice, finding that the complaint did not plausibly establish that school officials acted with antisemitic animus or that the harassment itself was antisemitic. The judge said the threats against Hiester and Parmar appeared to stem from accusations that they had desecrated the prayer room and harassed Muslim girls, rather than from their perceived Judaism.
&#8220;We&#8217;re thrilled that the judge has sustained our claims under the First Amendment&#8217;s Establishment Clause and the Due Process claim and given us leave to amend all the other claims so that this case will proceed,” Marcus said. “The injured families can now proceed to rectify what happened to them because of the failures of the Philadelphia School District to comply with the law and to protect all future students.&#8221;
The Philadelphia School District did not respond to a request for comment.

Philadelphia School Muslim Prayer Room

Jewish Students Hounded For Entering School’s Muslim Prayer Room Score Big Legal Win

Education

Philadelphia

Rose City Antifa, one of the oldest and most active Antifa organizations in America, relied on the same foreign technology collective that provided digital infrastructure to groups connected to Hamas, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to a recently released State Department memo.
The memo was first reported by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/exclusive-state-dept-reveals-portland-antifa-connection-hamas-irans-irgc-sweeping-terror-action">Fox News</a> on Wednesday as the Trump administration escalated its campaign against what it describes as transnational far-Left terrorism. 
The State Department designated the Italy-based Autistici/Inventati, known as the A/I Collective, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and accused the group of providing encrypted communications, web hosting, secure video conferencing, streaming and anonymity services to violent extremist organizations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the collective’s services were used by “the most active and violent Antifa cells in the United States and across the world.”
“Far-Left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West,” Rubio wrote on X. “There will be no refuge for violent extremists who wage war on our civilization and plot to undermine law and order, destroy critical infrastructure, assault political opponents, or conspire to conceal their crimes from authorities.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West. Today, the United States sanctioned several transnational far-left terrorist networks, including Autistici/Inventati – a major far-left tech collective whose services are used by the most active…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2092620708744491201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2026</a></blockquote>
The State Department memo specifically identifies Portland-based Rose City Antifa as one of the American groups that used A/I Collective infrastructure. The group, which has operated in Portland, Oregon, for almost two decades, has been repeatedly associated with violent clashes, property destruction, and attacks on law enforcement. The city has long been a major center of Antifa activity, including during the 2020 George Floyd riots and more recent confrontations over immigration enforcement.
According to the State Department, Rose City Antifa used A/I Collective tools to organize and encourage violent and criminal activity, including distributing a flyer encouraging supporters to aim lasers at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) helicopters. The memo says at least one person responded to the call and later pleaded guilty to aiming a laser at a CBP helicopter, forcing the aircraft to abort a planned landing. Rose City Antifa also allegedly used the infrastructure to disseminate personal information about Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and encourage attacks against ICE agents both at their homes and in public.
But the Portland group&#8217;s connection to the A/I Collective extends into a much broader international network. The State Department says the same technology infrastructure was used by a media organization to disseminate information to terrorist organizations Hamas, Hezbollah, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the PFLP. The A/I Collective reportedly operates thousands of digital services, including roughly 16,000 mailboxes, 1,500 websites, 5,500 mailing lists, and 10,000 blogs. The State Department says its services have been used by extremists to distribute propaganda, information on targets, tactical manuals, and claims of responsibility for attacks. The collective also allegedly tests users for Left-wing alignment before allowing them access to services, according to the State Department.
The designation represents another step in the Trump administration&#8217;s broader effort to treat violent far-Left networks as a counterterrorism problem rather than just a domestic protest movement. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-designates-antifa-a-major-terrorist-organization">designated</a> Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in 2025 following a series of violent confrontations involving activists and federal immigration authorities. The administration has since pursued terrorism charges against alleged Antifa militants involved in an armed attack on an ICE detention facility in Texas and has pushed international governments to cooperate against what it describes as transnational political extremism.
The administration&#8217;s focus has increasingly extended beyond individual violent actors to the infrastructure supporting them. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Wednesday that the administration would target those who provide financial and logistical support to violent far-Left groups. 
“Far-Left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” Bessent told Fox News. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”
Rubio said the administration would continue using its counterterrorism and economic authorities against the networks. 
“We will use all the tools and authorities at our disposal to fight terrorism and protect our way of life from terrorist coercion,” Rubio said.

Antifa Protesters

The Foreign Collective Linking Hamas, IRGC, And A U.S. Antifa Cell

Antifa

IRGC

left wing terrorism

Leftism

Leftist Ideology

Leftist Terrorism

Marco Rubio

Oregon

Portland

Pro-Hamas

Riots

Rubio

Scott Bessent

State Department

Treasury

Over the past decade, jihadist violence in sub-Saharan Africa has killed more than 150,000 people — a toll that likely exceeds the entire recorded history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including after October 7, 2023. Amnesty International has not called an emergency session, the university protesters are absent, and op-ed pages have been largely quiet.
Even when noticed, victims of jihadism disappear quickly from the news and from world concern. The Yazidis of Iraq were subjected to a genocide that the United Nations formally recognized in 2016, yet they are barely mentioned today. Michelle Obama was outraged in 2014 when Boko Haram jihadists abducted 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Nigeria; she tweeted out the slogan “#BringBackOurGirls,” but then dropped the entire matter after a few short weeks.
Who hears about the Ahmadiyya Muslims of Pakistan killed for how they pray, or the Coptic Christians of Egypt who live under systemic persecution by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose churches are bombed and whose women are kidnapped and forced to convert? Add the intimidation of Egyptian liberals and journalists by Brotherhood jihadists. Nigerian Christians suffer massacres weekly — often daily. The Druze, the Kurds, the Christians, and the Alawites of Syria are experiencing similar attacks. With impressive consistency, those in the West who claim to be at the forefront of human rights battles ignore or downplay all of them. Jihadist violence erupts in Europe’s cities, yet to name it risks opprobrium, even penalties. Even jail.
How can this be? The ideology that increasingly dominates Western institutions is founded on “anti-colonialism,” which views history as a story of white oppression inflicted upon peoples around the globe through imperialist ventures. That same oppression, it is posited, is mirrored inside Western societies by a “white supremacy” that dominates domestic minorities. This framework sorts all humanity into two groups: oppressors and oppressed. Moral status is fixed according to one’s place in this binary schema rather than by actual behavior or culpability. A major corollary: the “oppressed” may not be judged or criticized.
The anti-colonialist paradigm has no vocabulary for when a group defined as oppressed within the West is an oppressor outside it. Adherents to this progressivism are, by the definitions of their own framework, made mute when confronted with a jihadist murdering gay men, Nigerian Islamist militiamen enslaving other black Africans, or men “of color” stoning adulteresses.
The policy of purposefully ignoring horrors committed by what has become a reflexively shielded category is devastating to every group across the globe that is terrorized by jihadists. It is a virtual death sentence to besieged minorities.
Jihadist persecution has reduced African Christians to an oppressed group across much of their own continent. But, because their suffering is inflicted by a “protected class,” it generates no institutional outrage. In Nigeria, Boko Haram and its offshoots have killed tens of thousands of Christians and displaced millions more. In Sudan, jihadist militias have razed churches to the ground and drag women off into sexual slavery — some literally in chains. In the Central African Republic, armed Islamist groups massacre civilians with a frequency that would capture international headlines were the perpetrators white. Across the Sahel, a region stretching from Senegal to Somalia, the combination of jihadist insurgency and institutional abandonment has produced a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions. According to the <a href="https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/global-terrorism-index/#/">Global Terrorism Index</a>, the countries most affected by terrorism in 2025 include Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Syria.
The West’s human rights establishment built its reputation defending the very groups they are now abandoning. Liberal institutions in the West have been captured, gradually — and deliberately — by an ideology that assigns virtue and villainy by identity rather than by conduct. The result is a world in which most victims of political violence in the 21st century are largely invisible.
Until now, these victimized populations have considered their struggles as singular and isolated. Yet each persecuted group is fighting but one front of a “holy war” whose theology is the same, whose funding networks overlap, and whose casualty count, added together, dwarfs every conflict that commands Western attention.
A coalition of the victims and targets of jihadism — of Christians, Druze, Hindus, Yazidis, Ahmadis, Iranians, and secular Muslims and Jews constitutes a fundamental challenge to the idea that jihadism is just a reaction to Western provocation. Joined with the movements rising across Europe against the consequences of mass unassimilated immigration, it becomes the first coalition in generations built around the actual victims rather than who is permitted to matter.
Such a coalition does not need to be built ex nihilo. Federations of NGOs and associations representing communities targeted by jihadism have risen on four continents over the last half-century, from the coast of Nigeria to the mountains of Afghanistan. As resistance movements they have struggled within their national state borders, formed regional coalitions, gone to the UN, testified to Congress, and engaged in street demonstrations.
Kurds, Lebanese, Druze, Darfuris, Copts, Muslim liberals, African Christians, Yazidis, secular Yemenis, Indians, Arab reformers, and more have decades of struggle under their belts. A confederation is the logical architecture of a global resistance movement. In the last months, Syrian Alawites, Kurds, Druze, Christians, and Nigerians have briefed members of Congress on Capitol Hill.
The victims of the global jihad are working to persuade the United States and its Western allies to partner with this effort, to name the global jihad outright, to redirect funds toward and to protect the persecuted communities that have been so ignored. At our public launch, at a Congressional briefing, eloquent and articulate representatives of these groups appeared as a true rainbow coalition pressing Washington to grant them the standing that the major human rights institutions have withheld. Stay tuned.
***
Charles Jacobs and Dr. Walid Phares are President and Vice President of the International Freedom Coalition, based in Boston.

Life Under Civil UnRest

Why Global Jihad Remains Invisible To The West

Islamic Jihad

Western Civilization

Two hundred fifty-five Muslims now hold public office across the United States, representing a historic high that spans every tier of government, according to a tally released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
CAIR states that the record-breaking numbers prove the Islamic community is expanding its political muscle like never before. Executive Director Nihad Awad declared the surge shows Muslims are stepping forward to &#8220;serve their neighbors&#8221; while sending a &#8220;powerful message&#8221; against anti-Muslim rhetoric ahead of the 2026 midterms, The Washington Times <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/25/cair-shows-record-255-muslims-hold-elected-office-nationwide/">reported</a>.
According to CAIR’s latest directory, nearly two-thirds of these elected officials are entrenched at the local level. Ninety-eight hold city council seats (38.4%), while another 63 serve on local school boards. Muslim lawmakers also account for 18% of state-level seats in the directory, alongside 11 mayors and 18 judges scattered across 26 states. At the federal level, four Muslims hold U.S. House seats: Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Andre Carson (D-IN), and Lateefah Simon (D-CA).
&#8220;This record-breaking number represents far more than a statistic. It reflects an American Muslim community that is increasingly engaged, organized and committed to serving our nation.&#8221; Awad declared.
While Muslim advocacy groups celebrate the surge as a victory for civic participation, an investigation by RealClearInvestigations paints a far darker picture of what critics are calling a calculated &#8220;call to power.&#8221;
According to the <a href="https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2026/08/18/a_call_to_power_islamic_leaders_see_ballot_box_as_path_to_paradise_1200926.html">RealClearInvestigations report</a> from mid-August, this political wave is backed by a potential $140 million annual war chest:
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Earlier this year, the Qadhi-led Fiqh Council of North America issued a legal ruling (<a href="https://fiqhcouncil.org/zakat-for-political-campaigns/">fatwa</a>) in coordination with the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America that for the first time unlocks Muslim-American tithing and charitable giving, known as “zakat,” for political use: “[G]iving one’s zakat for influencing political causes is warranted.” The stated goal is to, broadly, “empower” Muslim communities in America, but more specifically, to fund the campaigns of politicians who oppose Israel and support policies such as criminalizing criticism of the Prophet Muhammad and Islam in general.
</blockquote>
Michigan Democratic senatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed reportedly secured his primary win fueled by money from donors tied to Muslim Brotherhood front groups. In New Jersey, Democratic congressional nominee Adam Hisham Hamawy was revealed to have maintained past ties to the infamous &#8220;Blind Sheikh&#8221; behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The investigative report highlights how local enclaves are rapidly shifting. Cities like Hamtramck and Dearborn in Michigan now feature majority-Muslim city councils, loudspeaker calls to prayer, halal-only school mandates, and altered noise ordinances.
“CAIR was critical in organizing financial support and getting out the vote for New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” RealClearInvestigations reported. “The group now has former employees represented in top posts inside his administration.”
Down in Texas, deep concerns are erupting over massive &#8220;Sharia-compliant&#8221; housing developments. Projects like the 400-acre &#8220;EPIC City&#8221; outside Dallas have sparked outrage.
Critics, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), warn that America is moving toward the same European-style &#8220;no-go zones&#8221; that have fractured nations like France and Germany.
While defenders dismiss the backlash as &#8220;Islamophobia,&#8221; national security experts have warned that using the ballot box to push Sharia-conforming policies poses a direct threat to the U.S. Constitution.

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