Move Over, Ilhan Omar; Minnesota Republicans Pander to Somali Islamists

However, the GOP’s inside man from the Somali Muslim community was also a product of one of the most radical Islamic seminaries in America. Ismail is a graduateof the Islamic University of Minnesota, an uncertified religious school that the Investigative Project on Terrorism refers to as a “hotbed of extremism.”

Although the school is not sanctioned by certifying officials in the U.S., IUM is recognized by the Holy Quran University, which the military-Islamist regime of former Sudanese president and war criminal Omar Al-Bashir established in 1990 to propagate Islam. IUM instructors have cursed Jews, refused to denounce ISIS, and glorified Hamas leaders.

Despite acting as the primary interlocutor between Somalis and their conservative partners, Ismail does not appear to publicly speak in English, and save for a few carefully curated statements, writes mostly in his native Somali. Nevertheless, translations of the imam’s social media suggest that he shares his alma mater’s disdain for Israeli Jews, including a Facebook post where he promoted a prayer for “the Islamic people who are being massacred in Gaza” at the hands of “the Jews of Israel.”

https://www.meforum.org/63777/move-over-ilhan-omar-minnesota-republicans-pander