Cleric featured in promotional video for the Deen Center claimed ‘the Jews … control the whole world by the money’
The Department of Homeland Security recently awarded anti-terrorism grants to a Florida mosque linked to pro-terror Islamic clerics, 9/11 conspiracy theorists, and an anti-Semitic pastor who claims “the Jews” conduct “secret rituals” at holy sites in Jerusalem.
DHS gave nearly $300,000 to the Deen Center, Inc. on Jan. 31 as part of its Nonprofit Security Grant Program, according to the federal spending database USASpending. The grants to the Tampa-area mosque were approved by the Biden administration in October, according to Florida state records.
While the program—overseen by FEMA—is designed to help religious institutions protect against terrorist attacks, the Deen Center has embraced clerics, activists, and Muslim scholars who have promoted terrorist attacks against the United States and Israel and has pushed anti-Semitic tropes.
Eddie Redzovic, the founder of the Deen Center, has repeatedly featured anti-Semites on his popular YouTube channel, The Deen Show.
On the show, which boasts 1.1 million subscribers, Redzovic has interviewed prominent anti-Semitic preacher Rick Wiles, who said in an appearance on The Deen Show in November 2023 that “the Jews have been doing Freemason secret rituals beneath the Temple Mount for quite some time.” Wiles, who previously called Jews “deceivers,” asserted in the interview that “Jews will spit on the ground when you say [Jesus’s] name.”
Redzovic entitled an episode with Wiles, “Christian Pastor Responds to the Judeo-Christian Claim for Support of I$RAEL,” invoking an anti-Semitic smear.
In December 2020, Redzovic interviewed Kevin Barrett, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who claimed the al Qaeda attack was a “false flag” that was “designed to create” hatred of Muslims. He peddled debunked anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jews received warnings on the morning of 9/11 “to stay away from downtown Manhattan.”
Redzovic has interviewed Assim al Hakeem, a Saudi cleric who prayed to protect Muslims “from the oppressors and from our enemies, the Jews.” He’s made other anti-Semitic remarks, such as “look how devilish the Jews are” and has referred to “the Jews, whom we all hate.”
The Deen Center has also hosted several radical clerics, touting their endorsements in many of its fundraising pitches.
Ibrahim Dremali, who appeared in a promotional video for the Deen Center last April, has an extensive history of anti-Semitic remarks. In a 2021 interview, Dremali said that “the Jews … control the whole world by the money.” He prayed, “ask Allah to give victory to them and destroy those people, not only the Zionists … but who support those people.”
The Deen Center’s website touts endorsements from 16 Islamic scholars, including Bilal Philips, a Qatar-based cleric who has defended suicide bombers and been banned by multiple countries for espousing terrorist sympathies. Abdur Raheem Green, a British cleric featured on the Deen Center website, has advocated violent jihad, and said Islam “teaches its followers to seek death on the battlefield.” During a sermon in London, Green called out a Jewish audience member, saying “take the [Jew] over there, far away, so his stench does not disturb us.”
The Deen Center is just the latest controversial mosque to receive payments under the DHS program, which is at the center of a funding battle between the Trump administration and Congress. Some lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to protect funding for the program, calling it essential for protecting religious institutions from terrorist attacks.
While most of the grants have gone to moderate houses of worship across all religions, millions of dollars have gone to mosques and Islamic organizations that condone terrorist attacks or preach hatred of Jews. The Washington Free Beacon reported that grants were given in 2022 to the Islamic Center of Detroit, whose imam has called to “eradicate from existence” the “sick, disgusting Zionist regime.” The Islamic Center of San Diego, the home mosque of two 9/11 hijackers, received grants under the program in 2021. The mosque’s imam said after the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that “the resistance is justified” because of the Israeli occupation of Gaza.
A DHS spokeswoman did not address questions regarding the timeline of the grants, but said that Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem “has directed FEMA to implement additional controls to ensure that all grant money going out is consistent with law and does not go to fraud, waste, or abuse, as in the past.”
Redzovic has for years waged an extensive advertising campaign to raise money for the Deen Center, running dozens of advertisements on Facebook and YouTube that promise rewards in heaven for donors.
In a recent Facebook ad, Redzovic asks for donations to fund a parking lot for the Deen Center’s mosque, telling viewers that “Allah will multiply [a donor’s] deeds up to 700 times.”
“You will be getting in on all the rewards,” says Redzovic.
The Deen Center did not respond to requests for comment.
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