The mosque in ‘Little Yemen’ has multiple ties to Muslim extremists and Hamas supporters
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wore a hijab during a visit last week to a Bronx mosque where the powerful New York Democrat sat alongside a cleric who once celebrated Hamas for “causing so much trouble for the Jews” and has hailed Osama bin Laden’s spiritual mentor.
Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, appeared at the Bronx Muslim Center, located in New York City’s “Little Yemen,” on Sept. 21, according to photos posted by the center’s outreach director. The photos show Gillibrand wearing a pink headscarf and seated next to Hamud Alsilwi, a Yemeni cleric who has led the Bronx Muslim Center since 1998. A banner soliciting donations for the center’s new 32,000-square-foot mosque is seen in the photos that prominently featured the senator.
The Bronx mosque is a branch of the Muslim American Society, which federal prosecutors have described as an “overt arm” of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.
Alsilwi has praised Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and hailed Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, an influential Islamic scholar designated as a terrorist over his ties to bin Laden.
“The Muslim Brotherhood came to power in Palestine, and they harmed no one except the Jews and Israel,” Alsilwi wrote in October 2016, according to an English translation of his post.
In social media posts in January 2016, Alsilwi praised Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin—who was killed in an Israeli airstrike after being linked to multiple murders—for “causing so much trouble for the Jews in Palestine,” the Middle East Forum reported in 2024, after Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.) secured $1 million in earmarks for the Bronx Muslim Center.
Alsilwi mourned al-Zindani after his death in April 2024, posting numerous photos and videos of the cleric, referring to him as an “eminent scholar” and praying, “O God, grant him spacious gardens in Paradise.”
The U.S. government designated al-Zindani a terrorist in 2004 over his position as spiritual adviser to bin Laden and for allegedly recruiting al Qaeda members and aiding “the purchase of weapons on behalf of al-Qaeda and other terrorists.”
Gillibrand has not promoted her Bronx mosque visit on social media or her Senate website, though she posted footage from other events she attended the same day in East Harlem and the Bronx. Those photos show Gillibrand wearing the same suit as the one at the Bronx Muslim Center, sans hijab.
“It was an honor to welcome U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to Little Yemen today and have her spend time directly with members of our community,” wrote Yahay Obeid, the mosque’s director of outreach.
Other prominent New York lawmakers have faced criticism for wearing hijabs. President Donald Trump and New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman excoriated Gov. Kathy Hochul (D.) last month for donning a hijab at an event for the Islamic Cultural Center of Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“Hijab Hochul. Kathy’s Latest Costume: Whatever the Audience Wants,” wrote Blakeman.
Trump called Hochul the “Worst Governor in the Country,” and said she “wears the hijab” to “get the Arab Vote.”
Conservatives and human rights activists blasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) earlier this year for sporting a hijab at an outdoor Eid event. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian dissident, accused the “Squad” leader of hypocrisy for wearing the hijab while claiming “to fight for women’s self-determination.”
Gillibrand’s office and the Bronx Muslim Center did not respond to requests for comment.
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