The Greater Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Chapters of the Zionist Organization of America, the oldest pro-Israel organization in America, have asked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to rescind a $5 million grant from commonwealth taxpayers to the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, a Philadelphia mosque, community center and school that has a history of anti-Jewish activity and that also misrepresents contemporary and historical facts to incite Jew-hatred among its community and beyond.

“We were saddened to learn that you have awarded a grant of $5 million in commonwealth taxpayer funds to an anti-Jewish mosque/community center/school in Philadelphia,” begins our letter.

We added: “Leaders of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in Philadelphia have literally erased Israel from the map; they promote lies about Jews so as to incite Jew-hatred; they promote events and speakers that are viciously anti-Jewish; they perpetuate the false narrative that the Palestinian-Arabs of the Gaza Strip are the victims of Israeli aggression when in fact it was the Gazans who perpetrated the massive slaughters, rapes and savagery against Israelis on Oct, 7, 2023 and who still hold captive dozens including an American citizen as well as the remains of dozens more Israelis.

“This mosque has additionally promoted the lies that the Jewish People committed ethnic cleansing of ‘Palestinian’-Arabs, occupy ‘Arab’ lands, destroyed hundreds of Arab communities, carried out genocide and commit ‘apartheid.’ The only reason for spreading such outrageous and demonstrably false claims is to incite Jew-hatred, and the reasons to incite Jew-hatred are to instigate violence against Jews and Jewish institutions and also to motivate political activity against those who support Jewish self-determination and the well-being of Jews.

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“Five million dollars is a huge sum of money. It will enable such a mosque and its school to foment even more Jew-hatred throughout their community as well as throughout our region, and to indoctrinate even more young Muslims against Jews and Israel.

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“Please rescind this grant. Please do your due diligence before considering funding an anti-Jewish entity. Please actively fight anti-Jewish activity in the commonwealth rather than support it.

“What the Jewish community and all decent Pennsylvanians need and deserve is less Jew-hatred and less promotion of lies rather than more of the same. We call on you to rescind this grant and to set a good example for all Pennsylvanians and all of America: that Jew-hatred will be punished, not rewarded.”

Shapiro awarded the mosque the grant to expand the mosque and its school in late March – despite it’s anti-Jewish and anti-fact record.

The Al-Aqsa Islamic Society has made false and outrageous claims including that Israel is a “colonial state” that destroyed “Palestine” in May of 1948; that “more than 78 percent of historic Palestine had been taken over by Zionist forces;” and praising “martyrs” killed by “the bullets of the occupation.”

Read our letter in its entirety at: https://tinyurl.com/zoashapiro

If that link is broken, see: https://philly.zoa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/04/letter-zoa-shapiro-philadelphia-pittsburgh-mk-with-screen-shots.pdf