Islamic-center backer donated to Palestinians

NEW YORK — One of the investors in a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero is a Long Island medical-clinic owner whose expressions of sympathy for Palestinians included a donation to a charity later shut down for links to Hamas.

The developer leading the project confirmed Friday that Hisham Elzanaty, 51, is among the members of a real-estate partnership that paid $4.8 million last year for the vacant clothing store that is to be torn down and replaced by a cultural center and mosque.

The partnership's general manager, Sharif El-Gamal, confirmed Elzanaty's role.

"All of these investors are committed, as I am, not to receive funding from any organization that supports terrorism or is hostile to America," El-Gamal said in a statement.

Reached by telephone, Elzanaty said Friday he may have something to say later.

El-Gamal has declined to reveal the names of his other financial backers, but has said the eight-member group is diverse and includes Jews and Christians.

Those involved with the Islamic-center proposal have come under intense scrutiny from groups opposed to the project, and critics point to a donation Elzanaty made to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development a decade ago as evidence that its backers secretly harbor extremist views.

Tax records show that Elzanaty gave $6,050 to the foundation in 1999. At the time, it was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. It raised millions of dollars from Americans in the 1990s, telling donors the money would pay for schools, orphanages and social-welfare programs.

Two years after Elzanaty made the donation, the U.S. government froze the foundation's assets and accused it of acting as a fundraiser for Hamas, which was labeled a terrorist organization by President Clinton in 1995.

The foundation and some of its leaders were indicted in 2004 on charges of supporting Hamas. Five were convicted.

A New York television station, Fox affiliate WNYW, was the first to report Elzanaty's investment in the Islamic center project and his donation to the Holy Land Foundation.

Elzanaty's lawyer said in a report broadcast Thursday night that his client had no knowledge of the group's involvement with Hamas when he donated the money and had intended the cash to go to an orphanage.

Other people and companies who donated money, equipment or services to the foundation the year Elzanaty gave included NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon, Microsoft and a medical-equipment company owned by General Electric, according to tax records.

When the foundation's leaders were indicted, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the case was not "a reflection on the well-meaning people who may have donated funds to the foundation."

Elzanaty has made no secret of his past philanthropy involving the Palestinians. In a 2002 interview with Newsday, he spoke of a hesitation to donate to Middle Eastern charities because of concerns it could unwittingly land him in a terrorism investigation.

"When you see people surrounded by tanks and F-16s, you ask how can we help?" he told the paper. "But you don't want years later to have a knock on the door and someone asking why did you donate money?"