This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/8206
Singer Urged Residents To Visit Mosque To ‘Socialize & Exchange Knowledge' Despite Knowing They Promote & Fund Global Terrorism
August 9, 2026
Years later, Singer continues to defend his proclamation honoring Islamic Center of Boca Raton.
August 10, 2026 by Joe Kaufman Leave
At a recent Republican candidate forum for Florida's highly contested 25th Congressional District primary, an audience member asked former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer a direct question: Will you rescind the 2022 proclamation you gave to the Islamic Center of Boca Raton?
Singer's answer was revealing. He compared it to proclamations he issued for synagogues and said that even if he could rescind it today, he might simply "word it differently." He did not condemn the mosque, withdraw his support, or express regret.
Worse, Singer admitted that this author personally presented him with evidence about ICBR four years ago – immediately after he issued the proclamation. This is not a politician learning troubling facts after leaving office. Singer knew. He has known for years. And he has repeatedly refused to correct the record.
In June 2022, while mayor, Singer signed an official City of Boca Raton proclamation declaring July "Muslim Heritage Month" in honor of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR). It praised the mosque's "community-service initiatives," noted its outreach to neighbors and officials, referenced its 1998 founding, and encouraged residents to "visit ICBR to socialize" and "exchange knowledge."
Official proclamations matter. They confer legitimacy and signal that local government has vetted and trusts the organization. Singer recklessly bestowed that trust on ICBR and, in doing so, endangered the constituency he had been elected to protect.
Simple due diligence would have revealed ICBR's numerous links to international terrorism, making it one of the most documented and notorious jihad histories of any mosque in South Florida – or the country.
One of ICBR's founders and its current Secretary is Bassem Alhalabi. Before helping establish the mosque, Alhalabi served as an assistant to Sami al-Arian while al-Arian built the American infrastructure for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the U.S.-designated terrorist organization for which al-Arian was later convicted of providing material support.
Alhalabi co-authored publications with al-Arian, listed him as a professional reference for a teaching position at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and in 2003 was charged by the U.S. Commerce Department with illegally exporting a $13,000 thermal imaging device to Syria, then a designated state sponsor of terrorism. He has also been arrested for assault.
According to the South Florida Muslim Federation – of which ICBR remains a leading member – Alhalabi played a central role in securing Singer's proclamation. Singer later defended Alhalabi as a "good man" and posed for photographs with him. One of these photos shows Singer also standing next to Hasan Sabri, a Pompano Beach imam who, during a 2000 sermon to his congregation, described America as an "enemy."
At the candidate forum, Singer dismissed the concerns: "Mr. Kaufman and his unnamed research was saying that someone there connected 22 years ago… He approached me when I gave that proclamation four years ago, and he didn't show – didn't prove it out."
That characterization is false. The "someone" is Bassem Alhalabi. He has remained in ICBR's leadership continuously since its founding and still serves as Secretary. The individual whose record raised alarms four years ago remains a principal leader.
The problems do not end with Alhalabi. Co-founder Syed Khawer Ahmad developed websites for Hamas. Founding imam Ibrahim Dremali was later arrested, placed on the federal no-fly list, and recorded urging financial support for Hamas while calling for the elimination of all of Israel's Jews. His successor, Muneer Arafat, admitted membership in PIJ and had previously roomed with al-Qaeda operative Ziyad Khaleel.
In November 2018, ICBR honored all of its founders, including Khawer Ahmad and Dremali.
The current ICBR President, Abdulrauf Khan, has used his social media to target Jews and gays.
With regard to ICBR itself, in January 2000, the mosque reportedly received $600,000 in seed money for its facility from the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), an al-Qaeda-linked charity shut down by the federal government after 9/11. The mosque's own website published antisemitic articles describing Jews as "people of treachery and betrayal" and discussing a time when Muslims will "fight the Jews and kill them."
These are documented facts, not rumors.
Nor are the concerns merely historical. ICBR has long been a prominent member of the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), the umbrella group that sponsors annual pro-Hamas conferences.
In 2024, evidence compiled by this author showed the planned Florida Muslim Conference included speakers who glorified Hamas after the October 7 massacre, organizations tied to Hamas financing, and vehemently antisemitic rhetoric. After hotel management reviewed the documentation and security concerns, the venue canceled the event.
In 2025, the conference moved to a government-owned facility. Vendors openly sold merchandise featuring Yahya Sinwar – the architect of the October 7 attacks that killed over 1,200 and kidnapped 251 – as well as items celebrating masked, armed militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another U.S.-designated terrorist group. Organizers promoted the sellers on social media and in videos.
The extremist environment surrounding the Federation and the mosque Singer honored has not faded. In some respects it has intensified.
Singer's final mayoral term already faced major public backlash over efforts to transfer public lands to private developers and tear down a Veterans' memorial in favor of high-rise apartments. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the project. Now running as a Republican in the 25th District primary, his unapologetic embrace of ICBR remains a contentious issue for the electorate.
Public officials must thoroughly vet the groups they honor. Proclamations and photo ops confer credibility that radicals exploit. Singer granted that credibility to a mosque with deep, documented ties to terrorism and antisemitism, then stood by the decision for years after being shown the evidence. He has never withdrawn his support or condemned the mosque, which is expanding in size, scope and membership.
As he seeks higher office, Scott Singer should fully distance himself from ICBR's leadership and the SFMF apparatus that continues to platform Hamas glorification and terrorist imagery. South Florida's public – especially its Jewish community – deserves leaders who prioritize security over optics and refuse to treat terror-linked associations as something merely to be reworded.
Singer still refuses. That refusal is on the record.
Scott Singer, do you condemn ICBR's antisemitic rhetoric? Do you condemn its radical imams and leadership? Do you call for their annual pro-Hamas conference to be shut down? If not, why not? Why are you protecting these extremists? Do you have financial interests coming from these groups?
Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, and Shawn Malachovsky, Esq. contributed to this report.
MIM: Extended version of article:
Scott Singer Refuses To Condemn 'Jihad Mosque' He Urged Voters To Visit
The Islamic Center of Boca Raton Deserved An Investigation -Not A Proclamation
At a recent Republican candidate forum for Florida's highly contested 25th Congressional District primary, an audience member asked former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer a direct question: Will you rescind and/or disavow the 2022 proclamation you gave to the Islamic Center of Boca Raton?
Singer's answer was both revealing and self incriminating. He compared it to proclamations he issued for synagogues and said that even if he could rescind it today, he might simply "word it differently." He did not condemn the mosque, withdraw his support, or admit he had made a mistake.
Worse, Singer admitted that this author personally presented him with evidence about ICBR's decades long support of violence four years ago – immediately after he issued the proclamation.Then Mayor Scott Singer saw documentation proving that the ICBR and their entire leadership are promoting jihad and Jew hatred until today.
His failure to correct the record makes him an accessory to their interfaith as dawah (conversion) efforts and makes the ICBR look like a benign community organization instead of a security threat as part of the global jihad network.
In June 2022, while mayor, Singer signed an official City of Boca Raton proclamation declaring July "Muslim Heritage Month" in honor of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR). It praised the mosque's "community-service initiatives," noted its outreach to neighbors and officials, referenced its 1998 founding, and encouraged residents to "visit ICBR to socialize and exchange knowledge".
Official proclamations matter. They confer legitimacy and signal that local government has vetted and trusts the organization. Singer recklessly bestowed that trust on ICBR and in doing so endangered the constituency he had been elected to protect.
Simple due diligence (aka Imam Google) would have revealed ICBR'S involvement since 1999 with international terrorism, making it one of the most documented and notorious jihad histories of any mosque in South Florida – or the country.
One of ICBR's founders and its current Secretary is Bassem Alhalabi. Before helping establish the mosque, Alhalabi served as an assistant to Sami al-Arian while al-Arian built the American infrastructure for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the U.S.-designated terrorist organization for which al-Arian was later convicted of providing material support.
Alhalabi co-authored publications with al-Arian, listed him as a professional reference for a teaching position at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and in 2003 was charged by the U.S. Commerce Department with illegally exporting a $13,000 thermal imaging device to Syria, then a designated state sponsor of terrorism. He has also been arrested for assault.
According to the South Florida Muslim Federation – of which ICBR remains a leading member – Alhalabi played a central role in securing Singer's proclamation. Singer later defended him as a "good man" and posed for photographs with him. One photo shows Singer next to Hasan Sabri, a Pompano Beach imam who, during a 2000 sermon to his congregation, described America as an "enemy."
At an October 2000 Muslim rally in Miami where Israeli flags were burned ICBR's founding imam,Ibrahim Dremali Miami proclaimed "With jihad we'll reclaim our land, Zionist blood will wet the sand",urging them "not to be sad for those who were martyred and not be afraid to die for what they believe in."The children present laid down in mock graves. https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/boca-raton-city-of-terror
At the candidate forum, Singer dismissed the concerns: "Mr. Kaufman and his unnamed research was saying that someone there connected 22 years ago… He approached me when I gave that proclamation four years ago, and he didn't show – didn't prove it out."
That characterization is false. The "someone" is Bassem Alhalabi. He has remained in ICBR's leadership continuously since its founding and still serves as Secretary. The individual whose record raised alarms four years ago remains a principal leader.
The problems do not end with Alhalabi. Co-founder Syed Khawer Ahmad developed websites for Hamas. Founding imam Ibrahim Dremali was later arrested, placed on the federal no-fly list, and recorded urging financial support for Hamas while calling for the elimination of all of Israel's Jews. His successor, Muneer Arafat, admitted membership in PIJ and had previously roomed with al-Qaeda operative Ziyad Khaleel.
In 2018 ICBR held an anniversary event titled "Celebrating 20 Years Of Excellence" which honored Ahmad and Dremali along with the three other founding members. https://icbr.org/masjid/celebrating-20-years-of-excellence
ICBR received $600,000 in seed money for its facility from the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), an al-Qaeda-linked charity shut down by the federal government after 9/11. The mosque's own website published antisemitic articles describing Jews as "people of treachery and betrayal" and discussing a time when Muslims will "fight the Jews and kill them." ICBR's website had a link exhorting congregants to send funding for "Jihad in Chechnya".
These are but a few of the decades long documentation Offfacts which prove that the ICBR was and still poses a terrorist threat.
Nor are the concerns merely historical. ICBR has long been a prominent member of the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), the umbrella group that sponsors annual pro-Hamas conferences.
In 2024, evidence compiled by this author showed the planned Florida Muslim Conference included speakers who glorified Hamas after the October 7 massacre, organizations tied to Hamas financing, and vehemently antisemitic rhetoric. After hotel management reviewed the documentation and security concerns, the venue canceled the event.
In 2025 the conference moved to a government-owned facility. Vendors openly sold merchandise featuring Yahya Sinwar – the architect of the October 7 attacks that killed over 1,200 and kidnapped 251 – as well as items celebrating masked, armed militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another U.S.-designated terrorist group. Organizers promoted the sellers on social media and in videos.
The extremist environment surrounding the Muslim Federation and the mosque which Singer honored has intensified.
Ibrahim Dremali the founding Imam,who has a large family (clan) and home in Gaza, frequently speaks there. His Muslim convert wife, Annie Lin, currently runs 'Embrace' the Islamic dawah/conversion effort.
Singer's final mayoral term already faced major public backlashover efforts to transfer public lands to private developers and tear down a Veterans' memorial in favor of high-rise apartments. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the projects. Now running as a Republican in the 25th District primary, his unapologetic embrace of ICBR remains a contentious issue for the electorate.
Public officials must thoroughly vet the groups they honor. Proclamations and photo ops confer credibility that radicals exploit. Singer granted that credibility to a mosque with deep, documented ties to terrorism and antisemitism, then stood by the decision for years after being shown the evidence. He has never withdrawn his support or condemned the mosque which is expanding both size,scope and membership.
As he seeks higher office, Scott Singer should fully distance himself from ICBR's leadership and the SFMF apparatus that continues to platform Hamas glorification and terrorist imagery. South Florida's public – especially its Jewish community – deserves leaders who prioritize security over optics and refuse to treat terror-linked associations as something to be ignored.
Scott Singer's refusal to repudiate or disavow his Muslim Heritage Proclamation on behalf of the Islamic Center Of Boca Raton stands as an endorsement of their jihadist and Jew hating agenda.The fact that ICBR proudly displays it on their website is proof.
https://icbr.org/masjid/historic-proclamation-from-the-city-of-boca-raton/
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MIM: Information about the Islamic Center of Boca Raton's funding and jihadist history from the Influence Watch website run by The Capital Research Center.
The Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) manages several community outreach initiatives for local Muslim and non-Muslim communities including marriages, funerals, general counseling, and will planning. 6 7 8 It also conducts Arabic language classes, weekly faith formation classes with the imam, weekend Qur'an school, and both athletic and social clubs for youth members. ICBR also hosts family nights, educational seminars, and religious celebrations. 9 10 11 It also provides monthly open houses, annual Ramadan celebrations, a health fair, and Meet Your Constituent Programs. 1
In June 2022, Boca Raton mayor Scott Singer declared July 2022 "Muslim Heritage Month," while encouraging visitation to the ICBR which he praised for its community service. 1
In July 2016, the ICBR was removed as an available location for voting when the Palm Beach County's elections department claimed to have received complaints that people were "uncomfortable" with voting at that location. In response, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) threatened to file a lawsuit against the county on ICBR's behalf. 12 Then-Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) issued statements claiming that the mosque's removal as a polling station was discriminatory. 13
Bassem Alhalabi is the co-founder and executive director of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR). He is also a professor of computer science at Florida Atlantic University. 14 In 2003, Alhalabi was sanctioned by the United States Department of Commerce and the U.S Bureau of Industry and Security for allegedly exporting a thermal imaging camera to Syria in 1998. Alhalabi claimed he was attempting to send the camera to his brother in Syria to find gold. 15 13
In April 2011, a group of protesters at Florida Atlantic University called for the removal of Alhalabi as a professor due to his alleged ties to terrorism as well as his previous federal sanctioning in 2003. The protesters were led by Joe Kaufman, a Florida state Republican, 16 who claimed that Alhalabi had previously assaulted him at a public event. Kaufman pressed charges and Alhalabi agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement to complete a court-mandated anger management program. 17
In May 2016, Florida Atlantic University's Muslim Students Association hosted an "Islamophobia" conference during which Alhalabi claimed to support the Sharia practice of chopping off a thief's hand, alleging "…if takes one or two people to have their hands cut off, and then there's no more stealing and there's no more stealing in the whole nation…that's a much better resolution." 17
The Islamic Center of Boca Raton previously co-signed signed several letters and statements published by left-of-center advocacy groups including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) against alleged anti-Muslim discrimination. In January 2022, ICBR signed a CAIR letter calling for the United States Department of Justice to investigate anti-Muslim hate crimes and "systemic spying" on the American Muslim community. 18
Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack against the State of Israel, ICBR promoted a livestreamed webinar on their website hosted by the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) webinar event called "The Gaza Impact." 3 The livestream of the event included MFLA members that called for a Palestinian state while providing legal advice on financial support for Palestinian communities. 19
In May 2024, ICBR signed onto a letter released by CAIR letter condemning Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt for making what the letter claimed was "hateful, dangerous attacks…on the Palestinian-American community and supporters of Palestinians human rights." 20
2000 Pro-Hezbollah Rally
According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) In October 2000 the ICBR co-sponsored a pro-Hezbollah rally in which ICBR co-founder and executive director Ibrahim Dremali participated. He led attendees in chants that included, ""with jihad we'll claim our land," and …"Zionist blood will wet the sand." 5He also called for rallygoers to "not to be sad for those who were martyred and not to be afraid to die for what they believe in." 5
Member Conviction
In 2005, ICBR member Rafiq Abdus Sabir was arrested for allegedly conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda in the form of medical treatment terrorist members jihadists. Although the case was appealed by the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA), Sabir was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. MLFA claimed that Sabir was manipulated because he is a U.S.-born and raised Muslim and did not didn't understand the Arabic allegiance vow he made. 4 21 22
2023 Anti-Semitic Sermon
In October 2023, Islamic scholar Husam Kablawi gave a sermon at the ICBR that included antisemitic references to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks against the State of Israel, claiming, "…they will do everything they can to convince the world that they are the ones that are oppressed and what you did is so bad." 23 He further claimed to viewers "…be proud of your Islamic nation, regardless of the attempts of the Zionist movement to manipulate you and convince you that you are the bad guy…[a]lways assume the best of your brother and sister, who is fighting for his land and liberation under the apartheid state of Israel. 23 He also claimed "…support our brothers in Gaza. Oh Allah, guide their shooting and unite their ranks." 23
Bassem Alhalabi is the co-founder and executive director of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR). He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Ohio University in 1984. He also holds master's degrees in both electrical engineering and computer engineering, and he received his Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Louisiana Lafayette in 1995. He is a professor at Florida Atlantic University. 14
Ibrahim Dremali is a co-founder of ICBR and previously served as imam at ICBR. Dremali is an Islamic scholar who teaches at Al Huda University. He has alleged ties to terrorism, including to members of Al-Qaeda and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). 24 5
The Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) has not filed a federal 990 form since 2002 due to being registered as a religious organization. 25 In 2002, the mosque reported $674,279 in revenue, $146,685 in expenses, and $1,337,720 in net assets. 26
ICBR also received $27,500 from the Ali Foundation in 2016, $10,638 from the Dearborn Community Center in 2016, and $10,000 from the Noor Foundation in 2019. 27 28 29
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/8206