New Report Reveals That Roy Cooper Hosted Imam Closely Tied To Hamas
A national media outlet, the Washington Free Beacon, reported that former Governor Roy Cooper hosted a controversial imam with deep ties to Hamas at the North Carolina’s governor’s mansion in 2018, where he led a Muslim prayer, mingled with fellow Muslim leaders, posted a picture of himself with Cooper.
NCGOP Communications Director Matt Mercer said, "Roy Cooper hosted a secret dinner with Hamas-aligned activists and hid it from the public. It is disqualifying for a U.S. Senate candidate to host fanatics and terrorist allies at parties and honor those who murder innocent civilians."
The event and attempted coverup, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, contradicts former Governor Roy Cooper’s attempt to style himself as a “moderate Democrat,” as he tries to flip the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Thom Tillis. The report comes after Cooper declined to stand up his progressive base who pushed anti-Israeli resolutions at the North Carolina Democrat Party.
Here are some key excerpts from the article:
“The 2018 gathering at the Executive Mansion in downtown Raleigh was held to mark iftar, the end of the Ramadan fast. At the time, Cooper’s team issued no press release about the dinner and published no guest list for the event, which the Free Beacon has learned was attended by more than 35 local Muslim leaders, including Dr. Mohamed AbuTaleb, a prominent imam with close affiliations to several Hamas-aligned organizations.”
“AbuTaleb delivered a prayer at the dinner and was pictured standing directly behind Cooper in a group photo taken at the mansion that evening, according to pictures and a video obtained by the Free Beacon. At the time, AbuTaleb served as imam of the Islamic Association of Raleigh and led the organization as it cut checks to a subsidiary of a group with alleged connections to terrorist entities including Hamas. Today, AbuTaleb is a frequent speaker at events hosted by the Muslim American Society, which federal prosecutors say is an "overt arm" of the Hamas-aligned Muslim Brotherhood, and works at an Islamic think tank alongside another imam who encouraged students to ‘take out’ a pro-Israel professor in 2024.”
“Another attendee, North Carolina state senator Mujtaba Mohammed (D.), posted a photo of the full Muslim delegation posing with Cooper on a stairway in the mansion, with AbuTaleb standing directly behind the then-governor. Also in attendance was Durham County, N.C., commissioner Nida Allam, a far-left extremist who’s trafficked in classic antisemitic tropes such as ‘river to the sea’ and ‘the United States of Israel,’ has accused Israel of genocide, and has referred to antisemitic activist Linda Sarsour as her mentor (when she was gearing up for an ultimately unsuccessful House campaign, Allam apologized for some of her remarks).”
Notably, at the time, Cooper declined to publicly reveal this event. Another example of Cooper’s pattern of trying to cover up facts that undermine his moderate projection.
