A Muslim civil rights group that federal lawmakers described as having “deep ties to terrorist organizations,” has emerged as one of the biggest single backers to Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, according to public records.
The Unity and Justice Fund political action committee, which gave the Democratic Socialist frontrunner $120,000 is linked to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim nonprofit in the US, campaign filings show.
The Unity and Justice PAC, which has offices in Sacramento and Washington, shares addresses and personnel with CAIR, according to the Federal Election Commission and Open Secrets, a government transparency group that tracks money in politics.
CAIR’s leaders denied they have any organizational ties to the other groups to The Post Tuesday, but declined to comment further.
Another PAC linked to the California chapter of CAIR — Unity Lab PAC — gave $23,500 to Mamdani’s PAC on September 16, according to campaign finance filings.
Unity Lab lists Tasneem Manjra as its president. Manjra is also listed as the communications contact for the Sacramento chapter of CAIR.
Meanwhile, the Unity and Justice Fund PAC is run by Basim Elkarra, the former longtime executive director of CAIR California, and the treasurer of CAIR Action, which mobilizes Muslim voters across the country.
It shares its Washington, DC, address with CAIR Foundation, the nonprofit’s national office.
The Post has reached out to Manjra and Elkarra for comment.
CAIR Action was instrumental in mobilizing Muslim voters to back Mamdani, according to radical anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, who has been described as a mentor to the Democratic Socialist candidate.
“Once November 4th comes around, I will tell the story. The story is not just that it’s random that Zohran ascended to this place, it is our Muslim-American community,” Sarsour said in a speech at CAIR’s 2025 Leadership & Policy Conference last month.
“And I’ll also say that it’s Muslim money. PACs that have supported Zohran, or a particular PAC that has supported Zohran is probably over 80% of Muslim-American donors in this country,” she said.
Elkarra, who is listed as the Sacramento-based treasurer of the PAC, has promoted the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement and compared Israel to apartheid South Africa, according to a report by Canary Mission.
CAIR California is the largest chapter of the Muslim civil rights group, raking in more than $17 million in donations in 2023, according to its latest available federal filings. The group did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Manjra is a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) USA board, according to social media posts. Earlier this year, president Trump yanked federal funding for UNRWA after Israel accused some of its members of involvement in the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Last year, Manjra, an adult Girl Scout Troop leader, threatened to stop selling Girl Scout cookies unless the leaders of the organization backtracked on their condemnation of a Missouri troop that was selling handmade bracelets to raise money for children in Gaza.
Lawmakers have called for investigations into CAIR’s alleged terrorist connections. Arkansas senator Tom Cotton and New York Rep Elise Stefanik sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last month, urging the department to investigate CAIR’s alleged links to the Hamas terrorist group.
In the letter, the lawmakers highlighted a 2008 “terrorism financing trial” where the Holy Land Foundation of Relief and Development and five of its leaders were found guilty of “providing material support to Hamas,” according to reports.
Stefanik and Cotton wrote that CAIR was named as “an unindicted co-conspirator” during the trial and that “evidence showed direct financial interactions between CAIR and the now-defunct Hamas-linked charity.”
In 2017, Mamdani praised the directors of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development — known as “the Holy Land Five” — in a rap song called “Salaam,” which the Queens Assemblyman said is about growing up Muslim in New York.
The song, performed under his rap moniker Mr. Cardamon, includes the lyrics: “My love to the Holy Land Five. You better look ’em up.”
In August, Cotton wrote to IRS Commissioner Billy Long, calling on him to strip CAIR’s tax-exempt status because of its “deep ties to terrorist organizations.”
“CAIR’s deep ties to terrorist groups…should prevent them from maintaining nonprofit status, Cotton said. “The status is a privilege not a right.”
