RADICAL BLUEPRINT
How terror-linked figures built a U.S. community and operated in plain sight
How Terror-Linked Figures Built A U.S. Community And Operated In Plain Sight
Hatem Fariz has quite a rap sheet.He served roughly three years in prison after pleading guilty to a conspiracy to provide material support to Iranian terror proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and for additional counts in a separate case involving a reported $1.4 million food stamp scam. He once bragged about assaulting a child he believed was “cooperating with the Jews” and laughed off a deadly bombing in Israel while helping raise funds for terror groups in the Middle East, according to the Tampa Bay Times.But Fariz appears to have undergone a reinvention. Now he’s best known as a pillar of Florida’s Muslim community.Fariz landed in Florida after his release from a federal prison in 2010, according to the Tampa Bay Times. While serving as the director of the Islamic Community of Tampa — also known as the Al-Qassam Mosque — Fariz has organized pro-Palestinian protests and become a prominent community member. The local police chief, Kenneth Albano, even called him “a force for reason within the Muslim community,” the Tampa Bay Times reported in 2024.At the time, he was also...
