Minnesota Representatives Aisha Gomez (DFL-Minneapolis), Carlos Mariani (DFL-St. Paul), and Jay Xiong (DFL-St. Paul) proposed a bill, HF 2587, that would include the creation of an antisemitism task force. Appointed members on this task force include the executive director of the Islamic Association of North America, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations – Minnesota and the executive director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS).
The MAS Minnesota branch is led by a man named Asad Zaman. Zaman has made it clear through numerous Facebook posts that he holds anti-Semitic attitudes. He has openly expressed apologies for Hamas and supported war criminals as well. Some of the links he has shared on Facebook lead to holocaust denial websites, and anti-Semitic conspircy theory sites that claim that “U.S. foreign policy is determined by Israel.”
Zaman met with Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in early during the National Muslim Advocacy Day organzied by the United States Coalition of Muslim Organizations (USCMO). Zaman’s group, MAS, is apart of the council of the USCMO.
Later, on Apr 3, Zaman delivered the Invocation at the State of the State address delivered by Governor Tim Walz. “These three faith leaders understand the meaning of One Minnesota—and they are practicing what they preach,” said Walz, but it’s clear that based on
Asad Zaman first gained coverage in Minnesota when the school he worked as executive director for, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), was sued by the ACLU of Minnesota for violating constitutional prohibitions against government endorsement of religion. The ACLU stated Zaman that to control of virtually every significant event at TiZA [and] MAS-MN” while trying “to hide such control” that showed powerful evidence that Zaman’s school “is a Muslim school and that it funnels state and federal money to other Muslim organizations.”
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Megan Olson
Megan Olson is a 2020 graduate of the University of Minnesota with degrees in political science and history. She works in public affairs in addition to serving on the Legislative Advisory Council for School District 196. She is also on the school board for FIT academy, a charter school in Apple Valley.
