Iran-Linked Bank Gave $995K to Texas School That Reportedly Employs Hamas Leader’s Niece
Islamic Development Bank, which previously funded families of Palestinian suicide bombers, allegedly financed expansion of Dallas-area academy teaching children to hate "disbelievers"
According to recent reporting by the Middle East Forum, Brighter Horizons Academy, an accredited Islamic preparatory school in suburban Dallas serving 844 students, was founded by figures allegedly tied to the Holy Land Foundation network. MEF also reports that the school employs a teacher it identified as a niece of Khaled Meshaal.
It says Brighter Horizons uses curricular materials that describe non-Muslims as “the worst of creatures” and received $995,000 from the Islamic Development Bank, which MEF says funded terrorists during the Second Intifada. MEF further reports that the school’s early leadership appears to have included Mufeed Abdelqader, listed as vice president on a 2001 tax filing and identified by MEF as the same Mufid Abdelqader later convicted in the Holy Land Foundation case.
Founding Figures Were Later Linked to Hamas- and HLF-Related Network
Brighter Horizons Academy operates as a subsidiary of Islamic Services Foundation (ISF), a Texas nonprofit established in 1989 by “a group of dedicated Muslim parents” to create an “educational institution conducive to an Islamic learning environment.” That founding group included Rasmi Almallah, who served on the board of the Holy Land Foundation — the largest terrorism financing operation ever prosecuted in the United States — and was listed by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 HLF terror trial.
In 1992, the Dallas Morning News documented Almallah’s role co-founding the Islamic Association of Palestine, Hamas’s chief U.S. proxy, alongside Hamas politburo leader Mousa Abu Marzook. A federal court later convicted Eyad Ismoil, an employee at one of Almallah’s Texas businesses, for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.
ISF’s 2001 tax return listed its vice president as Mufid Abdulqader, later convicted in the Holy Land Foundation case and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Abdulqader is the brother of Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
Hamas Leader’s Niece Currently Teaching at School
Sarah Abdulqader, identified as Khaled Meshaal’s niece and daughter of the convicted terrorist Mufid Abdulqader, is currently employed as a teacher at Brighter Horizons, according to the Middle East Forum report. Sarah, who also uses the surname Meshaal, has been described as a “passionate supporter” of her imprisoned father.
Other staff members with alleged or documented terror ties included Majida Salem, wife of convicted Holy Land Foundation operative Ghassan Elashi (serving a 65-year sentence), who served on ISF’s “curricula design” team while teaching Islamic studies at the school.
Deported Hamas Operative Authored Textbooks
One of the most significant findings by the MEF involves Nabil Sadoun, an ISF director the Dallas Morning News identified as “a Jordanian Islamist activist deported from the United States in 2010 for concealing Hamas ties on immigration paperwork.”
FBI documents filed in federal court in 2010 concluded: “The FBI has concluded that SADOUN — through his membership in and/or affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States, Palestine Committee, United Association for Studies and Research, and Muslim Arab Youth Association — was affiliated with HAMAS. The FBI has also uncovered evidence that SADOUN knowingly provided material support to the HLF — a HAMAS front organization.”
Yet ISF lists Sadoun as the lead author and director of its 2018 textbook Islam in America, eight years after his deportation.
Curriculum Teaches Children to Hate ‘Disbelievers’
The ISF textbooks currently used at Brighter Horizons teach young children that non-Muslims are “the worst of creatures” who “will be in the Hellfire, to stay there,” according to the “I Love Islam: Level 2” textbook obtained by the Middle East Forum. The textbook presents the passage under the heading ‘Words of Wisdom,’ without additional commentary.
The ISF’s Level 5 and 6 textbooks warn that “Allah continues giving severe warnings to the kuffar [non-believers]” and that “those who disbelieve in Allah will suffer the punishment of Hell, which is a terrible place to be in.”
The “Iman: The Heart of Life” textbook stresses the importance of jihad, teaching: “When Muslims gave up jihad, did not abide by God’s will, started fighting among themselves and were submissive in the face of their enemies, God caused them to suffer greatly.”
Textbooks Praise Designated Terror Charities — Years After Shutdown
ISF’s “Islam in America” textbook highlights the work of the Benevolence International Foundation and Global Relief Foundation — both shut down and designated as terror financing operations over links to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. The 2011 textbook praises these organizations without mentioning their terror designations, instead telling children these charities help Muslims “feel part of the ummah.”
The same textbook praises the Islamic African Relief Agency seven years after the U.S. government designated the charity for ties to bin Laden. Notably, Natalia Suleiman, who taught at Brighter Horizons from 2002 to 2010, worked for IARA in Sudan in the 1990s and later served as administrative assistant to Shukri Abu Baker, the convicted CEO of the Holy Land Foundation.
$995,000 From Iran-Linked Bank With Alleged Terror Ties
Brighter Horizons received approximately $995,000 from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), where Iran holds a seven percent voting share. According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), IsDB board members have been identified as having alleged ties to the Iranian regime and to Hamas financing.
In September 2025, The Treasury Department sanctioned current board member Gebreil Ibrahim Mohamed Fediel for collaborating with Iran and involvement in human rights abuses that resulted in the deaths of 150,000 people. Another member, Anwar Ibrahim, allegedly allowed Hamas to operate and raise funds in Malaysia.
During the Second Intifada, IsDB directly managed the “Al Quds Intifada Fund,” which funneled millions to families of Palestinian terrorists. By 2006, IsDB had transferred $609 million to the Palestinian Authority, supporting 664 families of killed terrorists.
School Remains Fully Accredited Despite Alleged Terror Ties
Despite the alleged terror ties, Brighter Horizons Academy remains accredited by Cognia, the accrediting body at issue in the state’s review of schools seeking entry into Texas’s voucher program.
The school’s principal, Dr. Leila Kayed, promoted videos on her Instagram account by Richard Medhurst, a far-right Kremlin supporter who accuses the United States of committing terrorist attacks against Russia and alleges an Israeli-American conspiracy to attack Iran and Russia for financial gain.
Part of Broader Muslim Brotherhood Network
Analysts at the Middle East Forum and George Washington University’s Program on Extremism have situated ISF and Brighter Horizons within a broader Muslim Brotherhood-influenced ecosystem. The organization maintains connections to Houston Quran Academy, run by the Muslim American Society (MAS), which George Washington University’s Program on Extremism identified as “one of the purest expressions of Muslim Brotherhood Islamism in the United States today.”
Ghassan Hitto, who local media reported was “heavily involved in running” Brighter Horizons, later became vice president of CAIR Dallas-Fort Worth. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood selected him to head Syria’s opposition interim government in 2013.
Texas designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2025 due to leadership links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood — yet ISF textbooks continue to praise CAIR as a “civil liberties group” that helps Muslims “fight discrimination.”
Reformist Muslims Demand Investigation
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, told the Middle East Forum: “The success of the Muslim Brotherhood as a mass global movement and its ideology of political Islam is greatly dependent on its ability to indoctrinate Muslim children, in mosques and Islamic schools with the view that their interpretations of Islam and shariah must reign supreme.”
After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization under Texas law in November 2025, the White House later that month initiated a process to consider federal terrorist designations for certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters. That effort was followed in January 2026 by State and Treasury actions targeting the Lebanese, Egyptian, and Jordanian branches.