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A two-day summit scheduled for November 13–14 in Brooklyn will train Muslim Student Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) leaders to develop campus organizing plans, coordinate activities across New York schools and connect with advocacy organizations offering internships. The event is being hosted by the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center, part of a national organization founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, alongside the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which previously worked with a U.S.-sanctioned terrorist fundraising network.
The NY MSA-SJP Summit, organized by MAS Youth Center in collaboration with MSA National, Oaktree Institute and PYM, is being promoted as a ten-hour certification course intended to build a unified Islamic student movement across New York. Organizers say participants will develop written annual plans for their chapters, share programming strategies and establish relationships with student organizations at other schools. The conference also includes internship opportunities with organizations working in advocacy, law, media and community organizing.
The summit’s host and partners have documented histories involving the Muslim Brotherhood and organizations linked to designated terrorist groups. MAS has published educational materials praising Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna and the movement’s late spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi, while PYM previously co-organized activities with Samidoun, which the U.S. Treasury sanctioned for financing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The summit’s keynote speaker, workshop instructors and participating campus chapters have not yet been publicly identified.
Summit Host’s Muslim Brotherhood Origins
The Muslim American Society was established in the early 1990s by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. A 2004 Washington Post investigation identified Mohammed Mahdi Akef, who subsequently became the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, among its founders. Akef acknowledged his involvement in establishing MAS in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.
A January 2026 study by George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, authored by Sergio Altuna and Lorenzo Vidino, revisited the organization’s origins and documented historical and ideological relationships with the Brotherhood. The researchers also identified evidence of continuing transnational relationships involving Brotherhood members and American institutions.
The Muslim Students Association movement also has historical connections to Brotherhood networks. The Washington Post reported that Brotherhood activists were among those who established the MSA in 1963.
MAS Educational Materials Praise Brotherhood Leaders
The national organization’s historical roots are accompanied by educational publications praising prominent Brotherhood figures. A MAS booklet titled Muslim Revivalists, prepared for students and parents, features Hassan al-Banna among exemplary Islamic revivalists. It praises his movement as one of the most successful modern Islamic revival efforts and describes his advocacy for gradually introducing reforms that would bring society and government into conformity with Sharia.
The booklet also devotes several pages to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the late cleric widely described as the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader. It praises his scholarship and explicitly credits his Brotherhood involvement with helping him communicate with wider audiences. Qaradawi publicly endorsed Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis and chaired the Union of Good, which the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned in November 2008 for transferring funds to Hamas. A separate 2009 Treasury letter, reproduced in a State Department diplomatic cable, identified Qaradawi as the organization’s chairman.
A separate MAS educational packet, hosted in its September 2024 upload directory, includes a resource guide based on Yusuf al-Qaradawi's Sincerity: The Essential Quality, which MAS Youth translated and adapted.. The packet provides facilitator notes, discussion questions and activities for youth and young adults, including instructions for organizing single-session or multiweek educational programs. Its teaching materials also quote Hassan al-Banna on sincerity and the responsibilities of Islamic activists.
MAS-affiliated institutions in New York have also hosted speakers with direct professional relationships to Brotherhood leaders. In October 2022, Akram Kassab, a former director of Qaradawi’s office, spoke at a workshop at the MAS-affiliated Andalusia Islamic Center, co-sponsored by MAS and American Muslims for Palestine. Kassab previously served as secretary-general of the Association of Qaradawi’s Students and identified himself in a 2016 Arabic interview as a founding member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, which Qaradawi chaired.
Palestinian Youth Movement Previously Worked With Sanctioned PFLP Sham Charity
PYM, an announced partner in the summit, has a documented history of organizing events alongside Samidoun, a network identified by the U.S. government as an international fundraiser for the PFLP. According to an October 2024 NGO Monitor investigation, PYM and Samidoun co-sponsored demonstrations, organized events and promoted each other’s activities. Among them was an August 2020 demonstration in New York, co-hosted by the two organizations, where participants displayed Hezbollah and PFLP flags.
In January 2022, PYM, Samidoun and Within Our Lifetime also jointly launched a campaign supporting Somaya Falah, who had been arrested by Israeli authorities on security-related charges. Their cooperation was independently documented in a June 2024 Arabic-language NoonPost article, which identified Samidoun among PYM’s organizational partners and described their joint protest and cultural activities.
On October 15, 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Samidoun, identifying it as a front organization established by the PFLP that provided financial support to the designated terrorist group. Treasury simultaneously sanctioned Khaled Barakat, identifying him as a member of the PFLP’s leadership abroad whose fundraising and recruitment efforts supported its activities.
New York SJP Chapters Previously Co-Sponsored Samidoun Events
Several New York SJP chapters have also participated in activities alongside Samidoun. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the SJP chapters at Baruch College, John Jay College and the City College of New York, alongside Hunter College’s Palestine Solidarity Alliance, co-sponsored a September 3, 2024, demonstration with Samidoun.
The protest targeted Baruch College’s Hillel organization. The ADL reported that Jewish students were harassed and a Hillel staff member was assaulted during the demonstration.
An earlier Arabic-language declaration, published in May 2020, also listed John Jay College SJP, NYU SJP, National SJP, PYM, Within Our Lifetime and Samidoun among organizations endorsing a campaign to isolate the Palestinian Authority leadership and reject the Oslo peace framework.
MAS NYC Co-Director Called for Hamas to “Strike Tel Aviv”
The summit’s Brooklyn host has also faced scrutiny over public statements by its leadership. Abdullah Akl, identified by MAS New York as its co-director of public affairs and civic engagement and also an organizer associated with Within Our Lifetime, previously led a rally chant calling on Hamas to “strike Tel Aviv,” according to an October 2025 investigation by the Washington Free Beacon.
The same investigation documented an April 2025 prayer by Mohammad Badawy, whom the outlet identified as MAS Youth Center's resident scholar, calling for the “destruction of the illegitimate Zionist occupiers and all of their supporters” and expressing support for “all those resisting against them by any means necessary.”
Summit to Coordinate Student Chapters Across New York
The conference, themed Rewriting the Syllabus of the Student Movement, will take place at MAS Youth Center in Brooklyn. According to the organizers, last year’s summit attracted more than 130 student leaders from over 40 schools. This year’s program includes a keynote, organizing workshops, chapter consultations, internship opportunities and a certification ceremony.
The only thing that can stop this insanity is legislation outlawing these groups and charities. We have the information. This is insidious. We are watching our demise from front row seats. Why does our elected leadership do nothing???
Much useful info here about MAS New York's dangerous Muslim Brotherhood ties, which we discuss in our exposé on Mamdani:
https://justiceforisrael.substack.com/p/yes-mamdani-supports-hamas