Mustafa Shalabi ( ar, مصطفى شلبي) was a founder of several charities alleged to have links to terrorism who was found murdered on February 25, 1991.
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The Nizkor Project The Nizkor Project ( he, נִזְכּוֹר, "we will remember") is an Internet-based project run by B'nai Brith Canada which is dedicated to countering Holocaust denial. About the project The website was founded by Ken McVay as a central W ...

'', 1993 Shalabi was an early associate of Sheik

Omar Abdel-Rahman Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( ar, عمر عبد الرحمن), (ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh", was a blind Egyptians, Egyptian Islamist militant who served a ...

, after Abdel-Rahman's arrival in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

.Zawahiri – Not bin Laden – Is the Top Target
'' Defense Watch'', March 5, 2003 Funds he raised are said to have been used to finance the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Abdel-Rahman is said to have circulated a denunciation of Shalabi in early 1991. Shalabi took this threat seriously enough to send his wife back to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. Shalabi was found murdered a few days later. Abdel-Rahman denied knowledge of any plots to assassinate Shalabi, but the assassination is attributed to his followers. The

Al Kifah Refugee Center The Al Kifah Refugee Center is a charity that was active in the United StatesAl Kifah R ...

that Shalabi founded has been described as of pivotal importance in

Operation Cyclone Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1992, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in suppor ...

—America's covert program to send radical, foreign, militant, fundamentalist, Islamists to Afghanistan, to strengthen the resistance against the Communists.

Maktab al-Khadamat The ''Maktab al-Khidamat'' () was an Arab charitable organization founded in 1984 by Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other volunteers during the Soviet–Afghan War, It raised funds and recruited foreign mujahideen for the ...

, the organization

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

was to hijack and turn into

al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

was one of the main beneficiaries of the American aid funneled through questionable charities like al Kifah. According to

Gerald Posner Gerald Leo Posner (born May 20, 1954) is an American investigative journalist and author of thirteen books, including ''Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK'' (1993), which explores the John F. Kennedy assassination, and ' ...

's book '' Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11:''

The center's director was Emir Mustafa Shalabi, a young Egyptian immigrant with a shock of red hair. Shalabi was infused with the same religious fervor for the Afghan cause that roused many young Muslims who regarded it as a holy war to liberate an Islamic country from communist domination. Neighbors began calling Alkifah the "jihad office." Shalabi invited
Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
Ali Mohamed, a former Egyptian army officer and U.S. Army Green Beret, to the center's basement offices under the al-Farooq mosque. Armed with official U.S. Army videotapes and military documents marked "Top Secret," Mohamed conducted a series of weekend "training" classes and a two-week-long intensive seminar. Almost all the volunteers were Arab immigrants. They bought $600 one-way fares as a sign they were willing to give their lives for Islam.Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11
''
Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
''-, 2003

Other future terrorists whom Shalabi would have met at the al Kifah center include: Shalabi is said to have also founded the Brooklyn Jihad Center'. Other sources say that "the Jihad Center" was merely another name for the al Kifah Refugee Center.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shalabi, Mustafa Year of birth missing 1991 deaths Assassinated Egyptian people Egyptian people murdered abroad People murdered in New York (state) Male murder victims 1991 murders in the United States

See also

References