Last time I checked, al-Qaeda is our major adversary in the Crusade Against Islamist Terrorism. Why, then, is a Boston government agency selling land to a group associated with al-Qaeda to build a mosque in the heart of Boston's Roxbury neighborhood? And why did the group get the land at a below-market price? Those questions are being asked by one Boston city councilman.

Boston City Councilor Jerry McDermott imminently intends to call for a public hearing on the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s sale of land in Roxbury for the construction of a large mosque to the Islamic Society of Boston, which has been dogged by charges of links to Islamic extremists.

The hearing comes at the urging of the lawyer for the David Project, the pro-Israel group currently being sued by the ISB for defamation, who sent a letter to McDermott and local media earlier this month alleging that the ISB trustees’ current president had signed a petition in support of the pre-trial release of Abdulrahman Alamoudi. The founder of the ISB in 1982, Alamoudi is now in prison in Saudi Arabia on terrorism funding-related charges.

Lawyers for the BRA and the ISB had rebuffed McDermott’s request to participate in hearings in April, citing pending litigation in a lawsuit brought by a Mission Hill resident over charges that the BRA violated the separation of church and state in selling the land for the mosque at a below-market price in exchange for several services, including a lecture series on Islam, to be provided by the ISB.

“I understand if folks at the BRA can only answer limited questions, but I also think it’s fair to provide the opportunity to come in and ask questions,” said McDermott, who chairs the Post-Audit and Oversight committee. “I think the public, as well as any elected official, has the right to ask questions concerning whether the sale of this public parcel was handled properly and whether the sale price was in the taxpayers’ best interest,” McDermott said, adding that he intends to file the request for a hearing after the first of the year.

ISB lawyer Albert Farrah said that the ISB will not participate in hearings. “Any legitimate issues that have been raised about the transactions between the BRA and the ISB will be resolved before a court of law, not before Councilor McDermott’s subcommittee,” he said.

This deal stinks, and needs to be stopped. No other group -- and certainly not one with documented ties to the enemies of the United States -- would get such preferential treatment. Let them pay market rates for the land, and then only if they can prove that they have completely eliminated their ties to the enemies of the United States.

(H/T: Hub Politics)