New York City officials are investigating a Brooklyn fundraising event where vendors sold merchandise promoting U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, prompting City Council leaders to freeze public funding to the host nonprofit and raising new questions about how discretionary funds are vetted.

City attorneys have launched a review after reports that keychains, pins and stickers bearing the logos of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) were sold last week at a fundraiser hosted at the Muslim American Society Youth Center in Brooklyn, according to a spokesperson for the New York City Council.

The U.S. State Department designates all three groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The incident was first reported by The Times of Israel, which published images showing items featuring the logos of the terrorist groups, as well as images of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Other items allegedly carried slogans such as “Death to the IDF” and “Let’s go bomb Tel Aviv,” along with imagery tied to the PFLP and Hamas symbolism.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin’s office said the council has moved to block additional funding to the nonprofit pending the outcome of a legal review.

“The City Council has zero tolerance for violations of our standards,” a spokesperson for Menin said in a statement to The New York Post. “Funding to this organization is being paused pending a comprehensive internal review. Any nonprofit found to be supporting organizations that threaten the United States government is unacceptable and incompatible with City Council funding.”

According to the Post, the Muslim American Society’s New York branch has received roughly $265,000 in discretionary funding from the City Council since 2023. The council is now withholding an additional $80,000 while the investigation is underway and may bar future funding.

Discretionary funds are allocated by individual council members to local nonprofits for community programming, making oversight a recurring political flashpoint at City Hall.

The fundraiser, billed as “Thrift4Sudan,” was advertised as an exhibit and pop-up store with proceeds said to be going to humanitarian aid in Sudan. Social media posts from the event show displays of the merchandise alongside a placard featuring a masked figure and a quote attributed to a late spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another U.S.-designated terror group.

A video of the display was shared by Pal-Awda, a hardline anti-Zionist activist group that recently drew backlash for chanting in support of Hamas outside a Queens shul. The youth center itself also posted video from the event, though some promotional posts have since been removed.

Organizers said six vendors participated. One vendor, according to reports, regularly sells merchandise linked to terrorist groups and has claimed that proceeds are donated to families in Gaza. Similar items have previously been sold by activists in New York City parks.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)