Ground Zero Mosque, Brought To You By Friends Of Hamas

No wonder Michael Bloomberg is adamant that nobody should investigate the financial backers of the Ground Zero Mosque. Because once folks find out that "Park51" is being funded by the same folks who fund Hamas, well..that 71% anti-mosque majority is going to swell even further.

The New York Post takes no prisoners:

So now it transpires that a key money- man behind the proposed Ground Zero mosque is a one-time supporter of a group shut down by the feds because it was a front for Hamas.

No wonder the mosque's principal imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, refuses to discuss the project's finances.

Or, for that matter, refuses to speak harshly of Hamas -- an Iranian cat's-paw that's long been one of the deadliest Islamist terrorist organizations operating in the Mideast.

It was reported last night that Hisham Elzanaty -- an Egyptian-born businessman from Long Island -- provided a big chunk of the $4.8 million needed to buy the building that will be demolished to make way for the mosque.

In 1999, he donated thousands to the Holy Land Foundation, later shuttered by the feds because of its Hamas ties.

These are only the latest revelations about the mosque's backers, who've run up a cumulative record of petty crime, slumlording and tax-scamming.

And that's being generous.

Rauf, who's due back in New York this weekend after a long trip abroad, has plenty of explaining to do to the people he's been thumbing in the eye for weeks.

But Iman Rauf, in the spirit of generosity, love, and tolerance that is the hallmark of the Islamic faith, has already explained what the problems are - and it's the racist, radical American people:

At a forum in Dubai on Tuesday, Rauf appeared to call the 71 percent of New Yorkers who oppose his project religious "extremists."

"The battlefront . . . is not between Muslims and non-Muslims," he said. "It is between moderates [and] extremists and radicals of all faith traditions."

We'd guess 71 percent of New Yorkers would include a representative cross-section of "all faith traditions."

Are they "extremists" for opposing the mosque?

New Yorkers hardly ever agree on any thing -- but they agree it's inappropriate.

Are they "radicals?"

Seems as if the Imam is taking his lead from an unpopular Mayor, an unpopular president, and an unpopular political elite that is about sixty days away from getting their asses kicked out of power.

Not a very smart Imam...

But who knows? Maybe he realizes his Ground Zero mosque is now a pipe dream, and is simply angling for lucrative speaking fees on the left-wing speech circuit...