JEWISH SENTINEL

6 JEWISH SENTINEL • JUNE 18 - 24, 2021 the destruction of Israel. “We do what we need to get done, and we do it well,” she boasted. Indeed, the would-be DA’s quiet accomplishments include working for a charity that accepted thou- sands in donations from a group known for supporting violent Marxist-Islamist revolutionaries. herit the task of investigating the Trump Organization after a Febru- ary Supreme Court ruling ordering the former president to hand over eight years of tax returns and other financial records. Of course, with such awesome power comes potential for abuse. In 2018, the FBI initiated an inves- tigation into the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office over allegations that its prosecutors dropped cas- es targeting wealthy defendants who donated to Vance’s campaign coffers. Lawyers representing dis- graced Hollywood producer and convicted rapist Harvey Wein- stein donated $34,000 to Vance’s re-election bid after he declined to prosecute their client in 2015 for sexual assault. With an Islamist candidate on continued on page 28 By JORDAN COPE T he Manhattan District At- torney’s Office is one of the most powerful legal institu- tions inAmerica, vestedwith the ju- risdiction and authority toprosecute corporate elites, Hollywood mo- guls, mafia dons and even a U.S. president. Yet one of the most im- portant, heavily financed races in 2021 could result in the election of an Islamist lawyer with a history of consorting with extremists and anti-Semites. Prior to running for office, Palestinian-American attorney Tahanie Aboushi worked behind- the-scenes in pursuit of an anti-Is- rael agenda. “We’re not activists that need to be in the limelight,” Aboushi told The New York Times of her family, whose members have fundraised on behalf of Isla- mist politicians and collaborated with an organization committed to As a volunteer, Aboushi lends her time to a nonprofit that serves as the American wing of a violent South-Asian Islamist movement, and she is intimately familiar with some of New York’s most promi- nent anti-Jewish activists. Despite these troubling connec- tions, the Staten Islander enjoys a fighting chance in November’s DA race. In February, the incumbent district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., announced that he will not seek re-election for a fourth term. By that time, Aboushi had raised near- ly $800,000 in campaign contribu- tions, with only 10 percent of these funds coming from Manhattan res- idents — far less than any of the seven high-profile candidates run- ning against her. T he race’s eventual victor stands to assume a position with vast power and great respon- sibility. From taking down Italian mob bosses to prosecuting interna- tional drug cartels, the New York County District Attorney regularly prosecutes some of the most pro- lific criminal cases in the country. Manhattan’s next DA will also in- By Any Means Necessary Islamist connections revealed in most consequential U.S. district attorney race REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK Manhattan’s corruptible DA’s of ce could eventually be used to further an extremist agenda. Manhattan DA candidate Tahanie Aboushi.