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A pro-Palestinian Texas businessman has been bankrolling an anti-Israel super PAC that’s now backing a a trio of insurgent far-left New York congressional candidates, records show.
Hussein “Sam” Mahrouq — the owner of Enterprises International, which runs AutoMax and Dollar Rent-A-Car — donated $400,000 to the American Priorities PAC, which was formed earlier this year as a counter to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The organization said Tuesday it would drop $2 million to on TV, streaming and digital ads to boost House candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander, who have all been endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mahrouq has been donating to several candidates and PACs that are critical of Israel. YouTube/Greater Arlington ChamberSome of the PAC’s largest funders were big league donors that helped fuel Mamdani’s winning mayoral campaign last year.
Among them was New York-based Muslim businessman Mohammad Waqas, who funneled $1 million to American Priorities after being the top donor to the pro-Mamdani PAC New Yorkers for Lower Costs.
Omer Hasan, a Silicon Valley investor who gave at least $250,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, also donated $1 million to the new PAC.
Mahrouq, meanwhile, personally gave $2,100 directly to Mamdani’s insurgent campaign in June of last year.
The Muslim-American, who says he was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, has funneled tens of thousands of dollars to lefty “Squad” members Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) over the last seven years.
But Mahrouq’s donations also crossed the aisle to anti-Israel Republicans.
He has sent $500 to a campaign for Kentucky Rep. Thomas Masse, who has been outspoken against the US selling arms to Israel. Mahrouq also gave thousands of dollars to former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a critic of the Jewish state’s actions in Gaza.
The PAC has many connections to the Mamdani mayoral win last year. SARAH YENESEL/EPA/ShutterstockThe three New York congressional hopefuls set to get a cash infusion from the new PAC have been openly pro-Palestinian and taken an antagonistic stance toward Israel — which has become a wedge issue for Democrats inside their own party.
American Priorities is expected to start taking out ads on streaming and other digital platforms, including one featuring anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil and his wife, according to the New York Times, which first reported the new spending.
Avila Chevalier protested Israel alongside Khalil at Columbia University and has railed against the Jewish state in social media posts, including writing in 2020 that “Israel doesn’t exist!”
She is running to take down five-term incumbent Rep. Adrianno Espaillat in New York’s 13th House District in the June 23 Democratic primary.
International politics haven’t been front and center in that race or in Avila Chevalier’s fellow Democratic Socialists of America member Valdez’s bid for the open NY-7 seat.
However, the Israel-Palestine issue has proven to be a hot topic in Lander’s bid to unseat sitting Rep. Dan Goldman in the DSA-friendly 10th District covering brownstone Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.
Mahrouq has also donated $6,000 to the Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption PAC in 2025.
And he gave $1,000 last year to the Anti-Zionist America PAC, which is run by a former NYU professor, Michael Rectenwald, who published a book, “The Jewish Question” — before it got changed to the “The Cabal Question” by Amazon.
Rectenwald, who made headlines in 2016 during his anti-political correctness campaign, has posted on social media that “Jewish mafia did 9/11” and frequently referred to the “Jewish elites.”
Calls to Mahrouq were not returned.
American Priorities’ treasurer is Brooklyn-based political operative Mark Hanna, records show. The PAC is managed by Hannah Fertig, a progressive strategist and staffer from the Justice Democrats group, which helped get Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elected and is backing Avila Chevalier.
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