Palestinification of Paterson, New Jersey: America’s First City to Be Conquered—From Islamizing Government, Schools, and Streets to Subverting U.S. Election Law

Posted on by Constitutional Nobody

A shocking transformation is unfolding in Paterson, New Jersey, a city of roughly 160,000 residents that now contains the second-largest Muslim population per capita in the United States, after Houston, Texas. An estimated 20 to 22 percent of the city’s population identifies as Muslim, many of them Palestinian immigrants or descendants. As this demographic bloc has grown in size and influence, city officials have increasingly aligned policy not just with Islamic culture, but with Palestinian political goals, transforming Paterson from a once-secular, blue-collar American city into a foreign ideological outpost.

What was once Main Street is now Palestine Way. Arabic signage dominates storefronts, advertising halal meats, hijabs, niqabs, and keffiyehs. Palestinian flags are draped from balconies, flutter from city lampposts, and one now flies, undisturbed, directly in front of city hall.

Paterson officials including, Mayor Andre Sayegh, Paterson Council President Maritza Davila and Sixth Ward Councilman Al Abdelaziz stand on a rise before unveiling the renaming of part of Main Street to Palestine Way during a ceremony, Sunday in Paterson on 05/15/22. Mitsu Yasukawa/ Northjersey.com

The transformation is no longer subtle. During a city-sponsored Ramadan celebration in 2025, Mayor Andre Sayegh openly declared, “Paterson is the capital of Palestine in the United States of America,” and “the fourth holiest city in the world—Jerusalem, Mecca, Medina, and then Paterson, New Jersey.” His remarks weren’t off-the-cuff—they were delivered from a public platform, with city backing, and reflected exactly what has been unfolding across the city’s political landscape.

In 2022, Paterson’s leaders crossed a red line: they officially re-christened the city’s southern corridor “Little Palestine.” Driven by then-Councilman Alaa Abdelaziz, the timing was no accident—he unveiled the new name on “Nakba Day,” the annual Palestinian day of mourning that brands Israel’s birth in 1948 a “catastrophe.” This was no quaint cultural nod; it was a deliberate act of ideological staking-out, signaling solidarity with a movement that denies Israel’s very right to exist and proclaiming that the Palestinian demographic footprint in Paterson is here to dominate, not merely coexist.

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Inside public schools, students are served halal meals by default. The academic calendar now accommodates Islamic holidays such as Eid with full closures. On these days, city-sponsored Islamic religious events often double as political rallies, endorsed by elected officials, promoted through city resources, and frequently featuring campaign-style speeches that promote a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel agenda.

Municipal resources are increasingly used to elevate Islamic culture and Palestinian nationalism. Paterson City Hall hosts Muslim Heritage Month, Palestine Week, Iftar at City Hall, and other city-funded celebrations that include BDS promotion, condemnation of Israel, and calls for “liberation from the river to the sea,” a radical slogan recognized as an eliminationist rallying cry against the Jewish state.

Most dramatically, the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, now publicly resounds through Paterson’s neighborhoods. What was once a secular civic soundscape has adopted the ritual rhythms of Islamic rule.

Driving Paterson’s transformation is a bloc of Muslim elected officials with close alignment to radical left-wing networks. On the nine-member City Council, that bloc consists of Shahin Khalique (2nd Ward), Md Forid Uddin (At-Large), and Ibrahim Omar (6th Ward). Deputy Mayor Raed Odeah, also a practicing Muslim, serves as a key liaison to local activist groups. Mayor Andre Sayegh, who is raised Catholic but identifies as Arab-American, casts himself as a cultural bridge. Former Councilman Alaa “Al” Abdelaziz, now a New Jersey Assemblyman for the 35th District, has carried Paterson’s agenda to the state level.

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The city continues to elevate Palestinian identity as a defining feature of its governance. Police officer Serene Tamey and Chief Judge Abdulmageid Abdelhadi, who are celebrated as heroes for being the first Palestinian-American to hold that title in any U.S. city, have become high-profile symbols.

With every symbolic gesture, legal change, and foreign cultural accommodation, Paterson inches closer to functioning not as a U.S. city with a diverse population, but as a Palestinian ideological colony. And it didn’t stop there. In 2023, the city’s ideological trajectory took a formal international turn.

See RAIR’s previous related report: “New Jersey’s First Islamic City: Muslim Politicians Seize Power in Paterson, Declare It ‘The Capital of Palestine in America,’ Raise Islamic Flags, and Advance Sharia.”

Ramallah’s Sister City: When U.S. Cities Enter Foreign Political Alliances

In 2023, Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh signed a formal sister city agreement with Ramallah, the political capital of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank. Marketed as a harmless cultural exchange, the agreement in reality formalizes municipal ties with a foreign regime known for glorifying terrorism, incentivizing murder, and spreading virulent anti-Israel and anti-Western propaganda.

Ramallah is no neutral cultural outpost. It is the operational hub of a regime that funds terrorism through its notorious “Pay-for-Slay” program—paying monthly stipends to the families of those who kill Jews and Israelis. The Palestinian Authority openly celebrates “martyrs,” indoctrinates its youth with calls for jihad, and has been condemned by multiple U.S. administrations for inciting violence and undermining peace. By institutionalizing political cooperation with such an entity, Paterson has crossed the line from cultural outreach into foreign ideological allegiance and support of terrorism.

City officials have portrayed the deal as a gesture of economic and civic goodwill, but there’s no evidence that the U.S. State Department reviewed or approved it. The absence of federal oversight raises serious questions about legality and transparency. Depending on the scope of collaboration, the partnership may even trigger concerns under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires Americans to disclose activities carried out on behalf of foreign political interests.

Paterson now stands as a test case for municipal-level foreign alignment, potentially setting a precedent for other U.S. cities with large Islamic or Palestinian populations. Local governments could replicate the model: using taxpayer-funded platforms, city resources, and elected offices to institutionalize anti-American and anti-Israel ideologies under the protection of “diversity” and “inclusion.”

And what of reciprocity? Paterson raises the Palestinian flag—but would Ramallah ever raise the American one, appoint Jews or Christians to high office, welcome Israeli officials, or sponsor a “Jewish Heritage Week”? Everyone knows the answer. Paterson has moved far beyond “reasonable accommodation” and is now operating as an ideological beachhead: normalizing the Palestinian cause while working to silence any dissent.

Paterson’s sister city agreement with Ramallah is not merely symbolic; it is strategic. It reflects a calculated effort to embed foreign nationalist objectives inside American political institutions. This isn’t diplomacy. It’s infiltration.

To grasp how deeply this infiltration has penetrated Paterson’s civic fabric, consider the events and endorsements that unfolded in just one month. What we’re witnessing is not isolated activism; it’s a coordinated political offensive. Radical representatives, Islamic groups, and pro-Palestinian agitators are leveraging Paterson as a model, turning it into a test case for embedding Islamic political identity into local American governance.

Palestinian American Community Center (PACC)

At the heart of Paterson’s ideological shift is the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC), a political entity cloaked in community outreach but deeply entrenched in radical, anti-Israel activism. Based in Clifton, New Jersey, and granted 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, PACC is led by Executive Director Rania Mustafa, a vocal defender of Palestinian nationalism who has described conditions in Gaza as “the worst sci-fi nightmare that could have ever existed.” Under her leadership, PACC has become a well-funded hub for pro-Hamas agitation, raising over $769,000 in 2022 alone, with additional grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Islamic Relief USA, and other left-leaning and Islamic donors.

Rania Mustafa 

Despite claiming to be nonpolitical, PACC actively lobbies for anti-Israel policies, promotes Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns, and runs an “advocacy guide” instructing supporters to weaponize religious observance, such as Ramadan, as a vehicle for anti-Israel protest. The guide encourages activists to use pro-Hamas hashtags, pressure elected officials, and flood social media with “Free Palestine” messaging. PACC also partners with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group known for college campus disruptions and supporting Hamas. The Center celebrated its role in the July 2024 protest against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s U.S. visit, during which demonstrators burned the American flag and an effigy of the Israeli leader.

PACC’s radicalism is also reflected in its media output. Its Falastin Magazine promotes the slogan “From the river to the sea”, a clear call for the elimination of Israel, and frames the 2023–2024 Hamas war as a continuation of the 1948 Nakba. The organization’s Palestine Campaigns video series and monthly newsletters reinforce this ideology, portraying Palestinian activism as both ancestral and revolutionary. PACC even funded five busloads of demonstrators to attend the March on Washington for Gaza, an event backed by extremist Islamic and communist groups, including AMP, CAIR, ICNA, MAS, ANSWER, Communist Party USA, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

This is not cultural education. This is ideological mobilization, openly embraced by Paterson city leaders who treat PACC as a civic partner. Their cooperation with an organization that whitewashes Hamas terrorism, spreads anti-Jewish propaganda, and collaborates with radical left-Islamic coalitions is not just irresponsible. It’s a warning.

Palestinian Day on Palestinian Way Hosted by PACC

It all came to a head when the city hosted its 4th Annual Palestine Day on Palestine Way: Billed as a “Day of Resilience and Representation,” the event became an overt political rally, endorsed by the mayor, held on city property, and filled with anti-Israel messaging and foreign nationalist themes. The event, which was held on Sunday, May 18, 2025, was proudly co-hosted by the City of Paterson in partnership with PACC.

That same day, a separate event meant to honor Brothers Produce—a longtime family-owned grocery store founded in 1987- was similarly overtaken by religious and ideological theatrics. The street renaming ceremony, originally planned as a civic recognition of local business owners Mohammad and Halema Gaber, was transformed into yet another Islamic-nationalist display. Imams led public duʿa prayers, Palestinian dancers in keffiyehs performed in the street, and the event was saturated with Islamic symbolism. In today’s Paterson, even a street sign can’t go up without becoming a stage for religious dominance and political messaging.

Palestinian Flag Raising Ceremony

Just a few weeks after Palestine Day, the City of Paterson doubled down. On Friday, June 13, 2025, Mayor Andre Sayegh and the Paterson City Council hosted a Palestinian flag-raising ceremony at City Hall, a taxpayer-funded endorsement of foreign nationalism on American soil. Promoted under the guise of “culture, unity, and community,” the event instead served as a public declaration of political alignment with Palestinian causes. Once again, city government facilities and resources were used to elevate an international conflict, specifically, one where terrorist groups like Hamas remain active, and symbolically enshrine that allegiance in the heart of Paterson’s civic life..

City officials stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Palestinian-American activists, religious leaders, and pro-Palestinian nonprofits to raise the Palestinian flag outside City Hall, with speakers accusing Israel of “genocide,” and chants of “Free, Free Palestine” ringing throughout the city, Rhetoric from the podium pushed narratives of victimhood, resistance, and Palestinian nationalism, blurring the lines between cultural expression and political agitation.

But this wasn’t just an ethnic pride celebration. This was a municipally sanctioned declaration of ideological allegiance, one that invoked unverified martyrdom stories, leveled “genocide by design” accusations at Israel, and celebrated those detained by U.S. immigration authorities for their activism as martyrs of the cause. With each speaker, the line between civic celebration and political indoctrination began to crumble.

Once again, the Palestinian American Community Center was at the forefront of the flag-raising ceremony, with the group’s “Palestine Education Director, Basma Bsharat,” serving as the event’s emcee. Despite promoting pro-Hamas talking points and anti-Israel agitation, she was welcomed with open arms by city officials.

She helped lead the event, which was embraced by Mayor Andre Sayegh, who even praised PACC publicly and noted that he had enrolled his own children in its programs “to learn all about Palestine.”

This wasn’t a neutral act of multiculturalism; it was a full embrace of PACC’s ideological mission. PACC Board President Diab Mustafa took the podium to thank the city council for its “unanimous decision to rename part of Main Street to Palestine Way” and for passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire just weeks after Hamas’s October 7 massacre. “Palestinians are proud to call Paterson home,” he declared, “and Paterson is enriched by our presence.” In that moment, the line between municipal government and radical activism vanished entirely.

Martyr Worship and Genocide Rhetoric from the Podium

One of the event’s opening segments featured speakers reciting emotionally charged, unverified accounts of so-called Palestinian “martyrs”, including infants allegedly killed by Israeli airstrikes. No evidence was presented, and no context was given, such as Hamas’s use of human shields, the presence of rocket launchers in civilian areas, or the thousands of Israeli civilians murdered and kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023.

Instead, several speakers accused Israel of committing “genocide” and a “genocide by design”—a grotesque inversion of history that hijacks Holocaust terminology to smear the world’s only Jewish state. The deliberate use of the word “genocide” was not only historically and legally baseless, but it was strategically weaponized to demonize Jews as mass murderers. It cast Israel as a uniquely evil nation.

These slanders were presented as unquestionable truth to a receptive crowd, turning civic space into a stage for blood libels and incitement, designed to dehumanize Israel and incite hatred under the guise of solidarity.

Sheik Abdul Khaleq Al-Naqeeb, an Egyptian-American imam whose entire education is in Islamic Sharīʿa from Cairo’s al-Azhar University, spoke at the ceremony with a duʿa from the City Hall steps. Al-Azhar, often called the “Vatican of Sunni Islam,” still teaches commentaries that brand Jews as Islam’s eternal enemies. Yet, al-Naqeeb has spent the last 30 years in Paterson as the resident imam of Omar Ibn al-Khattab Mosque, after earlier stints in Egypt’s al-Azhar system. His role—a foreign-trained Sharīʿa cleric shaping Paterson’s Muslim community—shows how city-sponsored events now fuse imported religious authority, Palestinian nationalism, and local politics under one municipal banner.

Government Officials Echo the Agenda

Then came the parade of local and state officials, delivering speeches under the city seal, in front of City Hall, and surrounded by municipal personnel:

  • Mayor Andre Sayegh praised the crowd’s civic engagement, celebrated the election of Assemblyman Alaa Abdelaziz, and called the event a celebration of Palestinian history and resistance. He reaffirmed Paterson’s commitment to recognizing “Palestine Week” every year.
  • Council President Alex Mendez praised the renaming of Main Avenue to Palestine Way and highlighted his role in pushing a city council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza—conspicuously ignoring the fact that every ceasefire has been violated by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group whose attacks triggered the conflict in the first place. The resolution was widely seen as the city inserting itself into a foreign war, while whitewashing the actions of the very group responsible for breaking every truce.
  • Councilman Luis Velez, despite admitting he doesn’t speak Arabic or grasp the complexities of the region, he declared solidarity with the Palestinian cause. He echoed calls for a Gaza ceasefire—uncritically aligning Paterson’s local government with one side of a Middle Eastern conflict driven by Hamas terrorism.
  • Councilman Ibrahim Omar, a known racist, called the Palestinian flag raising “more than a symbol—it’s a promise,” and declared that “we will never forget who we are,” reinforcing a message that tied municipal identity directly to the Palestinian nationalist movement.
  • Assemblyman Alaa Abdelaziz encouraged attendees to “speak up loud and proud about being Palestinian” and emphasized the growing political momentum of the Palestinian community from Paterson to Trenton.

All of this occurred on public property, with city sponsorship and approval, at an event where officials claimed, with no apparent irony, that they were not engaging in political advocacy.

A 501(c)(3) Disclaimer That Rings Hollow

Near the event’s conclusion, Basma Bsharat from PACC reminded the crowd that the organization is a 501(c)(3) and “does not endorse candidates.” Yet the stage had already been used to celebrate electoral victories as wins for the Palestinian cause, praise specific elected officials for enacting pro-Palestinian policies, and honor ICE detainees as victims of U.S. political persecution.

The line between civic engagement and partisan political mobilization wasn’t blurred; it was bulldozed.

Eid al-Adha Becomes a Campaign Platform: City-Sponsored Sectarian Politics in Paterson

The Islamization of Paterson doesn’t stop at cultural symbolism or foreign flag-raising. On June 6, 2025, the city crossed a new threshold when it hosted a taxpayer-funded Eid al-Adha celebration at Pennington Park, an event billed as a family-friendly “unity” gathering with bounce houses and ice cream. Promoted by Mayor Andre Sayegh and the Paterson City Council, it was presented as a civic celebration of New Jersey’s largest Muslim population.

But once the microphones were on, the agenda changed.

City officials stood before the crowd—on taxpayer-funded time, at a city-sponsored religious event—and used the microphone to openly campaign for a partisan slate of Democrat candidates. Just moments before handing out toys and gifts to children and their families, Councilman Ibrahim Omar urged attendees to vote for:

Ibrahim Omar – 6th Ward

Council President Alex Mendez and Councilman-at-Large Md Forid Uddin explicitly urged attendees to walk to the polling site just 600 feet away and cast votes for these named candidates. Mayor Sayegh praised Abdelaziz’s ascent as “the first Muslim and first Palestinian in the Assembly” and encouraged everyone to enjoy the festivities, then go vote.

Legal and Ethical Red Flags

This was not grassroots voter outreach. This was government-sponsored political mobilization, cloaked in the language of religious and cultural unity. It raised multiple legal and constitutional concerns:

1 Violation of the New Jersey Local Government Ethics Law

Citation: N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.5(c) & (e)

  • What it says: Local officers “shall not use or attempt to use their office or employment to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for themselves or others,” and “shall not use, or permit the use of, public property or time for the personal benefit of any individual.”
  • Why it fits here: City sound equipment, staff time, social-media channels, and a public park were deployed to rally votes for a named partisan slate. That is an “advantage” for those candidates, achieved with municipal resources—squarely forbidden.

Also relevant is N.J. Election Law Enforcement Commission guidance, which echoes the same ban on using taxpayer assets for campaign advocacy.

2 Violation of IRS 501(c)(3) Restrictions
  • If any co-sponsoring entity—e.g., local mosques or the Palestinian American Community Center—holds 501(c)(3) status, even a single act of candidate endorsement constitutes “intervention in a political campaign,” risking excise tax or revocation (IRC § 4955; Rev. Rul. 2007-41).
  • The city itself isn’t a 501(c)(3) organization, but any nonprofit that helped organize or promote the event is still bound by IRS rules and risks penalties if it engages in partisan campaigning.
3 Violation of the Establishment Clause (First Amendment)
  • Test applied: Courts look at “excessive entanglement” (Lemon/Endorsement tests). Combining a city-run Islamic religious observance with explicit partisan appeals ticks every box – religious venue, government sponsorship, and electoral message.
  • Supreme Court and lower-court precedents have struck down similar church-based political events funded or orchestrated by municipalities.
  • Why is it that every day Americans are lectured to celebrate “diversity,” yet when a minority bloc champions values openly hostile to American principles, the political class re-labels it “cultural unity” and applauds?

Paterson officials welded city assets, a specifically Islamic holy day, and open candidate endorsements into a single package—thereby breaching state ethics law, jeopardizing partner nonprofits’ tax-exempt status, and crossing the Establishment-Clause bright line that separates faith from government power.

Political Islam Disguised as Multiculturalism

This was not a civic celebration. It was sectarian political theater, funded by Paterson taxpayers and designed to consolidate a religious voting bloc under the guise of inclusion. What would spark lawsuits if done at a Christmas event—pastors endorsing candidates on city time was allowed to pass as “unity” because the platform was Islamic.

This was the third time in a month that the city used an official event, first Palestine Day, Palestinian Flag raising Day, now Eid al-Adha, to promote Palestinian identity and Democratic Party candidates in the same breath.

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh (left) and City Councilman Alaa Abdelaziz (right).

Why It Matters

Paterson is not just “accommodating” its Muslim residents. It is actively engineering a system in which Islamic holy days, political Islam, and Democratic campaigns fuse into a single apparatus, backed by public funds and shielded by “diversity” rhetoric.

The June 6 Eid event showed that Paterson’s leadership is not neutral. It is aiding and abetting Islamization, using city power to institutionalize a religious-political bloc, while silencing any dissent as bigotry.

If this model spreads, other cities will follow: turning mosques into voting machines, religious festivals into campaign events, and multiculturalism into a legal smokescreen for foreign-aligned political agendas.

What you’re seeing in Paterson isn’t a coincidence. It’s the Memorandum in motion. In 1991, the Muslim Brotherhood detailed its plan to “destroy Western civilization from within” using front groups, civil institutions, and ideological warfare. Paterson is now a live test site. If Americans don’t recognize this sabotage, executed through mosques, nonprofits, and city hall, then the Brotherhood’s plan isn’t just working; it’s winning.

The post Palestinification of Paterson, New Jersey: America’s First City to Be Conquered—From Islamizing Government, Schools, and Streets to Subverting U.S. Election Law appeared first on RAIR.

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Author: Amy Mek

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