Florida’s Terror-Tied Sheriff Scott Israel Embraced Jihad Extremists to Secure His Own Political Future

14

This is how it works in America now. There is no doubt the 9/11 Islamic attacks on America were a profound success.

Speaking of which, this is but another bombshell news story censored and ignored by the jihad-aligned media.

Sheriff Scott Israel Embraced Extremists to Secure His Own Political Future

By Russell Di Perna September 30, 2019:

Story continues below advertisement

When embattled Broward County, Florida Sheriff Scott Israel was removed from office in January 2019 by new Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Israel claimed that the decision was partisan, that it had nothing to do with his deputies’ disastrous performance during two deadly mass shootings, and that he had provided “amazing leadership” to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO). Now, the Florida Senate’s special master has recommended that Israel be reinstated, even though the Supreme Court of Florida upheld the governor’s decision to remove him in the first place.

But I was the executive officer of the BSO. And Scott Israel is lying. He neglected police work in favor of politics. The bloody massacres at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 2017 and the Parkland high school in 2018 were the most visible consequences. But another insidious effect was Sheriff Israel’s willingness to shatter the morale of the BSO by appointing political cronies to key posts — including radicals linked with Islamist extremism.

I began my law enforcement career serving with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) when Rudy Giuliani was mayor. Under Giuliani, the direction of law enforcement was set by elected officials, but police policies and procedures were left to experienced, non-political leaders of the police department. That, I understood, was how a successful law enforcement agency should function.

That’s not what I observed while serving as the BSO’s executive officer. Instead, I saw politics permeate every layer of the agency until it completely delegitimized what was once the pride of South Florida’s law enforcement. Instead of the BSO functioning as a performance-directed institution, it acted more like a political campaign. Sheriff Israel surrounded himself with well-connected incompetents, who were unconcerned with the daily threats of crime, disorder, and terrorism. Sheriff Israel dared not fire them even when they made the most egregious mistakes. To do so would have harmed his political ambitions.

Upon taking office in 2013, Sheriff Israel appointed as his chief of staff Lisa Castillo, who had no prior law enforcement experience. In fact, she had no major work achievements in any previous position. Castillo served for a brief period as an intern with Mayor Ed Koch’s administration in New York City. From there, she had short stints in mid-level positions in local government. Despite her limited qualifications, the new sheriff apparently believed Castillo was qualified to serve on a very high level in an agency with a $900 million budget and 6,000 employees — and in a county of approximately 1.9 million residents.

However, Castillo brought something more valuable to Israel than education, experience, or competence: Political influence. Castillo was married to City Commissioner Angelo Castillo of Pembroke Pines, an important voting constituency in Broward County.

Pembroke Pines is also the location of the infamous Darul Uloom mosque, which is affiliated with the hardline South Asian Deobandi movement. The mosque’s imam, Shafayat Mohamed, was involved with a South African “backer” of Osama bin Laden. Mohamed has been thrown off several Florida nonprofit boards because of his bigoted statements about homosexuals. (The most notorious example was Mohamed’s 2005 article “Tsunami: Wrath of God,” in which he claimed that homosexuality caused the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. He also called Christians and Jews “perverted transgressors.”) Worse, the mosque had counted among its members several future terrorists, including “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla.

None of this stopped Sheriff Israel from establishing deep ties with Darul Uloom, at the urging of Lisa Castillo.

In August 2014, Israel appointed Nezar Hamze as a full-time deputy. Hamze was a regular attendee of Darul Uloom. When he was hired, he was also the regional operations director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL), and had previously been CAIR-FL’s executive director. CAIR has a long history of coordination with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2009, the FBI cut off all collaboration with CAIR after federal prosecutors named the Islamist group as an unindicted coconspirator in the largest terrorism financing case in U.S. history. And in 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist organization.

Hamze’s colleagues at CAIR-FL are deeply alarming. CAIR-FL Communications Director Wilfredo Amr Ruiz regularly promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including canards about Jewish scripture popularized by the Nazis. CAIR-FL Director Hassan Shibly, meanwhile, has endorsed a Deobandi organization that advocates the mass murder of Ahmadiyyas, a peaceful Muslim sect despised by Islamists.

The decision to hire the extremist-linked Hamze as a deputy was even more scandalous because he failed almost every step of the vetting process for the job. During his initial pre-employment interview in May 2013, three high-ranking BSO commanders — Major David Holmes, Major Michael DiMaggio, and Major Donn G. Peterson — all agreed not to recommend Hamze.

But Lisa Castillo advised the sheriff to overrule his commanders and to hire Hamze as a BSO deputy anyway. Hamze continued his position with CAIR-FL, despite the clear conflict of interest.

Shortly afterward, Scott Israel attended Darul Uloom along with Hamze, telling the congregation that it is important to “surround yourself with like-minded people.” Courting Broward’s growing Muslim voting population appeared to be a priority for both Israel and Castillo. To no one’s surprise, in May 2019, Angelo Castillo announced his candidacy for mayor of Pembroke Pines.

Israel has tried to explain these events as an effort to reach out to diverse audiences. However, Castillo had a remarkably narrow idea of which audiences were considered “diverse.” When staff suggested the sheriff’s office reach out to Jewish and Christian organizations to lecture on post-9/11 security issues, we were met with resistance from Sheriff Israel and his chief of staff. Meanwhile, at the suggestion of Castillo, Israel ordered members of his Community Outreach Unit to participate in prayer sessions at the Darul Uloom mosque on a regular basis.

The rank and file of the BSO, men and women dedicated to their calling, recognized that preventing crime and promoting law and order took a backseat to politics during the Scott Israel regime. The politicization of the agency, the incompetence of the command staff, and the lack of training and experience in dealing with critical incidents created a fatally negative environment that consumed the entire agency. The hiring of Nezar Hamze was only the worst example. It is hardly surprising that morale and training deteriorated, contributing to the disasters at Parkland and Fort Lauderdale.

A wise man once said said: “Experience is the hardest kind of teacher because you take the test first and the lesson second.” Sheriff Israel, his chief of staff Lisa Castillo, and the BSO’s command staff never learned the lesson. They were willing to sacrifice the safety of Floridians in return for short-sighted political advantage. History will not be kind to Scott Israel; he will be remembered as the sheriff whose decisions failed the test of time and whose “amazing leadership” inspired no one.

Russell Di Perna is the former executive officer to the Sheriff of Broward County. He is a retired NYPD officer, and previously served in the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy. He is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University, where he studied political science, and of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, where he pursued Counter-Terrorism Studies.

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding. Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.

Follow Pamela Geller on
Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.

If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
14 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
freedomfrind
freedomfrind
4 years ago

Throughout history people like Scott Israel have been responsible for the
murder of Christians and Jews. Willfully blind. Cowardly. Collaborationist. No wonder the jihadis, stealth and otherwise don’t give up. They can always count on the Scott Israels.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

Wow, that is a horrendous history…

See how laws and rulings don’t matter to swamp people. It’s like they never happened.

Now, the Florida Senate’s special master has recommended that Israel be reinstated, even though the Supreme Court of Florida upheld the governor’s decision to remove him in the first place.

Diskusted
Diskusted
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

This is just plain NUTS. It is sad that so many soul are (and will be) lost.
12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:12-14 (KJV)

Philip
Philip
4 years ago
Reply to  Diskusted

Broward is haunted by something dark and depraved. We call it the spirit of Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. No one who goes out at night doesn’t notice it. I suppose it’s more glamorous in October but it’s felt year-round, downtown, after midnight. Ask anyone who’s been. The city just ain’t right at night and it’s palpable. You can almost taste it and it’s not wholesome.

Philip
Philip
4 years ago
Reply to  Philip

Like Chicago- only worse- because Chicago is at least Chicago, the devil you know.

Philip
Philip
4 years ago
Reply to  Philip

And it ain’t the heat or the humidity.

Philip
Philip
4 years ago

I voted for Scott Israel. (My neighbor vouched for him). On his watch, I was repeatedly red flagged and felt very unsafe- that was even before his orchestrated massacre. Since he’s been gone, things have felt better-ish. Why do some people feel so compelled to “serve” when they don’t seem to really be doing anything good for anyone else but themselves? That is bad service, isn’t it? Pray for Broward. We aren’t cowards here but something is definitely rotten locally and everyone knows it.

Still Out of Service
Still Out of Service
4 years ago

Broward is more than 50% democrat…………67% voted democrat in 2018.
In 2016, hillary clinton won 66.08% of the vote.

EXPLAINS A LOT

Political_qrm
Political_qrm
4 years ago

An eye opening article. I thought it was incompetence on Israel’s part at first, but now I see it was a thirst for political power and a hatred of religions other than islam…

Sounds like the Senate’s special master should be looked into: to encourage Israel’s reinstatement sounds like he’s being pressured by somebody..

durabo
durabo
4 years ago

Like all American JudenKapos, Scott Israel may end up beheaded once he stops being of value to IslamoTangos.

Jim
Jim
4 years ago

This scumbag and ALL his cohorts NEEDS to be DEAD. Period.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago

Instead of US government, judiciary and law enforcement officials collaborating w/f’ing muslums, imagine they ARE muslums.

mtman2
mtman2
4 years ago

This article should be printed in every local paper and mailed to all locals in that district…

Jim Yancy
Jim Yancy
4 years ago

We have good people who are LEOs. The sad truth is well known throughout Florida about the corruption and pandering in each and every democrat controlled city and town. Yes, there are rinos out there too who need booted and /or jailed, but the hammer is going to come down on corruption.

Sponsored
Geller Report
Thanks for sharing!