At New Orleans Terrorist's Local Mosque, Imam Says Hitler Killed Jews 'Because of the Economy Thing, They Were in Control of the Economy'
Jews ‘have many problems, but that’s one of the main problems—they like to take control of the economy,’ Eiad Soudan said during 2023 event
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the Islamic terrorist who killed 14 people in the New Year’s Eve attack on New Orleans, lived near a Houston mosque led by a radical imam who once preached that Hitler massacred Jews because “they like to take control of the economy,” video footage shows.
The Jewish people “have many problems, but that’s one of the main problems—they like to take control of the economy,” Imam Eiad Soudan of Houston’s Masjid Bilal mosque said in November 2023, according to footage released by the Middle East Media Research Institute. “Everywhere they go, whatever is the rule, as long as they get to the goal, the means don’t matter.”
“They seek corruption in the land,” Soudan continued. “Hitler hated the Israelites so bad because of the economy thing, they were in control of the economy.” He referred to Hitler as “this guy … with the nice moustache.”
Eiad Soudan, Imam of Houston Mosque Where New Orleans Attacker Worshiped: Jews Seek to Control the Economy Wherever They Go, That’s Why Hitler Killed Them; Europeans Support Israel Because They Don’t Want Jews Back in Their Countries (Archival) pic.twitter.com/AFXc7cIC82
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 2, 2025
Soudan’s mosque is located just blocks away from Jabbar’s north Houston neighborhood, which is known for its Muslim population.
While it’s unclear if Jabbar himself attended the mosque—one of the terrorist’s former neighbors told CNN that he “knew Jabbar was Muslim” but had “never seen Jabbar at the nearby mosque”—police blocked off the building on Wednesday. Shortly thereafter, Masjid Bilal reportedly issued a social media post urging its members to ignore media inquiries and speak to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent anti-Israel group, before cooperating with the FBI.
“If anyone is contacted by the media, it is very important that you do not respond,” the post read. “If approached by the FBI and a response is necessary, please refer to CAIR and ISGH,” a reference to the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, which Masjid Bilal is part of.
“It is crucial that we stay united at this time as we condemn these terrible acts.”
Soudan’s anti-Semitic remarks were made during a youth event, according to MEMRI, which monitors extremist rhetoric. While discussing the history of “Palestine,” Soudan claimed that international support for Israel stems from the fear that Jews will usurp Western economies.
“That is why the other countries don’t want them back,” he said. “So when they support them, they are not supporting them because they love them. It’s like: ‘Please stay there, we’ll do whatever [it takes], stay there, don’t come back.’”
Jews, Soudan added, “spread corruption across the land, and Allah does not like corrupters.”
Masjid Bilal and the Islamic Center of Greater Houston did not respond to requests for comment on Soudan’s remarks and Jabbar’s ties to the mosque. CAIR, which has spent the last year galvanizing anti-Israel forces across America, did not comment on the mosque’s social media message. Instead, it forwarded an earlier press release condemning Jabbar as a “man with a history of drunk driving and spousal abuse.”
Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran, was living a “quiet but dutiful life” before the terror attack, the New York Times reported. After “converting to Islam,” however, he began “being all crazy, cutting his hair” and acting erratically, the husband of Jabbar’s first wife told the outlet.
“Mr. Marsh [the husband] said he and his wife stopped allowing the two daughters she shared with Mr. Jabbar, ages 15 and 20, to spend time with him,” the Times wrote.
When he plowed a rented truck into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers on Bourbon Street, Jabbar flew a flag affiliated with the Islamic State, the extremist terror group that has long encouraged its followers to conduct so-called lone wolf attacks. In videos posted to his personal Facebook page prior to and during the attack, Din Jabbar “pledged allegiance to ISIS.”
ISIS has long called on its sympathizers across Europe and the United States to carry out “lone wolf”attacks like the one Jabbar committed. While the terror group has lost control of many Middle Eastern territories in recent years, its radical ideology still reverberates across the globe.
Following the attack in New Orleans, one pro-ISIS Telegram channel celebrated Din Jabbar for attacking “the dogs of the Cross.” Others noted a string of similar attacks in Europe during the New Years, including the stabbing of four people in Italy while they were “celebrating the polytheistic New Year.”
In late October, pro-ISIS outlets encouraged “lone wolf attacks on ‘temples’ in the West,” according to MEMRI. In early July, ISIS-produced publications celebrated a string of such attacks in Europe, saying “they are part of ISIS even if they are not members.”
Al-Qaeda, which shares ISIS’s extremist goals, has published step-by-step guides for would-be terrorists, particularly in the months after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree in Israel. Car rammings and crude bombings are touted as particularly effective for those operating alone.