'I Did Not Expect This At All'

Fox 5 in New York snagged an interview with Ground Zero Victory Mosque money man Hisham Elzanaty. Watch as he stammers and stumbles throughout. Curious how no other media outlets care to interview this very shady man.

Fox 5 News reported, Elzanaty made a $6,000 contribution to the Holy Land Foundation (HLF). The federal government declared HLF a terrorist organization in 2001 and shut it down. When asked about what kind of research he did before sending his money to the organization, Elzanaty admitted he sent the group money without doing any research.

Holy Land's leaders were eventually convicted and sent to prison for funneling money to Hamas, which the FBI has said was HLF's sole purpose since its inception.

"At that time, HLF was one of the biggest... recognized Islamic charities in the United States," Elzanaty said. "I was making those contributions specifically to the orphans. And I was getting photographs of those orphans and how they were progressing. I was getting those pictures on a regular basis."

But when asked if he still had those orphan pictures Elzanaty said: "We lost them in the flood in our house." He elaborates that a pipe burst in his $2 million Long Island home and destroyed everything inside.

Elzanaty has lived in the United States for 28 years and is a U.S. citizen.

"I'm here and I'm staying and I love this country," he said. "I will never do anything to harm America."

Naturally he accuses oppoents of "hate," whatever that means any more.

"I did not expect this at all," he said. "I did not expect this commotion, this hate, this anger I did not expect any of this."

Probably becasue he was kept well behind the scenes until people started doing some actual research.

Meanwhile, a group of radical Islamists showed up yesterday in support of the Victory Mosque and to no surprise the gathering included a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Among the Islamic clerics defending plans for a mosque near Ground Zero yesterday was an outspoken critic of Israel who enthusiastically signaled his support for terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah during a rally a decade ago.

At a news conference outside the site of the proposed mosque, Imam Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Washington-based Muslim American Society, was adamant about Muslims' right to build a mosque where they choose.

But he refused to discuss a video, from a rally in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, that shows him onstage repeatedly raising his arms when an unidentified speaker asked how many in the crowd supported Hamas and Hezbollah.

Michael Bloomberg was unavailable for comment. No word either from the New York Times, where their reporter who was trained by Imam Rauf hasn't managed to snag an interview with Elzanaty.