Funder of Santorum campaign and anti-Muslim causes to back Romney

Foster Friess (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)

Last week’s announcement that Rick Santorum was suspending his presidential campaign signaled the start of the general election season. It also signaled the start of right-wing donors coalescing around Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican nominee.

Foster Friess, a multi-millionaire financial investor and a backer of Islamophobia, is a prominent case in point. Friess was a major Santorum backer. According to Open Secrets, Friess donated over $1 million to the pro-Santorum “Red, White and Blue” Super PAC.

Now, Friess is pledging to back Romney. Friess’ announcement was followed by a Huffington Post article reporting that Irving Moskowitz, another wealthy donor who funds both anti-Muslim organizations and settlements in occupied Jerusalem, had given $1 million to an anti-Obama Super PAC.

Friess isn’t shy about his political and religious beliefs. He is an outspoken evangelical Christian, and his website is peppered with negatives references to Islam. “Parts of the Koran preaches violence as a way of life and even promote violent conquest,” he warns in a section of his website devoted to “helping peaceful Muslims.”

Friess also took to YouTube to encourage people to buy the documentary “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” which has been criticized for its anti-Muslim slant.

Friess has given at least $170,000 to the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, the brainchild of Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, an Arizona physician and Navy veteran. Jasser is Muslim himself, but his main allies are part of the Islamophobic echo chamber. Jasser was recently appointed by Senator Mitch McConnell to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which elicited protests from many Muslim groups.

A protest letter signed by a coalition of organizations notes that Jasser, who was the star witness of Peter King’s hearings on Muslim radicalization, has said “operationally, Islam is not peaceful.”

The letter also criticizes Jasser for supporting an Oklahoma ballot initiative singling out Islamic law that was eventually struck down by federal courts; supporting the NYPD’s spying program targeted at Muslims; and for his association with the Center for Security Policy (CSP).

Jasser has accepted money and an award from the CSP, which employs David Yerushalmi, a virulent anti-Muslim activist who has called for a “war on Islam”, among other far-right views. Yerushalmi has also drafted model anti-Sharia law legislation, which has reached more than 24 states.

Friess’ shift to Romney from Santorum won’t be an anomaly. The other famous right-wing donor this election season with ties to the network of Islamophobia, Sheldon Adelson, has also signaled that he will eventually back Romney, too, after bankrolling Newt Gingrich’s campaign.