Financial backer of NYC Islamic center contributed to Hamas-linked group

A backer of NYC Islamic center identified

NEW YORK — One of the investors in a proposed Islamic center near ground zero is a Long Island medical clinic owner who expressed sympathy for Palestinians by donating to a charity later shut down for links to Hamas.

The developer leading the project confirmed Friday that 51-year-old Hisham Elzanaty is among the members of a real estate partnership that bought the property where the group hopes to build a cultural center and mosque.

The group says Elzanaty had no knowledge when he donated to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in 1999 that it had any involvement with Hamas.

That same year, Elzanaty’s parents were killed on an EgyptAir flight from New York to Cairo that went down in the Atlantic.