Real estate developer Mohamed “Mo” Rushdy resigned from the leadership of Philadelphia’s influential Building Industry Association (BIA) on Tuesday, less than two weeks after he gave a speech before City Council condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Sept. 18 speech provoked a backlash from the membership of the BIA, which represents the interests of residential developers in Philadelphia.
“When you put your foot on someone’s neck for eight decades, events like Oct. 7 happen,” Rushdy said in a speech during Council’s public comment session. He was referring to the 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which left nearly 1,200 people dead and sparked retaliatory action against the terrorist group’s home base in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, the two sides have been at war and tens of thousands of people in Palestine’s Gaza have been killed. Israeli military action has also been increasing in the West Bank.
“Two years, 63,000 people dead, half which are women and children,” Rushdy said in City Council. “The West Bank has no Hamas, but settler terrorists are robbing land every freaking day. The world is speaking up, and we need to speak up as well.”
Rushdy stated that his remarks about Israel and Palestine were his own, and not representative of any organization. But as the BIA president, Rushdy was often seen as the advocacy group’s voice in City Hall.
In recent years, Rushdy has risen to prominence in local politics. He’s been central to negotiations with lawmakers over city housing policy, is an ally of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, and helped organize developers politically. Rushdy funded politicians he saw as pro-growth and opposed candidates the development community feared would be too progressive.
Over the last week, a caucus within the BIA’s board began calling for his resignation.
Some BIA members said they felt Rushdy’s speech was inappropriate from a public figure who has often been the face of the development industry during Parker’s administration. Others said that his sentiments were antisemitic and that his speech tried to justify the Hamas attacks.
In a statement on Sept. 27, the BIA’s executive committee — absent Rushdy — recognized the brewing discontent and emphasized that his speech was a personal statement. They apologized “for the hurt that this has caused.”
“Mo’s use of the BIA platform to express personal views was a lapse in judgment for which he has since apologized,” the Sept. 27 statement said.
“While we appreciate that this apology may not suffice for some members, we feel as though it was done with sincerity and after much reflection. In addition to issuing his public apology, he has committed to not expressing his personal views anywhere that has any attachment to the BIA,” the leadership said.
Speech triggers resignations
The statement did not satisfy many critics. On Monday, BIA board member and Philadelphia developer Ori Feibush announced his resignation from the organization over its handling of Rushdy’s speech.
“Antisemitism thrives on our hesitation,” Feibush wrote on Facebook. “Ten days ago, the president of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia used a forum afforded to him by the BIA to give a speech in front of City Council blaming the victims of Hamas for … Oct. 7th.”
Feibush also denounced Rushdy for giving the speech on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
In an interview Tuesday, Rushdy condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks — they “cannot be disputed as an atrocity” — but argued that the Israeli government has crossed a line as the war in Gaza goes on.
In recent months, Israel has been increasingly isolated on the world stage as a result of conditions in Gaza, with longstanding allies like the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Canada recognizing a Palestinian state and denouncing the civilian cost of the conflict. The United States has sought to act as peacemaker under President Donald Trump, with its latest plan revealed Tuesday, under threat of further retaliation if Hamas does not sign on.
“What inspired my speech was simply the death toll, the amount of civilian casualties,” said Rushdy, who is from Egypt and also works as a real estate developer there. “This is not a religious conflict to me. It’s a humanitarian issue. My message was basically recognizing the rights of Palestinians as well.”
Rushdy also said that he did not realize his speech fell right before Rosh Hashanah and that he meant no disrespect by his timing.
Since late July, Rushdy has been increasingly outspoken on social media about the war in Gaza and specifically the leadership of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a “mass murderer” on Facebook and accusing him of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Rushdy said that he is critiquing Israeli government’s actions, not Jewish people, and that he wants to see both sides thrive.
“[The Israeli] far right and Hamas don’t want to have a two-state solution; both sees the other having no right to exist,” Rushdy said. “Both are wrong. That’s it. That was my message. And if my message is seen as an extreme, like, I don’t know what world we’re living in anymore. I am lost.”
BIA members ‘shocked and hurt’
As the controversy grew last week, Rushdy critics felt that the organization had not sufficiently distanced itself from his comments.
In his Facebook post, Feibush critiqued the BIA for its “deafening silence” and said it should have acted sooner.
Other developers also weighed in.
“We were shocked and hurt that he used the BIA, which has accomplished amazing things over the years, as a platform for his political views,” said Bart Blatstein, a longtime developer in the region. “There is no place for the politicizing of such a great organization that focuses on technical topics such as fire dampers, etc.”
The BIA’s executive board released another statement Tuesday accepting Rushdy’s resignation and thanking him for his service in advocating for housing policy in City Hall. It also reiterated that the group is “not a geopolitically focused organization.”
The senior vice president of development with the Post Brothers, Sarina Rose, is taking over the role of president of the BIA effective immediately.
Rushdy also announced that he would resign from two nonprofits that support the police: the Philadelphia Police Foundation and the Police Athletic League. He says he will continue advocating for diversity in the development industry and pro-growth housing policy in the city.
Not all BIA members opposed Rushdy’s statements before City Council.
“I’m a Mo Rushdy fan and believe he has the right to his opinions,” said Ken Weinstein, a longtime developer and BIA member.