Saudi King Interested in Moving Ground Zero Mosque to Defunct Hospital, NYPost Reports

A New York lawyer with ties to the Saudi royal family claims the desert kingdom’s King Abdullah might want to move the controversial ground zero mosque to an Islamic cultural center he would build on the site of a shuttered Manhattan hospital. According to attorney Dudley Gaffin, the king also would pay to reopen most of the hospital units that closed when St. Vincent’s Medical Center filed for bankruptcy in April, sources told the New York Post.

Gaffin is floating the possibility to gauge community reaction, the New York Post reported Sunday in a story it labeled as an exclusive.

"He's asking what it would take to put in a bid," the Post quoted a community leader who did not want to be identified as saying. "He says the king wants to do this as a PR move — to save the hospital and move the mosque away from the World Trade Center site. He wants to show that Muslims can do good works."

The 87-year-old king is recovering from back surgery at another Manhattan hospital.