CAIR Should be Kicked out of the U.S.

After years of controversy, allowing the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to have any legitimacy in this country is absurd and offensive. Their questionable history and one of the most notorious acts against them came as long ago as 2008:

CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a charity that was convicted along with its leaders in 2008 of providing material support to Hamas. Evidence during the trial showed financial interactions between CAIR and HLF. The case was one of the most significant terrorism-financing prosecutions in U.S. history, exposing how millions of dollars raised under the guise of charitable aid were funneled to Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

In one of the latest actions criticizing CAIR, Representative Elise Stefanik and Senator Tom Cotton wrote a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, asking him to initiate an investigation of CAIR:

Today, House Republican Leadership Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, along with Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR), sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent requesting the Treasury Department open an official investigation into the funding sources of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to determine if the organization is being funded or directed by Hamas or any other foreign terrorist group.

‘CAIR’s founding and leadership raise longstanding concerns. Executive Director Nihad Awad and co-founder Omar Ahmad previously led the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which federal authorities identified as a propaganda front for Hamas,’ wrote Chairwoman Stefanik and Chairman Cotton. ‘Both men attended a 1993 Philadelphia meeting of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, where participants discussed creating a new front group to support Hamas while concealing its ties. CAIR was formed shortly thereafter.’

CAIR protested this letter’s request with a counterattack:

In its response, CAIR called on the Treasury Department to reject Cotton and Stefanik’s ‘McCarthy-era witch hunt’ and instead open an investigation into whether the two lawmakers have violated bribery or Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statutes by allegedly promising investigations of U.S. Muslim and Palestinian groups ‘in exchange for campaign contributions, free travel, or other items of value’ from pro-Israel donors and organizations such as AIPAC.

CAIR must be extremely desperate to attack these highly regarded legislators in this way.

But there’s even more evidence of CAIR’s anti-US/anti-Israel sentiments. The Ohio director of CAIR attended an online event where the theme was the “Al Aqsa Flood”; this was the term used to describe October 7:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has long been criticized for its alleged links to terrorist groups, including Hamas. Last week, it was easy to see why.

Khalid Turaani, the Ohio director of CAIR, which calls itself the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, attended the same online event with Majed al-Zeer. Last year, al-Zeer was described by the Treasury Department as ‘the senior Hamas representative in Germany’ and ‘one of the senior Hamas members in Europe’ who ‘has played a central role in the terrorist group’s European fundraising.’

The event last Wednesday was held in Arabic, hosted by the Beirut-based Al-Zaytouna Center, and titled ‘Palestinians Abroad and Regional and International Strategic Transformations in the Light of Al-Aqsa Flood.’ Al-Aqsa Flood is the terrorist group’s name for its gruesome attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Turaani said he was attending “in his personal capacity,” not as a representative of CAIR.

After years of lying to our federal government about its intentions and reliability, it’s time to call out CAIR—permanently.