You’d think that a group with multiple ties to the jihad terror group Hamas would be shunned by elected American representatives, and even more by law enforcement officials, except insofar as it was under investigation. You’d think wrong. The Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday that despite the “more than 120 members of Congress privately issued letters of support to a controversial Islamic-American advocacy group known for its involvement in one of America’s most prominent terrorism financing cases.” And on Friday, the Daily Wire added that “in October, the Trump administration handed out $100,000 of taxpayer dollars to the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).”
You’d almost think that CAIR was a patriotic organization fighting against jihad terror. But of course virtually all members of Congress and federal bureaucrats in DHS wouldn’t be caught dead having anything to do with such a group. CAIR, on the other hand, “touted its support among congressional leaders during its 2019 gala conference in November in Washington, D.C.,” where the headliners included the notable flag-wavers Linda Sarsour and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Its agenda included “well over 100 letters from Democratic and Republican members of Congress, all of whom expressed their support for the controversial organization. Democrats issued the majority of the letters, with only two coming from Republican members of Congress.”
Those sending their good wishes to this sinister and unsavory organization included three presidential hopefuls, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Cherokee Nation) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Flying Binders), as well as Tom Steyer (D-Rich Guy with No Chance), along with stalwart Democratic pillars including Adam Schiff (D-Impeachment Railroad) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Hizballah).
All these and more happily expressed their support for CAIR despite the fact that a moment’s research would have told them that it is not the civil rights advocacy group it claims to be, it is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case — so named by the Justice Department. CAIR officials have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR’s cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements about how Islamic law should be imposed in the U.S. (Ahmad denies this, but the original reporter stands by her story.) CAIR chapters frequently distribute pamphlets telling Muslims not to cooperate with law enforcement. CAIR has opposed virtually every anti-terror measure that has been proposed or implemented and has been declared a terror organization by the United Arab Emirates. CAIR’s Hussam Ayloush in 2017 called for the overthrow of the U.S. government. CAIR’s national outreach manager is an open supporter of Hamas.
The fact that all these politicians endorsed CAIR despite all this and more is yet another example of the normalization and mainstreaming of evil that we see so much of these days. Would any of these politicians send a letter of support to a Nazi group? Of course not. Would they send a letter of congratulations to a group that opposed jihad terror? Not on your life. But in a sign of how topsy-turvy the Left’s moral compass has become, none of them hesitated to extend good wishes and gratitude to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In light of what CAIR stands for and its appalling track record, how is that different from sending a fawning letter to a Nazi group?
This is the way the world is today: speaking honestly about the ideological roots of jihad terror will get you defamed and vilified, classified as a “hate group leader,” defamed, shunned, canceled everywhere. But have multiple links to a jihad terror group and you’re in, you’ll be the go-to group for the establishment media and get taxpayer money to further your goals. The worst aspect of this sorry story is that none of the people who sent off these letters will suffer any political difficulty for doing so. No one in the establishment media will ask them about their letters, or care. After all, it isn’t as if they endorsed a group that said that there was some connection between Islam and terrorism. If they had done something so egregious as that, they would already have tearfully apologized and resigned.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 19 books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.
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