At last, someone has done what has needed to be done for a very long time: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Abbott’s proclamation regarding these designations pulls no punches. The governor identifies the Muslim Brotherhood as a “transnational Islamist organization,” and notes that its founder, Hassan al-Banna, stated that “Jihad is an obligation from Allah on every Muslim and cannot be ignored nor evaded.” Just so we’re clear that we’re not talking about an interior struggle, the proclamation also points out that al-Banna defined jihad as “the fighting of the unbelievers, and involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship and smashing their idols.”
After years of lies, half-truths, and distortions, this is extraordinarily refreshing. Back in 2011, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who later claimed that Hunter Biden’s notorious laptop was Russian disinformation, said just as fancifully: “The term ‘Muslim Brotherhood’… is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam.”
That was several years after it came to light that the Brotherhood was dedicated in its own words, according to a captured internal document, to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within, and sabotaging its miserable house, so that it falls, and Allah’s religion reigns supreme over other religions.”
Nevertheless, the Obama administration continued to back the Brotherhood as a “moderate” alternative to open jihad groups. Abbott, in contrast, points out that the State Department has already labeled several Brotherhood branches as “Specifically Designated Global Terrorist Entities,” and that “activities of Muslim Brotherhood branches have similarly been limited or prohibited by the governments of Austria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in light of the Muslim Brotherhood engaging in terrorism or attempting to destabilize those countries.”
The situation is similar with CAIR. The organization’s ties to Hamas have been a matter of public record for years; nevertheless, its operatives have done a skillful job of mainstreaming it as a genuine defender of civil rights. In a story on Abbott’s proclamation, the far-left Guardian states petulantly, and misleadingly, that “a Washington-based Muslim civil rights organization that has operated chapters across the United States for decades and provides legal services to Muslim Americans facing discrimination. Cair has consistently rejected accusations of terrorist ties.”
The Guardian did not bother, of course, to provide any details of those accusations, but Abbott did, pointing out that “the Council on American-Islamic Relations (‘CAIR’) is an Islamist organization that, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (‘FBI’), was founded as a ‘front group’ for ‘Hamas and its support network’ in the United States.” Abbott added that “Nihad Awad, the Executive Director of CAIR, has boasted that American Muslims are ‘ready to move to the next phase,’ and that within the next 15 years the Muslim community ‘will have 50,000—an army—of these people’ who ‘will design [Islam’s] image, protect the truth and the news, ... many of these people will run for public office, and they will become lawmakers’ to advance Sharia law in America.”
Related: The Latest Teen Craze Has a Dark Edge
Also, contrary to the Guardian’s bland dismissal of accusations that CAIR has terrorist ties, Abbott noted that “CAIR and its members have repeatedly employed, affiliated with, and supported individuals promoting terrorism-related activities.” These included Ghassan Elashi, “a founding board member of the Texas branch for CAIR and Treasurer of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, who was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison for financing terrorism in 2009.”
Another was Abdurahman Alamoudi, who stood behind George W. Bush as he proclaimed that “Islam is peace” on Sept. 17, 2001. Alamoudi, says Abbott, was “a speaker at a CAIR-sponsored anti-Israel rally in Washington, D.C., in October 2000, who proudly proclaimed himself to be a ‘supporter of Hamas’ and ‘a supporter of Hizballah’ and who was later convicted as a terrorist for funding Al Qaeda."
And so on. Abbott’s proclamation aims to bar these sinister organizations from “purchasing or acquiring land in the State of Texas,” and from operating in the state at all. This is very good to see, if it is enforced, but it only leads to the larger question: when is the federal government going to follow suit?
The establishment media is largely ignoring Abbott's proclamation. Those that aren't are casting it as "bigotry." For the truth, you have to come to PJ Media. Become a VIP member today — you'll get our exclusive content, podcasts, and more, with no ads. Use code FIGHT for 60% off.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member