In response to requests by Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., to invite Muslim Americans to tonight’s State of the Union address in response to their claims of Islamophobia in America, two Democratic lawmakers have invited officials from a notorious Islamist organization with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood: the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., will be hosting Sameena Usman, a government relations coordinator in CAIR’s San Francisco office. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., will host Nezar Hamze, the chief operating officer of the nonprofit's Florida branch.
CAIR claims to be “America's largest Muslim civil rights organization.” However, its record shows this is far from the case.
In 2007, CAIR was allegedly tied to the largest terrorist financing case in U.S. history — the Holy Land Foundation case.
The Holy Land Foundation was convicted of providing material support for terrorism by funneling money to Hamas.
Extreme statements by CAIR officials also indicate it is not a civil rights organization.
CAIR’s California and Florida chapters have especially odious records.
Two days after the Dec. 2, 2015 terrorist shooting in San Bernardino, Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter, tried to blame U.S. policy for this deadly attack when he told CNN’s “New Day,” “some of our own foreign policy, as Americans, as the West have fueled that extremism . . . We are partly responsible.”
This is not the first time Ayloush made this kind of incendiary statement.
In May 2004, he declared the U.S. war on terror to be a “war on Muslims,” adding his belief that the 9/11 attacks were committed because of “the U.S.’s unconditional support of Israel.” The U.S. is Israel’s “partner to the crimes” against the Palestinians, Ayloush explained.
In 2011, the California CAIR chapter issued posters for a conference that said “Build a wall of resistance: Don’t talk to the FBI.”
These posters were withdrawn after they generated negative press coverage.
In July 2014, while Hamas was firing rockets at Israel from Gaza, attendees at a CAIR-Florida-organized protest praised the Hamas attacks at a rally in Miami by chanting, “We are Hamas!” “We are Jihad!”
These actions and statements by CAIR had nothing to do with promoting the civil rights of American Muslims. This was radicalism attacking the United States, Israel, and modern society in an effort to promote a radical agenda of Islamic supremacism.
According to Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a moderate American Muslim and president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, CAIR’s rhetoric is the type that sets the first stage of radicalization for some Muslims and makes them vulnerable to the violent ideology of ISIS and al-Qaida.
The invitation of CAIR representatives to the State of the Union shows that, like President Obama, the Democratic Party and the mainstream media are in denial that ISIS represents a global ideology to promote Islamist supremacism, known as Shariah.
If the news media was to provide fair and balanced coverage of the State of the Union tonight, it would ask Democratic lawmakers about CAIR’s dubious activities and statements, especially the disgraceful statement on CNN by Hussam Ayloush after the San Bernardino shooting.
Don’t hold your breath for this to happen. While Fox News may ask about this, you can be sure most other media outlets will ignore criticism of CAIR and instead portray it as an organization fighting for the civil rights of American Muslims.
The outrageous invitation by Democratic congressmen of members CAIR to the State of the Union is another reason why our country desperately needs a president who understands the national security threats to our nation and will implement effective and sensible policies to address them.
This means the next president must cut off the U.S. government’s ties with groups like CAIR and instead work with bona fide moderate Muslim groups like Jasser’s American Islamic Forum for Democracy.
January 20, 2017 cannot come soon enough.
Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst, followed the Iranian nuclear program for the CIA, State Department, and House Intelligence Committee. He is senior vice president for policy and programs at the Center for Security Policy. Read more reports from Fred Fleitz — Click Here Now.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.