We who observe the Islamist movement fell off our collective chairs on Nov. 15 when the news emerged that the United Arab Emirates' ministerial cabinet had listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations as one of 83 proscribed terrorist organizations, up there with the Taliban, al-Qaida, and Islamic State. This came as a surprise because the UAE authorities themselves have a record of promoting Islamism; because CAIR has a history of raising funds in the UAE; and because the UAE Embassy in Washington had previously praised CAIR. On reflection, however, the listing makes sense, because the Islamist movement has gravely fractured in recent years. Sunnis fight Shiites; advocates of violence struggle against those operating from within the system; modernizers do battle against those trying to return to the seventh century; and monarchists confront republicans. This last divide concerns us here. After decades of working closely with the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, the Persian Gulf monarchies (with the single, striking exception of Qatar) have come to view the Muslim Brotherhood complex of institutions as a threat to their existence. The Saudi, Emirati, Kuwaiti and Bahraini rulers now view politicians like Egypt's Mohammed Morsi as their enemies, as they do Hamas and its progeny, including CAIR. While the Gulf monarchs have not become any less Islamist, they have acquired a clear-eyed appreciation of the harm that Muslim Brotherhood-related groups can do. Having explained why the UAE listed CAIR on its terror manifest, we must ask a second question: Is the listing warranted? Can a Washington-based organization with ties to the Obama White House, the U.S. Congress, leading media outlets and prestigious universities truly be an instigator of terrorism- CAIR can rightly be so characterized. True, it does not set off bombs but, as the UAE's foreign minister explains, "Our threshold is quite low.
We cannot accept incitement or funding." Indeed, CAIR incites, funds, and does much more when it comes to terrorism: • It apologizes for terrorist groups: Challenged repeatedly to denounce Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups, CAIR denounces the acts of violence but not their sponsors. • It is linked to Hamas: Designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other governments, Hamas indirectly created CAIR, and the two groups remain tight. In 1994, for example, CAIR head Nihad Awad publicly declared his support for Hamas and the Holy Land Foundation, a Hamas front group, contributed $5,000 to CAIR, which, in turn, exploited the 9/11 attacks to raise money for the HLF; and, this past August, demonstrators at a CAIR-sponsored rally in Florida proclaimed, "We are Hamas!" • It settled a lawsuit: CAIR initiated a libel lawsuit in 2004 over five statements by a group called Anti-CAIR. But two years later, CAIR settled the suit with prejudice (meaning that it cannot be reopened), implicitly acknowledging the accuracy of Anti-CAIR's assertions, which include that CAIR: "is a terrorist-supporting front organization that is partially funded by terrorists"; "is supported by terrorist-supporting individuals, groups and countries"; "has proven links to, and was founded by, Islamic terrorists"; and "actively supports terrorists and terrorist-supporting groups and nations." • It includes individuals accused of terrorism: At least seven board members or staff at CAIR have been arrested, denied entry to the U.S., or indicted on/pleaded guilty to/convicted of terrorist charges: Siraj Wahhaj, Bassem Khafagi, Randall ("Ismail") Royer, Ghassan Elashi, Rabih Haddad, Muthanna al-Hanooti, and Nabil Sadoun. • It is in trouble with the law: Federal prosecutors in 2007 named CAIR (along with two other Islamic organizations) as "unindicted co-conspirators and/or joint venturers" in a criminal conspiracy to support Hamas financially. In 2008, the FBI ended contacts with CAIR because of concern over its continuing terrorist ties. On learning of the UAE listing, CAIR called it "shocking and bizarre," then got to work on having the U.S. State Department protest and undo the ruling. Department spokesperson Jeff Rathke noted that the U.S. government, which "does not consider these organizations to be terrorist organizations," has asked for more information about the UAE decision. The UAE's foreign affairs minister replied that if the organizations can show that their "approach has changed," they are eligible to appeal "to have their names eliminated from the list." Pressure from the Obama administration might reverse the UAE listing. Even so, this will not undo its lasting damage. For the first time, an Islamist government has exposed the malign, terrorist quality of CAIR -- a stigma the group can never escape. Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org) is president of the Middle East Forum.
Is CAIR a terror group?
דניאל פייפס
פרופ' פייפס הוא היסטוריון וסופר, מייסד ונשיא "פורום המזרח התיכון" בפילדלפיה. הרצה בעבר באוניברסיטאות הרווארד, שיקגו והמכללה ללימודי מלחמה של הצי האמריקני
