State Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, added language to the resolution stating it would “have no effect until the United States Justice Department makes a determination that CAIR has been involved in or supported any terrorist activity.” Hamas-linked CAIR’s Corey Saylor then whined: “That language makes it clear that the resolution is intended as a political smear because it has no effect. If a determination is made that an institution was involved in terror activity, the legislature would not need to tell its law enforcement to not be involved with them.”
The fallacy in Saylor’s argument is that he doesn’t take into account the possibility that no determination has been made that Hamas-linked CAIR was involved in terrorist activity for reasons that have nothing to do with Hamas-linked CAIR’s guilt or lack thereof. It appears that the Obama administration scuttled a pending indictment of Hamas-linked CAIR for reasons that it has never disclosed.
Also, there is terrorist activity and then there is the enabling of terror activity, by protesting against counter-terror initiatives and trying to get them shut down, smearing and defaming foes of jihad terror, etc. — activities in which Hamas-linked CAIR routinely engages. Given the general denial and willful ignorance regarding the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat, and the universal focus of government and law enforcement on violent activity as the sole problem, along with the universal determination to ignore the motivating ideology that fuels that violence and the attempts by Islamic supremacist groups to remove obstacles to jihad terror, Hamas-linked CAIR has been able to flourish and remain the mainstream media’s go-to source for all matters Islamic. But that doesn’t make it any less odious a group. CAIR 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. (Ahmad denies this, but the original reporter stands by her story.) A California chapter distributed a poster telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI, and a Florida chapter distributed pamphlets with the same message. 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.
The Louisiana house has done the right thing.
“Louisiana house votes to cut state ties with Muslim group,” by Kellan Howell, Circa News, June 6, 2016:
The Louisiana State Legislature, wading into the debate over Muslim activism, quietly passed a resolution Friday urging law enforcement and government agencies in the state to avoid working with a prominent Muslim-American organization.
The resolution, which passed 63-18 in the state House of Representatives , calls on police and government officials to “suspend all contacts and outreach activities” with the Council on Islamic Relations, (CAIR) due to concerns over the group’s alleged ties to terrorist organizations.
State Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Bossier, a supporter of the resolution, said the move wasn’t aimed against “people who believe in the Islamic faith,” but was a statement in opposition to terrorism.
Corey Saylor, a spokesman for CAIR, told Circa that the Louisiana resolution seems like “an attempt to convict us by resolution rather than by trial.”
Before the resolution passed, State Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, added language to the document stating it would “have no effect until the United States Justice Department makes a determination that CAIR has been involved in or supported any terrorist activity.”
“That language makes it clear that the resolution is intended as a political smear because it has no effect,” Saylor said. “If a determination is made that an institution was involved in terror activity, the legislature would not need to tell its law enforcement to not be involved with them.”
CAIR, which describes itself as America’s “largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization,” and says it works to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America,
has been accused of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian terror group Hamas. In 2007, the U.S. government labeled CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for financing the Palestinian terror group Hamas.The FBI subsequently cut off official contacts with the group, saying it “does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.”
In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates declared CAIR a terrorist organization along with several other groups tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.
CAIR has denied accusations that it works with terrorist organizations.
“Our moral position is clear,” the group says on its website. “We unequivocally condemn terrorism. Any group that hurts civilians deserves condemnation.”
In April, the Islamic State published a hit list of prominent Muslim-Americans that featured CAIR executive director, Nihad Awad.
“At the same time we are being put on ISIS hit lists, the Louisiana Legislature is putting out this resolution against us,” Saylor said. “If we have irritated terrorists enough to be put on that list, then we are doing something right.”
Louisiana is not the first state vote on legislation that specifies Muslim groups or practices. More than two dozen states have considered measures that would ban judges from taking Sharia law into consideration in court cases.