Summary: The Council on American-Islamic Relations has a history fraught with questionable associations and dubious claims related to Islam and terrorism. In its latest report, CAIR targets numerous nonprofit groups and grantmakers for “funding hate.” But these so-called “Islamophobic” groups are not hate groups at all—unless you use the definition of “hate” promoted by the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center. This careful analysis of CAIR’s report will debunk many of the organization’s central arguments.

CAIR the Domestic Branch of a Foreign Terrorist Organization

It’s important to note that CAIR was originally founded in 1994 as the domestic front group for the Palestinian terrorist group HAMAS, with Nihad Awad as director. CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust are also unindicted co-conspirators in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terror-financing trial, the largest U.S. trial of its kind.

Court documents revealed in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial further established connections with HAMAS among CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, the North American Islamic Trust, and other U.S. Muslim Brotherhood groups. A judge in the case concurred that CAIR was connected to HAMAS, and Nihad Awad himself was recorded in 1994 publicly describing his decision to support HAMAS. CAIR and the other groups remain on the list of unindicted co-conspirators and avoided prosecution only because their indictments were squelched by the Obama Justice Department.

Furthermore, CAIR, like every other Muslim Brotherhood group in the U.S., now takes its orders directly from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as Turkey has become the de facto leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. This is odd, because Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates have all declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.