DOJ investigating Islamic ‘civil rights’ group that plans to infiltrate Congress
Trump’s Justice Department is investigating the California chapter of the Center for Islamic-American Relations (CAIR), a government-funded Islamic “civil rights” group that has ties to Hamas and plans to infiltrate Congress.
Last week, the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review said it would be investigating CAIR following a complaint by the Intelligence Advocacy Network (IAN), a nonprofit dedicated to “countering extremism.”
CAIR bills itself as a civil rights group of moderate Muslims but has been a longtime supporter of Hamas. As early as 1994, after Hamas openly called for the genocide of Jews, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad endorsed the terror group. In 2023, Awad cheered Hamas’ October 7th massacre of some 1,200 Israelis.
Awad and CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad both have ties to Hamas through the Islamic Association of Palestine. In 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terror organization for its ties to Hamas’ parent network, the Muslim Brotherhood. According to DOJ court filings, CAIR was part of a Palestine Committee headed by a Hamas official.
In February, a former board member of CAIR-Kentucky named Noora Shalash attacked Jews in a public rampage in New York, shouting: “F–k the Jews . . . I demand Jihad! I want ISIS to kill all of you! I am conspiring with Hamas, Palestinian Jihad and with ISIS, I am conspiring with them!”
IAN filed a complaint with the DOJ in March noting CAIR’s alignment with Hamas, as well as comments by Zahra Billoo, the head of CAIR-California’s San Francisco Bay office. Billoo has praised the October 7th massacre as “decolonization” and applauded Ismail Haniyeh, the late head of Hamas. IAN also accused CAIR of financial irregularities, such as millions of dollars in mismanaged funds, misreported tax filings, and improper subgrants.
“We appreciate your patience as we thoroughly review the matter,” the DOJ responded to IAN on June 30th in an email viewed by The Daily Caller. “Should we require additional information, we will reach out to you.”
‘We can have in ten years, at least 40-50 members of Congress’
In a speech at the East Plano Islamic Center last year, Awad bewailed Islamophobia and promised to infiltrate Congress and American industries.
"There is Islamophobia [in the U.S.] that is so deeply rooted in the culture, in academia, in Hollywood, in the portrayal of Islam,” he said, according to MEMRI. “For hundreds of years, Islam has been denigrated, the Prophet has been smeared and defamed in books and textbooks that were taught in public schools, that Allah be praised, we have been working to eliminate and change.”
Awad unveiled the organization's plan to create an “army” of 50,000 academics, journalists, and lawyers to create pro-Islam narratives.
“If we commit to do this, four years from now, the Muslim community will have 4,000 new journalists, we will have 4,000 filmmakers, 4,000 lawyers, 4,000 students of political science, 4,000 students of history,” he said.
Within the decade, CAIR hopes to start carving out a major Muslim presence in the US government:
“We can have in ten years, at least 40-50 members of Congress — in the US Congress.”
