Tag: Muslim Brotherhood

CAIR Will Continue Civil Rights Work Despite Abbott’s Terrorism Declaration [UPDATE] – Houston Press

Editor’s Note: The Muslim Legal Fund of America and the CAIR Legal Defense Fund announced Thursday that they have filed a federal lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton to block enforcement of Abbott’s “unconstitutional and defamatory” November 18 proclamation, which they say falsely declared the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations a “foreign terrorist organization” and threatened various civil penalties against the civil rights organization if it continues to serve the people of Texas.

Original story:

Being Muslim doesn’t make one a terrorist, but that didn’t stop Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from condemning two prominent civil rights groups this week, prompting an immediate response from one that the allegations are defamatory and have no basis in law or fact.

Abbott issued a proclamation on Tuesday designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations. This designation authorizes heightened enforcement against both groups and their affiliates and prohibits them from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas, according to a press release.

The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have “long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in a statement.

“The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable,” he said. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”

It’s an unusual move on Abbott’s part, since, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, only the U.S. secretary of state can officially designate foreign terrorist organizations following consultation with the attorney general and treasury secretary.

The impact of the action by Abbott is limited to Texas law enforcement and authorizes the state attorney general to sue organizations deemed affiliated with CAIR or the Muslim Brotherhood, the Guardian reported this week.

In his proclamation, Abbott referenced comments by Muslim Brotherhood founders that supported “fighting of the non-believers.” The governor also cited that Hamas, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, orchestrated a 2023 terrorist attack in Israel in which nearly 400 people were killed.

Abbott said he targeted CAIR because the organization was named in 2007 as having ties to the Holy Land Foundation, a group that was shut down for sending millions of dollars to Hamas. CAIR has denied the allegations and was not indicted.

Habiba Noor, a lecturer at Trinity University, told the Texas Tribune this week that Abbott is using an “Islamophobic toolbox” to rehash conspiracy theories in an effort to criminalize Muslims. One such conspiracy theory, the lecturer said, is that CAIR is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, responded by saying in a letter that Abbott didn’t have the authority to unilaterally declare Americans or American institutions terrorist groups.

CAIR Texas said its civil rights work would continue undeterred. A spokesperson for CAIR Houston did not immediately respond to voicemails and emails seeking comment on Wednesday.

“Greg Abbott is an Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government,” CAIR National said in a statement. “Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas. His latest publicity stunt has no basis in fact or law, nor can it stop our civil rights work.”

At press time, the Muslim Brotherhood had not issued a response to Abbott’s proclamation. In 2015, the group was banned in Egypt, where it was founded, and declared a terrorist organization. The Muslim Brotherhood supports charitable causes and has said that its aim is the establishment of a state ruled by Sharia law.

Sharia is an Islamic legal and moral code that serves as a path for Muslims to live according to God’s will, as derived from the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

And that’s a problem for Abbott, who, one day after designating the Muslim groups as terrorists, called for an investigation into “possible criminal violations by Sharia tribunals masquerading as legal courts and … purporting to enforce Sharia law” in Collin and Dallas counties.

Texas Republicans, including Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have attempted for months to thwart the construction of a 400-acre Muslim community called EPIC City near Plano, calling it a “Sharia compound.”

Abbott signed a bill into law in September prohibiting “residential property developments like EPIC City from creating Sharia compounds and defrauding and discriminating against Texans.” No evidence has been produced that the organizers of EPIC City, which would include 1,000 residential units, a school and a mosque, intended to operate under Sharia law.

The project appears to be on hold because of numerous legal challenges and state investigations.

Harris County commissioners Rodney Ellis, Adrian Garcia and Lesley Briones jumped into the fray late Tuesday evening, issuing a statement that Abbott’s proclamation against the Muslim organizations “is a reckless action that fuels fear and runs contrary to Harris County’s success as the country’s most diverse metro area. It also has no basis in the law.”

“Harris County has thrived as a welcoming place for all. People come here from around the world,” the three Democratic commissioners said in a joint statement. “Not only do we contribute to their success, but they contribute to ours. We all work together to build a safe, prosperous community. The governor’s rhetoric fractures community trust and undermines the safety and cohesion that government is meant to protect.”

Numerous elected officials from Houston and Harris County attended a Muslim celebration to break fast at the end of Ramadan this year. Credit: Daniel J. Cohen

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who is competing in a January runoff election to fill the unexpired term of the late Sylvester Turner in U.S. Congressional District 18, said Abbott’s announcement was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

“He’s putting entire communities at risk by spreading fear instead of facts,” Menefee said in a statement. “Governor Abbott is again breaking down the trust we need to keep our neighborhoods stable. I denounce his decision and call on him to reverse it.”

In its response to Abbott, CAIR National said that the governor’s office has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government. The organization said it plans to continue opposing all forms of bigotry, speaking out against injustice and defending the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech.

CAIR has previously taken legal action against the state, most recently last year in defense of anti-genocide protesters at the University of Houston and University of Texas at Dallas.

“We have successfully sued you three different times for shredding the First Amendment for the benefit of the Israeli government, and we are ready to do so again if you attempt to turn this publicity stunt into actual policy,” the statement reads, in a direct message to Abbott.

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

Related

April Towery

Source link

November 20, 2025
Contributor: Label the Muslim Brotherhood’s branches as terrorist organizations
On Tuesday, New York City radio host Sid Rosenberg asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio about whether the State Department intends to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as terrorist organizations. Rubio responded that “all of that is in the works,” although “obviously there are different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, so you’d have to designate each one of them.”

Logistics and bureaucracy aside: It’s about time.

For far too long, the United States has treated the Muslim Brotherhood with a dangerous combination of naiveté and willful blindness. The Brotherhood is not a random innocuous political movement with a religious bent. It is, and has been since its founding about a century ago, the ideological wellspring of modern Sunni Islamism. The Brotherhood’s fingerprints are on jihadist groups as wide-ranging as Al Qaeda and Hamas, yet successive American administrations — Republican and Democratic alike — have failed to designate its various offshoots for what they are: terrorist organizations.

That failure is not merely academic. It has real-world consequences. By refusing to label the Muslim Brotherhood accurately, we tie our own hands in the fight against Islamism — both at home and abroad. We allow subversive actors to exploit our political system and bankroll extremism under the guise of “cultural” or “charitable” outreach.

Enough is enough.

Founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood’s stated mission has never wavered: the establishment of a global caliphate governed by sharia law. The Brotherhood has always attempted to position itself as a “political” organization, but it is “political” in the way Lenin was political. Think subversion through infiltration — or revolution through stealth.

Consider Hamas. Hamas is not merely inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood — it is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian-Arab branch. The link is unambiguous; as Article Two of Hamas’ founding charter states, “The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine.” And Hamas’ charter also makes clear its penchant for explicit violence: “Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”

This is not the rhetoric of nuance or moderation. This is the ideological foundation of contemporary jihadism. Yet, while Hamas is rightly designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department, other branches of the Muslim Brotherhood remain off the list.

Why? Because Western elites have allowed themselves to be duped by the Brotherhood’s two-faced strategy. Abroad, they openly sow the seeds of jihad, cheer for a global caliphate and preach for the destruction of Israel and Western civilization more broadly. But in the corridors of power in the U.S. and Europe, they and their Qatari paymasters don suits and ties, rebrand as “moderates” and leverage media credulity and overly generous legal protections to plant ideological roots.

What’s more, CAIR — an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history — has extremely well-documented ties to the Brotherhood. And yet CAIR agents continue to operate freely in the United States, masquerading as civil rights advocates while pushing Islamist narratives that undermine the core constitutional principles of equality that they purport to champion. Today, almost two years after CAIR-linked Hamas executed the Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel, CAIR remains in good standing with many elected Democrats.

It shouldn’t be so. In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist organization, citing its links to the Brotherhood and Hamas. And the Brotherhood itself is recognized as a terrorist organization by at least Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and Russia. Jordan also banned the Brotherhood earlier this year. Put bluntly: There is absolutely no reason the United States should have a warmer approach toward CAIR than the UAE or a warmer approach toward the Brotherhood than Saudi Arabia.

The first Trump administration flirted with the idea of designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. It was the right impulse. But the effort was ultimately bogged down by internal bureaucracy and international pressure — most notably from Qatar and Turkey, both sometime U.S. partners that harbor strong Brotherhood sympathies and bankroll Islamist causes. And the second Trump administration’s troubling embrace of Qatar may well nip any designation in the bud before it even takes off.

Critics argue that such a designation would complicate relations with countries where Brotherhood affiliates participate in local politics. But since when did the U.S. place a premium on building alliances with the ideological cousins of Al Qaeda and ISIS?

Moreover, designating the Muslim Brotherhood would empower domestic law enforcement and intelligence agencies to go after its networks and financial infrastructure. It would send a clear signal that the U.S. government no longer accepts a claim of “nonviolent Islamism” as a pass when designating terrorist groups.

In a time when the threat from Islamic extremism remains global and decentralized, we can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the architects of the movement. The Muslim Brotherhood is not, as “Arab Spring” boosters risibly claimed a decade and a half ago, a Western partner in “democracy.” It is the mother’s milk of modern Sunni jihadism.

The question is not whether we can afford to designate Muslim Brotherhood offshoots as terrorist organizations. It is: How much longer can we afford not to?

Josh Hammer’s latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer
Insights

L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.

Viewpoint

This article generally aligns with a Right point of view. Learn more about this AI-generated analysis
Perspectives

The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.

Ideas expressed in the piece

The Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, ending what the author characterizes as a dangerous combination of naiveté and willful blindness toward the group. The organization has served as the ideological wellspring of modern Sunni Islamism since its founding in Egypt in 1928, with stated goals of establishing a global caliphate governed by sharia law.

Hamas represents a direct branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, as explicitly stated in Article Two of Hamas’ founding charter, which declares “The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine.” This connection demonstrates the Brotherhood’s clear ties to recognized terrorist organizations, yet other Brotherhood branches remain undesignated.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) maintains well-documented ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and was an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history. Despite these connections, CAIR continues operating freely in the United States while pushing Islamist narratives under the guise of civil rights advocacy.

Multiple American allies have already taken decisive action, with the United Arab Emirates designating CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014, and countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, and Russia recognizing the Brotherhood itself as a terrorist organization. Jordan banned the Brotherhood earlier this year, making American inaction increasingly inconsistent with international consensus.

Designation would empower domestic law enforcement and intelligence agencies to target Brotherhood networks and financial infrastructure while sending a clear signal that claims of “nonviolent Islamism” no longer provide protection from terrorist designations. The failure to act has real-world consequences, allowing subversive actors to exploit the American political system and bankroll extremism through supposed cultural or charitable outreach.

Different views on the topic

The search results do not contain substantial opposing perspectives to the author’s position on designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that designation efforts are “in the works” but acknowledged significant legal and bureaucratic challenges that complicate the process^[1].

Procedural complexities present obstacles to designation, as each regional branch of the Muslim Brotherhood must be formally designated separately due to the organization’s decentralized structure. Rubio noted that “we have to be very careful, because these things will be challenged in court” and emphasized the need to “show your work like a math problem” to withstand legal scrutiny^[1].

Federal judicial oversight poses potential barriers to implementation, with Rubio expressing concern that “all you need is one federal judge—and there are plenty—that are willing to basically try to run the country from the bench” through nationwide injunctions that could block designation efforts^[1].
Josh Hammer

Source link
August 15, 2025
Israel Assures It Doing Everything Possible To Minimize Civilians

TEL AVIV—Addressing observers concerned about the toll of the nation’s ongoing incursion into Gaza, Israeli officials assured critics Friday that it was doing everything possible to minimize civilians. “To those expressing apprehension about this war, just know that our troops are taking every effort to mitigate civilian life,” said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explaining that he remained laser-focused on taking the necessary precautions to reduce civilians in Gaza or prevent them entirely. “Let me be clear: Our war is against Hamas. We have explicitly instructed our commanders that they should take pains so there are as few innocent men, women, and children in Gaza as humanly possible.” Netanyahu then added that because of the unfortunate realities of war, it was always sadly possible that a few Gazans might survive.

This Week’s Most Viral News: December 8, 2023

Source link

December 8, 2023
Americans Explain How They Would End The Israel-Hamas War

“Off the top of my head? I’d probably concentrate billions of dollars into the hands of a few international defense contractors and I suppose I’d call them Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin, and then—gosh, I don’t know—I’d let them dictate U.S. foreign policy through gratuitous lobbying, and—just spitballing here—destabilize and antagonize nearby nations to protect our oil interests while providing unconditional aid to Israel, and then I guess I’d enable those defense companies to indiscriminately bomb the shit out of Gaza, and on top of all that, I guess I’d write a $14.5 billion check to Netanyahu for good measure.”

Source link

November 8, 2023
Politicians Explain Why They Will Not Endorse A Ceasefire

With the Palestinian death toll rapidly rising and conditions in Gaza deteriorating into a humanitarian crisis amid the Israeli invasion, The Onion asked politicians why they will not endorse a ceasefire, and this is what they said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

“I haven’t gotten to experience a world war since my boyhood.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)

“I lament even those momentary pauses in violence when IDF soldiers have to stop shooting to reload.”

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)

“A ceasefire would send the message to Palestinians that we give a shit whether they live or die.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)

“I have a perfect record when it comes to ethnic cleansing, and I’m not about to tarnish that now.”

Vice President Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris

“Well-behaved missiles seldom make history.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

“Last I checked, there were still some Palestinian civilians left.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

“An open-air prison actually sounds nice. What do I look like, some kind of abolitionist?”

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

“That would stop the genocidal momentum the IDF has built.”

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL)

“Because I’m making money off this. What don’t you understand?”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

“Shhh, keep your voice down. Saying that word in Texas is illegal.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

“The people of Gaza are free to start making campaign donations whenever they please.”

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)

“Poked myself in the eye with a kebab skewer. Now all must pay.”

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN)

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN)

“Based on the last election, I figure my presidential campaign can only be helped by the absence of a strong stance on anything.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)

“Ugh, just come back to bed. Can’t we go one night without getting into a screaming match?”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA)

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA)

“When you become a U.S. senator, they tell you that you’ll be legally castrated if you ever try to stop any wars.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)

“I mean, if it were up to me, they’d be air-striking the shit out of the continental U.S. as well.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

“That’s actually a good idea. If we can trick the Palestinians into thinking we’re not going to fire anymore, they’ll be easier to shoot!”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would never allow the U.S. to finance the Israeli military if it wasn’t perfectly safe.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

“I don’t want to lose my widespread appeal among moderates.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)

“I support firing both missiles and a message of love at Palestine.”

You’ve Made It This Far…

You’ve Made It This Far…

Source link

October 31, 2023
Saudis Attempt To Normalize Ties With Israel By Air-Striking Gaza

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA—Insisting that they wished to demonstrate they were negotiating in good faith, Saudi officials announced Friday they had attempted to normalize ties with Israel by conducting an air strike in Gaza that killed eight Palestinians and left dozens more wounded. “As an olive branch to Israeli leaders, we’ve recently carried out a major strike on a Gazan apartment complex that may or may not have been housing Hamas militants—but the important thing here is we showed we’re serious about tearing apart the lives of Palestinians,” said a Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, adding that the significant casualties among unarmed women and children alone might be enough to push the historic deal to the finish line. “Obviously, obstacles remain, but we have the broad contours of a deal here that could absolutely decimate the Palestinian people. And this is just the beginning. Israel knows that if they normalize ties with the Saudis, that raises the likelihood of other Gulf States joining them in killing and maiming Palestinians.” At press time, Israel had reportedly attempted to show its seriousness by beheading a journalist reporting on the deal for an American newspaper.

This Week’s Most Viral News: August 11, 2023

Source link

August 11, 2023