In an initiative to “combat Islamophobia and the bullying of Muslims students,” San Diego’s public school district has formed a partnership with an organization regarded by the FBI as a front group for Hamas and by an Gulf Arab state as a terrorist organization.
The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, nevertheless, was formally approved by the board of the San Diego Unified School District this month to help develop a plan that will include the review and vetting of materials related to Muslim culture and history.
A report outlining the district’s objectives touted CAIR as an organization that “has been involved in constructive civic engagement, promotes cultural tolerance and understanding, as well as justice and equality.”
Hanif Mohebi, executive director of CAIR San Diego, told the school board April 4 that CAIR wants the district’s program to become a national model.
“The plan itself is a great first step,” he said.
“I truly believe that if we do this right, San Diego Unified School District would be the leading school district in the nation to come up with a robust and beautiful anti-bullying and anti-Islamophobia program.”
In a statement, Mohebi said bullying is taking place in schools that “is a direct result of the growing Islamophobia in our state and nation.”
The San Diego school district did not reply to a WND interview request.
As WND reported earlier this month, after successfully “purging” the military and federal government of “anti-Muslim” subject-matter experts and materials under the Obama administration, CAIR urged the Air Force to sever ties with a veteran counter-terrorism instructor it casts as “Islamophobic.”
But CAIR is regarded by the FBI as a Hamas front in the U.S., by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror-funding plot and by the United Arab Emirates as a terrorist organization.
According to evidence entered in the terror-financing case, CAIR was founded by figures associated with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the worldwide movement that has stated its intent to transform the U.S. into an Islamic state. More than a dozen CAIR leaders have been charged or convicted of terrorism-related crimes.
An FBI chart obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request shows connections between CAIR and Hamas.
CAIR has sued the authors of a WND Books exposé, “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America,” which documented the group’s radical ties. A trial in the case is expected to commence this fall.
‘Cultural tolerance’
Some 150 members of San Diego’s Muslim community were present when the school board passed the initiative April 4.
Last November, the school board recognized CAIR “for 10 years of teaching students to accept and honor
religious and cultural differences among their peers.”
A proclamation by the school board said:
- CAIR has been involved in constructive civic engagement, promotes cultural tolerance and understanding, as well as justice and equality
- CAIR drafted a well-researched report on school bullying
- CAIR provides assistance with mediating situations that
involve discrimination.
Last July, the board directed the district to develop “a plan to address Islamophobia and discrimination against
Muslim students and their families.”
The initiative is part of Vision 2020/Quality Schools in Every Neighborhood to ensure that schools “are safe learning spaces for each and every student.”