The Investigative Project on Terrorism has published a list of 101 lawmakers who provided letters of support and praise for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which were presented at the Islamist organization’s recent annual banquet celebrating its 24th anniversary.
The letters are full of effusive praise for the extremist-linked organization, which a reasonable observer might find surprising, given the Islamist organization’s listing by federal prosecutors as an unindicted coconspirator in the largest terror financing trial in U.S. history; its designation as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates; its officials’ expressions of hatred towards minorities; and its long history of providing platforms for the some of the most extreme hate preachers in North America. Further information on CAIR can be found here.
In fact, the very same banquet that lawmakers warmly endorsed included speakers such as the Islamist activist Hatem Bazian, who was widely condemned last year after promoting two overtly anti-Semitic images that accused “Ashke-Nazis” [a derogatory term for Jews] of rape, murder and organ trafficking; and Yasir Qadhi, a Salafi cleric who has called for the killing of homosexuals and adulterers.
Why, then, do lawmakers betray moderate Muslims and opponents of theocratic extremists by embracing CAIR? Perhaps it’s just ignorance. Perhaps it’s money. Perhaps it’s both.
Using Islamist Watch’s Islamist Money in Politics (IMIP) database, we can reveal that of the 101 lawmakers who sent letters of support, 52 have received campaign contributions from indviduals across the country affiliated with CAIR and its Islamist allies. These 52 lawmakers have received over $540,000 of Islamist contributions - ranging from just a few dollars to many hundreds of thousands.
On the right, we have published a table of those who have endorsed CAIR and received Islamist contributions. You can look at our data here for yourself.
With over half a million dollars, Islamists can buy a lot of praise. And with elections next week, what else will Islamist largesse secure for CAIR in the Capitol?
