PHILADELPHIA, November 18, 2025 – The Middle East Forum (MEF) today hailed Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s groundbreaking proclamation designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist and Transnational Criminal Organizations, a decisive action that validates over a decade of MEF’s meticulous research exposing CAIR’s terror ties and infiltration networks across Texas.
The governor’s proclamation explicitly cites the Program on Extremism at George Washington University’s research into CAIR’s origins as a Hamas front group, and notes that CAIR was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the largest terror financing prosecution in U.S. history—a case centered in Richardson, Texas.
“This is vindication,” said Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, speaking from Dallas. “For years, MEF has documented how CAIR—founded by convicted Hamas financier Ghassan Elashi, who is serving 65 years in federal prison—masquerades as a civil rights organization while maintaining its terror support infrastructure. Governor Abbott just shattered that facade with the force of law.”
MEF’s Decade of Exposing CAIR-Texas
The Middle East Forum’s Islamist Watch and Focus on Western Islamism projects have systematically documented CAIR’s extremist network in Texas, including:
- Terror Convictions: MEF has consistently highlighted that CAIR’s founding board member Ghassan Elashi is serving 65 years for funneling millions to Hamas, while multiple other CAIR officials have been convicted on terrorism charges.
- State Infiltration: This year, MEF revealed Texas inadvertently funneled over $13 million to organizations with Muslim Brotherhood and Iranian regime ties.
- Radicalization Pipeline: A 2024 MEF investigation uncovered CAIR-Texas’s partnership to place radicalized students into positions of influence by 2036.
“CAIR has operated with impunity for far too long, hiding behind a veneer of civil rights activism while advancing the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda,” said Benjamin Baird, director of MEF Action. “Governor Abbott’s designation strips away that disguise and exposes CAIR for what it truly is—an organization born from the Hamas network that continues to undermine American security. This is a watershed moment that other states must follow.”
Legal Authority and National Implications
The Governor’s action leverages Texas Penal Code § 71.01(e) and Texas Property Code § 5.254(a), subjecting these organizations to asset forfeiture, criminal penalties, and prohibition from purchasing land in Texas. The proclamation notes that even the Biden Administration “removed CAIR’s name” from certain documents to “distance itself from the organization,” while the FBI suspended formal contacts with CAIR in 2008.
“Texas just proved that states don’t need Washington’s permission to protect their citizens from terror-linked organizations,” Roman added. “While the federal government equivocates, Governor Abbott acted. Every governor in America should be asking: If Texas can do this, why can’t we?”
The Middle East Forum calls on all governors to follow Texas’s lead and conduct immediate audits of state funding to ensure taxpayer dollars are not inadvertently supporting extremist networks.
About the Middle East Forum
The Middle East Forum, a non-profit organization founded in 1994, promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western values from Islamist threats. The Forum’s Islamist Watch project monitors lawful Islamist groups in the United States, while Focus on Western Islamism tracks extremist financing and networks. For more information, visit www.meforum.org.
For immediate release:
For more information, contact:
Gregg Roman
roman@meforum.org
+1 (215) 546 5406
