BREAKING: Texas Governor Designates Largest Muslim Activist Group a Foreign Terrorist Organization

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, designated the largest Muslim advocacy group in the country, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a foreign terrorist organization, authorizing a host of state actions against the group. CAIR condemned his attack as “defamatory” and “lawless,” threatening to sue in response.

“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 press release on the designation.

“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 added. “Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”

Abbott’s proclamation outlines the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood, notes that Hamas began as an offshoot of the Brotherhood, and noted the FBI’s previous finding that CAIR was founded as a “front group” for “Hamas and its support network.” It notes that CAIR was an “unidentified co-conspirator” in the 2009 terrorism financing case involving the Holy Land Foundation.

The proclamation lists a group of individuals “promoting terrorism-related activities,” notes that the FBI suspended formal contacts with CAIR in 2008 and that the Biden administration removed CAIR’s name from documents in 2023.

The proclamation notes Texas laws that enable the attorney general to file a lawsuit against a foreign terrorist organization “to enjoin its operations” and that prevent foreign terrorist organizations from acquiring land in Texas.

The proclamation concludes by stating that Abbott designates “both the Muslim Brotherhood and its successor organization CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations under Texas Penal Code [Section] 71.01(e), and thereby subject those organizations, and any persons promoting or aiding their criminal activities, to the heightened penalties authorized by Chapter 125 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code” and subjects both organizations “to Chapter 5 of the Texas Property Code, which prohibits them from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas.”

CAIR’s Response

CAIR condemned Abbott’s declaration as “defamatory” and “lawless.”

“CAIR is an independent American civil rights organization that has spent 30 years protecting free speech, advancing religious freedom, and promoting justice for people here and abroad,” the group said in a statement sent to The Daily Signal Tuesday. “We have consistently condemned all forms of unjust violence, including hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism. In fact, we condemn terrorism so often that ISIS once put a target on our national executive director.”

“Although we are flattered by Greg Abbott’s obsession with our civil rights organization, his publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation has no basis in fact or law,” CAIR continued. “By defaming a prominent American Muslim institution with debunked conspiracy theories and made-up quotes, Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas.”

CAIR condemned Abbott as an “Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government.”

The group threatened a lawsuit should Abbott implement policies based on the proclamation.

“We have successfully sued Greg Abbott three different times for shredding the First Amendment for the benefit of the Israeli government, and we are ready to do so again if he attempts to turn this publicity stunt into actual policy,” the statement concluded.

“Unlike Mr. Abbott, who unleashed violence against Texas students protesting the Gaza genocide to satisfy his AIPAC donors, our civil rights organization answers to the American people, relies on support from the American people, and stands up for American values,” CAIR declared.

CAIR has long disputed claims of the kind Abbott cited. The organization updates a web page dedicated to dispelling “rumors” and “conspiracy theories.”

“CAIR is not ‘the Wahhabi lobby,’ a “front-group for Hamas,’ a ‘fund-raising arm for Hezbollah,’ ‘part of a wider conspiracy overseen by the Muslim Brotherhood’ or any of the other false and misleading associations our detractors seek to smear us with,” the organization notes. “That we stand accused of being both a ‘fundraising arm of Hezbollah’ and the ‘Wahhabi lobby’ is a significant point in demonstrating that our detractors are hurling slander not fact. Hezbollah and the Wahhabi movement represent diametrically opposed ideologies.”

CAIR admits that it was included on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case, but notes that there were more than 300 other organizations on the list.

“There is no legal implication to being labeled an unindicted co-conspirator, since it does not require the Justice Department to prove anything in a court of law,” the organization notes. “Regardless, the issue of our inclusion on the list was settled in CAIR’s favor.” The judge in the case stated, “This case is not about CAIR.”

The Biden administration distanced itself from CAIR after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. The Biden White House had previously included CAIR in its initiative to combat antisemitism.

The Daily Signal also reached out to Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office did not immediately respond.

“Gov. Abbott took a bold stance for truth and justice,” Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, told The Daily Signal. “CAIR is a hate group, created by the Muslim Brotherhood to support antisemitic terrorism under the guise of promoting Islam.”

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