Local media is reporting that U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress, spoke last week at a fund-raising banquet for the Arizona chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). According to a report in the Arizona Republic:
The only Muslim in Congress defied criticism from Arizona’s congressional delegation and spoke Friday at a fundraiser for the local chapter of a national organization with suspected links to Hamas. U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and U.S. Reps. Trent Franks and John Shadegg, both Arizona Republicans, wrote a letter urging Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., to shun the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We are deeply concerned that any official support of this organization would undermine the legitimate concerns of federal investigators about CAIR’s relationship to foreign terrorist organizations,” the letter said. But Ellison, a Muslim convert, came anyway and was applauded by about 300 people who attended a dinner at the Hilton Phoenix East/ Mesa. Ellison spoke about the fresh start in relations with Islamic countries under President Barack Obama’s administration. “I would never associate myself with anyone even soft on terrorism,” he said before the speech. “We all want to fight terror. We all want to live in a safe community.” The fears Kyl, Franks and Shadegg expressed in the letter are “ridiculous,” he said. If there is any truth to the allegations that CAIR supports the Palestinian terrorist organization, Ellison said, there should be arrests and prosecutions…..CAIR also was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land trial. But Ahmad Daniels, executive director of CAIR’s Arizona chapter, denied ties to Hamas or other terrorists. “In no way, shape or form is CAIR Arizona associated with Hamas,” Daniels said. “We’re not terrorists. We’re freedom-loving Americans like everyone else.” Daniels said CAIR’s mission in Arizona is social justice. He also said he is involved in reaching out to other religions through interfaith organizations. He called CAIR’s supposed links to Hamas “an old rumor” and said opponents should either produce evidence or drop it.
Documents released in the Holy Land Trial have revealed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as identifying the organization itself as being part of the U.S. Brotherhood. A recent post discussed an interview with the Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in which he confirms a relationship between his organization and CAIR. Investigative research posted on GMBDW had determined that CAIR had it origins in the U.S. Hamas infrastructure and is an integral part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood with a long history of support for fundamentalism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism. As discussed in previous posts, It appears that the FBI has recently ended its long-standing relationship with CAIR.
A previous post has discussed Rep.Ellison’s difficulties involving a trip to Mecca that was paid for by the Muslim American Society. Other previous posts have discussed both Ellison’s trip as well as the ongoing controversy between Minnesota State officials and the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) which, as the article notes, has close connections to the Muslim American Society (MAS) but also to Islamic Relief, both organizations having close ties to the global Muslim Brotherhood. The MAS was established in 1993 and is identified in a recent Hudson Institute report as a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and closely tied to the Egyptian organization.