Local media has reported on the controversy surrounding “Florida Capitol Day” an event held two weeks ago and sponsored by the former executive director of the Tampa office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). According to a report in the Charlotte Sun:
The organizer of a day that brought nearly 200 Florida Muslims to the state Capitol to lobby politicians Tuesday was called a “known terrorist sympathizer” by a head lawmaker and others, a label the leader emphatically rejected. House Majority Leader Adam Hasner said his colleagues should learn more about the head of Tampa-based United Voices For America before deciding whether to meet with any of the men and women at the Capitol for Florida Capitol Muslim Day. The group is about a year old and has four staff members and about 100 volunteers around the state. It had urged Muslims to come to talk to lawmakers about education and health care issues. “All Floridians are welcome to come to Tallahassee to petition their government,” Hasner said repeatedly during a news conference on the back steps of the Capitol. “This is to draw a light onto the leader of this organization who is a known terrorist sympathizer, who is a part of an organization with ties to funding Hamas and other terrorist organizations.” Hasner, R-Delray Beach, was talking about Ahmed Bedier, United Voices For America’s executive director. Before starting the group he was the executive director of the Tampa office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
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.