The Investigative Project has reported that prominent California state political figures reported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-California as co-hosts or an Iftar dinner will not be attending the affair. According to the IPT report:
As we reported Tuesday, an all-star lineup of California state political figures was touted as co-hosts for an Iftar dinner organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-California chapter at the state Capitol in Sacramento. CAIR’s release listed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger, leadership of the Assembly and Senate and 35 other lawmakers. The governor was not expected to attend. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg was a co-host, but a spokeswoman said he did not plan on attending the dinner, either. Late Tuesday, after publishing our story, we heard from Shannon Murphy, spokeswoman to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. “The Speaker has nothing to do with this event,” Murphy said. “We have no idea how this came about.” Similarly, a spokesman for Assembly Assistant Majority Leader Paul Krekorian said Krekorian found himself listed as a co-host merely by saying he would consider attending. Krekorian responded to an e-mail invitation saying he would consider the dinner if he were in town that night, said spokesman Jeremy Oberstein.
A report recently issued by the Hudson Institute discusses the origins of CAIR and its founders/leaders in both the Palestine Committee of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and the U.S. Hamas support infrastructure. A letter from the FBI posted on the Investigative Project website indicates that that the recent decision by the Agency to sever formal relationships with CAIR was based on evidence that CAIR leaders Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad were tied to the Palestine Committee. Both men were known to have attended a 1993 meeting in Philadelphia that was taped by the FBI and which was attended by many members of the Palestine Committee and IAP. Investigative research posted on GMBDW had determined that CAIR has a long history of support for fundamentalism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism.