The Investigative Project has published a report titled “Rahm Emmanuel’s Confounding CAIR Appointment” which discusses the appointment by the Chicago mayor and former Obama Chief of Staff of the head of the Chicago office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to the mayor’s “‘New Americans Advisory Committee.” The IPT report begins:
IPT News July 3, 2012 Chicago has been home to key Hamas operatives for more than 20 years. It was home to the Islamic Association for Palestine, which served as the terrorist organization’s American propaganda arm. It was home to Mohammed Salah and Abdelhaleem al-Ashqar, both of whom were key Hamas financiers. Now, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel has turned to a key cog in the wheel of domestic Hamas support for a new city panel aimed at making the city more immigrant friendly. Ahmed Rehab, the head of the local Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Chicago chapter, is among 50 people appointed last week to the mayor’s ‘New Americans Advisory Committee.’ The committee is charged with developing ‘a roadmap that will ensure Chicago continues to thrive and grow and attracts the world’s leading human capital to compete in the 21st century global economy and beyond.’ Emmanuel should know better. He was White House chief of staff when it became known that the FBI had broken off communication with CAIR in 2008 over concerns about the organization’s roots in a Hamas-support network. CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad are included in a telephone list of ‘Palestine Committee’ members (Ahmad is identified as ‘Omar Yehya’), and CAIR was listed in internal records as a specific committee arm. Other internal records show that the Palestine Committee was created by the Muslim Brotherhood to help Hamas ‘with what it needs of media, money, men and all of that.’ An FBI official wrote to inquiring U.S. senators in 2009, explaining that ‘until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.’ Yet, Emmanuel appointed the head of the group’s Chicago office to the committee on immigrant policy. Although none of the evidence cited by the FBI implicates Rehab specifically, he has established a record of echoing CAIR’s national leadership in refusing to condemn Hamas as a terrorist group and in reflexively opposing law enforcement counter-terrorism investigations.
Read the rest here.
A post from June reported that President Obama’s deputies have held hundreds of closed-door meetings with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), despite an FBI policy against engaging with the group. Another post from last May reported that new Congressional legislation contained a report recommending that the Attorney General sever its ties with CAIR as the FBI has already done. A post from 2009 reported on the state of relations between the FBI and CAIR, characterizing them as having no formal contact.
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 US. 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 CAIR and its leaders have a long history of defending almost all individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, frequently calling such prosecutions a “war on Islam.” In 2009, a US federal judge ruled “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.”