Ahmed Rehab, the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago office, has told Egyptian media that “die-hard Israeli supporters” are behind what he called the “organized Islamophobia movement” in the U.S. Mr. Rehab said in a recent interview with Al-Ahram:
“Do you believe in conspiracy theories suggesting Israeli involvement in the recent anti-Muslim film?
No. There is no evidence to suggest direct Israeli involvement in this particular film. There was direct Israeli involvement in the anti-Muslim film Obsession a few years back, and generally speaking those involved in the organised Islamophobia network are almost always die-hard Israel supporters. Many of the funders of Islamophobia are also funders of hawkish pro-Israeli initiatives. So there is a general link. But in the case of this particular film, it is an Egyptian Coptic man who was allegedly behind it. Another well-known Coptic Islamophobe marketed the film. It is, however, important not to generalise or blame Copts as a group for the controversy. These are individuals we are talking about here.”
It should be noted that “direct Israeli involvement” would appear to suggest that the State of Israel was involved with Obsession whereas, in fact, the movie was produced by an individual with dual Canadian-Israeli citizenship. By linking Israel with “islamophobia”, Mr. Rehab is pouring fuel on the fire of the anti-Semitism already being expounded by the leaders of Egypt and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
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.”