Local media is reporting that the President of the board of directors of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is running for a seat on the New York City Council. According to a New York Daily News report:
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2013, 8:00 PM Zead Ramadan), a Palestinian born in Kuwait, immigrated to Washington Heights as a kid and quickly assimilated. He says he would be the first Arab-American to serve on City Council, but adds that he is running to serve all of upper Manhattan. Zead Ramadan has called upper Manhattan his home for more than 40 years and he’s worn numerous hats in an effort to make improvements in his community. And now he’s ready to take the next step to serve upper Manhattan: a seat on City Council. On Tuesday, he formally announced his plans to run for the City Council seat being vacated by Councilman Robert Jackson, who plans to run for Manhattan Borough President. Ramadan has already raised nearly $41,000, according to city Campaign Finance Board records (Ramadan said the total had grown to $47,000 by Thursday). Ramadan says he would be the Council’s first-ever Arab-American member (a City Council spokeswoman was unable to confirm his assertion), but notes that he’s running to represent upper Manhattan. ‘I grew up in this community, and I know northern Manhattan as good as almost anybody,’ Ramadan told the Daily News on Wednesday. ‘I’ve been part of this community since October 1971.’ Ramadan, a Palestinian born in Kuwait, immigrated to Washington Heights with his family, including seven siblings, as a kid and quickly assimilated. He became a college baseball player, a skill he credits to growing up in a largely Dominican-American community.
Read the rest here.
Posts from early January reported on Project Mobilize, a newly emerging group closely tied to CAIR as well as the Global Muslim Brotherhood and which is designed to help elect Muslims to local governments in the Chicago area.
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 and identified the organization itself as being part of the US. Muslim 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 determined that CAIR had 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.”