The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a statement claiming that it and the Muslim American Society (MAS) have met the unidentified US government officials regarding their inclusion on the recently released UAE list of terrorist organizations. According to the statement:
December 22, 2014 WASHINGTON, D.C. –- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today that its representatives met with U.S. government officials about a recent move by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to add CAIR and the Muslim American Society (MAS) to its list of ‘terrorist’ groups.
In a joint statement, CAIR and MAS said:
‘The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) met with senior U.S. government officials regarding the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) recent inclusion of the two legally-operating organizations on a list of groups it considers to be terrorist entities. The two American Muslim organizations and the U.S. government pledged to work together to achieve a positive solution to the UAE designations.
‘A State Department spokesman rejected the designations two days after the list was issued and affirmed that department officials meet regularly with representatives of CAIR and MAS.'”
In fact, the State Department spokesman in question, while acknowledging that a “range of American officials” had met with officials from CAIR and the MAS, referred in his statement to regular meetings with “a wide variety of faith-based groups” and not to CAIR and the MAS in particular.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) describes itself as “a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group and as “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group.” CAIR was founded in 1994 by three officers of the Islamic Association of Palestine, part of the U.S. Hamas infrastructure at that time. Documents discovered in the course of the the terrorism trial of the Holy Land Foundation confirmed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood and that CAIR itself is part of the US. Muslim Brotherhood. In 2008, the then Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood acknowledged a relationship between the Egyptian Brotherhood and CAIR. 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.” CAIR and its leaders have had a long history of defending individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, often labeling such prosecutions a “war on Islam”, and have also been associated with Islamic fundamentalism and antisemitism. The organization is led by Nihad Awad, its longstanding Executive Director and one of the three original founders.
The Muslim American Society (MAS) was identified in a Hudson Institute report authored by the GMBDW editor as a part of the US. Muslim Brotherhood and closely tied to the Egyptian organization.