CAIR Spokesman Whitewashes Islamic terrorism, Compares Boko Haram to Mere Criminals

At a Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) press conference held in order to “condemn Boko Haram” Ahmed Bedier, President of “United Voices” and a long time CAIR member, took the opportunity to condemn not Boko Haram, but the Nigerian government and Americans concerned about the threat of Islamic terrorism, and to minimize the kidnapping and threat of forced sexual slavery for hundreds of young women as the “failure to apprehend a bunch of criminals.” (Starts approximately 13:11)

Boko Haram (Western Education is a Sin), and whose real name is  Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad) is a State Department designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with ties to Al Qaeda.

Bedier proceeded to compare the outrage over the kidnappings, which has gone viral on the internet under the hashtag #Bringbackourgirls, to outrage over the response to Hurricane Katrina. Bedier continued, “we are tired of people coming on television and asking ‘well where does this ideology come from, this ideology comes from no where.”

The Investigative Project on Terrorism has noted that Bedier has a long history of minimizing and understating Islamic terrorism, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hamas, and Hezbollah. Bedier was a strong supporter of Florida professor, and now convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad organizer, Sami Al-Arian.  Bedier told a local Tampa TV station news program that prior to 1995 (when PIJ was formally designated a terrorist organization) there was “nothing immoral about it.”

The issue of the State Department’s reported unwillingness, under then Secretary Hillary Clinton, to designate Boko Haram as a terror group has been a topic of fierce criticism of late.

CAIR itself was an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial, for its role as part of the “Palestine Committee” of the North American Muslim Brotherhood, which was responsible for funneling money, through the Holy Land Foundation, to Hamas. Efforts by the supposed “Civil Rights” organization to remove itself from that list failed. In his memorandum on the case, Judge Jorge Solis noted:

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. While the Court recognizes that the evidence produced by the Government largely predates the HLF designation date, the evidence is nonetheless sufficient to show the association of these entities with HLF, IAP, and Hamas.

So I guess it’s no surprise why Ahmed Bedier would like people to stop talking about the ideology that encourages foreign terrorist organizations like Boko Haram.