First Capitol Hill Iftar Dinner Excludes Muslim Reformers

Last month, Muslim Advocates, in coordination with Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Andre Carson, held the first Iftar (a meal breaking the fast of Ramadan) on Capitol Hill. Muslim Advocates (MA) is an organization of Muslim American lawyers that has a long history opposing counterterrorism policies and supporting Islamist groups. MA played a central role in the Obama administration’s 2011 decision to purge FBI counterterrorism training materials referencing Islam.

The dinner was by invitation only, and members of the moderate Muslim Reform movement were not invited. “This dinner done under the name of an entire faith group was a partisan gathering of not diverse American Muslims but more specifically American Islamists (D),” Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, President and Founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, wrote of the event on  Facebook.

This is the latest of many incidents where elected officials have promoted Islamist groups in recent months. Policymakers at the state and federal level have demonstrated a troubling predilection for the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR was founded in 1993 to provide propaganda support to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation Trial.

“A number of CAIR’s employees and board members have been indicted, convicted and deported for terrorism or material support for terrorism, as noted by the Louisiana State House of Representatives when it voted to support a prohibition against state officials ‘interacting with the group,’” Kyle Shideler wrote in CSP’s 2016 book CAIR is Hamas.

CAIR’s favorite, and frequently effective, tactic of shutting down dissent is to deem all critics “Islamophobic.” In October 2017, CAIR listed Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Muslim, as an “Islamophobic Individual” in the “U.S. Islamophobia Network.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D- Michigan), who has faced criticism for her anti-Semitic comments, spoke at a fundraiser for CAIR in March.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), whose comments prompted a House vote condemning Anti-Semitism, received support from CAIR during her 2018 campaign. Not only did CAIR donate the maximum $5,000 to Omar’s campaign, but held three fundraising events in California for the candidate. Omar has returned the favor, and was the keynote speaker at a conference of the Los Angeles branch of CAIR in March, and spoke at another CAIR event in Washington last month.

On May 9^th, Omar Suleiman gave a prayer at the House of Representatives at the invitation of Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas). Although Suleiman’s remarks and prayer were not controversial his social media posts are alarming. He has repeatedly called for a Palestinian “intifada” against Israel, and in 2013 posted an image of the Rabia sign, which is used to indicate support for the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2014, he posted: “The Zionists are enemies of God, His Messengers, sincere followers of all religions, and humanity as a whole.”

Though Suleiman has no formal affiliation with CAIR, the organization quickly came to his defense, stating he was: “Targeted by a smear campaign by Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian groups.”

“This is not an issue of being ‘anti-Muslim.’ He certainly represents the Islamist establishment and the leaders of most mosques and Islamist organizations. But it is absurd if not bigotry to think a man who holds these positions represents most American Muslims,” Dr. Jasser wrote in response to Suleiman’s Congressional prayer.

CAIR has received a platform in state legislatures as well.

On May 28^th, Basim Elkarra, the Executive Director of Sacramento Valley CAIR, gave the prayer opening at a session of the California State Senate; the minority Republicans were apparently not told.

Virginia State Representative Del. Ibraheem Samirah (D) has recently come under fire for promoting the BDS movement, and is a member of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), another outgrowth of Hamas. In 2016, Samirah ran for parliament in Jordan, during which Al Jazzera described him as “the leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.”

However, support for CAIR is not limited to a few individuals. CAIR has been endorsed by well-known Democratic party members, including Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Over one-hundred members of Congress, including three Republicans, have sent CAIR salutation letters that can be used for fundraising.

While many politicians have paid lip-service to supporting moderate-Muslims, they continue to legitimize and give Islamist groups a platform at the expense of actual moderates.