Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation Tuesday morning declaring the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) “foreign terrorist and transnational organizations.”
By Adam Schwager for Border Report
“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in his proclamation. “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable.”
The move allows Abbott to use newly granted powers to ban the pair of organizations from buying land in the state.
Senate Bill 17, enacted in September, prevents foreign nationals and organizations of designated foreign adversary nations, such as China or Russia, from owning land in Texas. It also bans real property purchases by entities that the Governor deems a “risk to the national security of the public.”
SB 17 is currently the subject of a lawsuit in federal court. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?
The Muslim Brotherhood started in Egypt in 1928 by school teacher Hassan al-Banna to rejuvenate Islam within the country. The group became politically involved in the late 1930s, and eventually assassinated Egypt’s Prime Minister Maḥmūd Fahmī al-Nuqrāshī in 1948 after he tried to outlaw the organization.
In 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood briefly took power in Egypt after the “Arab Spring” revolution, before being ousted in 2013 and later deemed a terrorist organization by Egypt.
In 2018, the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security held a meeting titled “the Muslim Brotherhood’s global threat.”
“The Muslim Brotherhood is a militant Islamist organization with affiliates in over 70 countries, including groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S.,” said then-U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla. “Whether the Muslim Brotherhood writ large should be designated as a foreign terrorist organization has been the topic of debate here in Congress in recent years and has been under consideration by the Trump administration.”
Despite the hearing, the Muslim Brotherhood never ended up on the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The Muslim Brotherhood is considered a terrorist organization by Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Who is CAIR?
CAIR started in 1994 in Washington, D.C., as an advocacy group for Muslim Civil Rights in America.
“CAIR’s vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding,” their website says. “CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
Abbott’s order claims CAIR’s does more than their mission statement leads on.
“CAIR is an Islamist organization that, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), was founded as a ‘front group’ for ‘Hamas and its support network’ in the United States,” Abbott’s proclamation reads. “The Program on Extremism at George Washington University, America’s leading academic research center on extremism, reports that CAIR is an example of conscious efforts by ‘the U.S.-based Hamas network to regenerate itself.’”
In a response on social media, CAIR said that while it was “flattered” by Abbott’s “obsession” with the organization, his “defamatory proclamation has no basis in fact or law.”
“Greg Abbott is an Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government,” CAIR said. “Unlike Mr. Abbott–who unleashed violence against Texas students protesting the Gaza genocide to satisfy his AIPAC donors–our civil rights organization is an independent voice that answers to the American people, relies on support from the American people, and opposes all forms of unjust violence, including hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and terrorism.”
CAIR said it was ready to sue if “he attempts to turn this publicity stunt into real policy.” It also said it previously won three First Amendment lawsuits against Abbott.
“See you in court again, Greg…if you dare.”
Find the original article in its entirety at the Border Report.
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