<p>Earlier this month, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a <a href="http://www.islamophobia.org/images/IslamophobiaReport2019/CAIR_Islamophobia_Report_2019_Final_Web.pdf">report</a> claiming that “hate groups” have used American charities to propagate a message of anti-Muslim bigotry.</p>
<p>The report, titled: “Hijacked by Hate: American Philanthropy and the Islamophobia Network,” <a href="https://www.cair.com/new_cair_report_to_show_how_anonymous_donors_used_mainstream_philanthropic_groups_to_funnel_millions_to_anti_muslim_hate_groups">highlights</a> how more than 1,000 mainstream foundations donated almost $125 million to 39 so-called “anti-Muslim hate groups.” Nihad Awad, founder and executive director of CAIR, has even gone as far to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational/videos/289014645385849/">praise</a> this document as “the most comprehensive report on the Islamophobia network ever produced.”</p>
<p>In reality, CAIR’s press conference and published report are jam-packed with inconsistencies and baseless claims.</p>
<p>Awad and CAIR blame President Trump for a <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2017/topic-pages/tables/table-4.xls">rise</a> of anti-Muslim hatred in the United States. But there is one big problem. This report, by its own admission, focuses on philanthropic funding donated during the last years of former President Obama’s administration, from 2014-2016.</p>
<p>This is not to mention that, though <a href="https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2017/09/vandalism-targets-mosque/">bigots</a> have undoubtedly perpetuated some <a href="http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2016/august/christian-arab-murdered-in-oklahoma-after-mistaken-as-muslim">horrific</a> and awful <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Nurse-victim-Islamophobic-stabbing-beaten-Muslim-12812920.php">crimes</a> against Muslims in the United States, the FBI actually reports that the percentage of religiously-motivated hate crimes that target Muslims has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46189391">dropped</a> 6% from 2016. Yet strangely enough, CAIR’s report does not criticize the former American president by name.</p>
<p>While Nihad Awad was quick to condemn New Zealand’s “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-muslim-advocacy-group-trump-hold-responsible-increase/story?id=61709242">white supremacist terrorism</a>” in March, it seems not all violent hatreds are equal in his eyes. Awad has <a href="https://www.meforum.org/7075/harvard-students-honor-islamist">defended</a> both Islamist terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, referring to them simply as “<a href="http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.aljazeera.net/Channel/archive/archive?ArchiveId=89300&amp;date=2011-02-03">liberation movements</a>.” Similarly, Zainab Arain (research and advocacy manager at CAIR and co-author of the report) has a long <a href="https://www.meforum.org/7479/author-of-muslim-bigotry-report-is-a-noted-bigot">history</a> of praising Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as the modern variation of the long-debunked blood libel that claims Israel kills Palestinians to steal their <a href="https://twitter.com/ZainabA/status/3825515101">organs</a>.</p>
<p>In fact, Arain has even <a href="https://twitter.com/ZainabA/status/14129254078">shared</a> an article from the white nationalist website Information Clearing House, which alleges Israeli control over American leaders. In the spirit of decrying white nationalism, as the report <a href="http://www.islamophobia.org/images/IslamophobiaReport2019/CAIR_Islamophobia_Report_2019_Final_Web.pdf#page=53">purports</a> to do, will Awad criticize Arain for her expressions of anti-Jewish bigotry? Will he renounce his own views?</p>
<p>The report’s other co-author, Abbas Barzegar (research and advocacy director at CAIR), serves as a perfect complement to Arain’s pro-Islamist sentiments, having <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jun/13/iranian-election">favorably</a> characterized <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/world/middleeast/11cnd-iran.html?mtrref=www.google.com&amp;gwh=A9E2A02C2B2191AAAD3D387460D82FDB&amp;gwt=pay">Holocaust-denier</a> Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2009 re-election as a victory of Iran’s “rural and working classes.” At the same time, Barzegar has used his platform on HuffPost to spread the <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/112248/beware-of-even-numbers">debunked</a> anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that the Egyptian-born Coptic Christian creator of an anti-Islamic video was <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nothing-farcical-about-an_b_1877007">actually</a> an Israeli citizen.</p>
<p>In that same article, Barzegar calls for curtailing freedom of speech to limit the “abuse” of sacred Islamic symbols. Yet he had previously <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cnns-octavia-nasr-another_b_641380">criticized</a> CNN for firing Octavia Nasr over her eulogizing of a senior cleric of the terror group Hezbollah, describing her as “another victim of America’s thought police.”</p>
<p>Under the guise of fighting anti-Muslim bigotry, CAIR seeks to advance a pro-Islamist agenda that is not representative of the broader American Muslim population.</p>
<p>The fact that this report is <a href="http://www.islamophobia.org/images/IslamophobiaReport2019/CAIR_Islamophobia_Report_2019_Final_Web.pdf#page=6">endorsed</a> by author and academic Khaled Beydoun should worry anyone concerned by the propagation of fake news. After the horrific Christchurch mosque shootings, Beydoun allegedly <a href="https://twitter.com/comingupcharlie/status/1109027052819083264">plagiarized</a> the work of New Zealand <a href="https://imgur.com/tek2H0I">journalists</a> and seemed to <a href="http://archive.is/0UACo">spread false information</a> about the attack. Beydoun has also been roundly <a href="http://archive.is/hgGy7">criticized</a> by Muslims for growing his Instagram account off the shootings by <a href="https://clarionproject.org/backlash-against-muslim-celebrity-trip-to-christchurch-victims/">organizing</a> a promotional free trip to New Zealand.</p>
<p>Is it any wonder that the report itself prioritizes style over substance, with only about 10 full pages of text found in the entire 152-page document?</p>
<p>This so-called “study” only serves to cover up CAIR’s true purpose, which is to demonize individuals and organizations that oppose its pernicious Islamist agenda. The report itself even goes so far as to equate opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood as anti-Muslim bigotry. Specifically, the report takes issue with the Middle East Forum’s <a href="http://www.islamophobia.org/images/IslamophobiaReport2019/CAIR_Islamophobia_Report_2019_Final_Web.pdf#page=41">support</a> for the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act.</p>
<p>Why does CAIR consider legislation aimed at violent Islamist movements to be “Islamophobic?” Even the governments of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26487092?print=true">Saudi Arabia</a>, Egypt, <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/archive/bahrain-fm-reiterates-stance-on-muslim-brotherhood/172889">Bahrain</a>, the United Arab Emirates have designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Are these prominent Islamic nations “Islamophobic,” too?</p>
<p>With this report, CAIR seeks to bully critics of radical Islamism into submission by conflating anti-Muslim bigotry with any legitimate concerns about Islamist extremism — to the detriment of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.</p>
<p><em>Bradley Martin is a Writer for <a href="https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/">Islamist Watch</a>, a project of the <a href="https://www.meforum.org">Middle East Forum</a>.</em></p>

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MARTIN: CAIR Report Conflates Anti-Muslim Bigotry With Opposition To Radical Islamism