The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has established itself as a go-to group when journalists or politicians want to engage with the Muslim community.

Fortunately, CAIR does not represent all American Muslims. Because while seeking better “relations” with the majority of Americans, CAIR has at times been sympathetic to radical Islam, and its leaders have empathized with violent groups like Hamas.

A new report in The California Post by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute shows that Gavin Newsom’s government has passed millions of state and federal dollars to CAIR.

The money is typically from programs that are meant to help immigrants settle in the United States. But there is a major risk in trusting an organization that is so hostile to America with assimilating new arrivals.

CAIR also has a deeply troubling background. As Thorpe and Rufo note, it had connections with the Holy Land Foundation, which saw several leaders convicted for trying to raise money in the U.S. for Hamas.

That trial was 20 years ago, but CAIR leaders have not shied away from expressing their true feelings about the terror group. Nihad Awad, the national executive director of CAIR, claimed that he was “happy” about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel because he saw it as Palestinians “breaking the siege” and entering “their land” (i.e. Israel). Never mind all the innocent people raped, murdered, and kidnapped.

That cannot be the basis for shared understanding between Americans and Muslims.

America does not, like some Muslim countries, ban the headscarf or other expressions of Islamic faith. But new arrivals from the Islamic world must embrace American values, and should not try to use America as a platform for anti-Israel hatred.

Israel has a special place in the hearts of many Americans because of a shared Judeo-Christian heritage that is at the core of our founding values of Liberty. American Jews were present at the creation of the United States — at a time when Islamic potentates were attacking the fledgling American merchant fleet and enslaving our sailors, demanding tribute as a condition for leaving us alone.

Jewish immigrants often faced prejudice. They achieved equality in the United States through a long, patient, and non-violent movement. Later, many Jews became leaders in the American civil rights movement. Many have fought for the rights of Muslims, too.

Along the way, many of those same American Jews campaigned for support for the State of Israel, which is a beacon of freedom and hope in the Middle East.

Islam has a long presence in the New World — but radical Islam, a phenomenon of the past century, has sought to overthrow America.

Like Nazism, and communism, radical Islam needs to be left behind in the societies it has already destroyed.

CAIR is free to oppose Israel, and support the Palestinian cause. But if it supports terror or radical Islam, it should remain on the margins of our society — not receiving taxpayers’ money and a place on the public stage.

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