The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is the most prominent Islamist group in the United States. They have infiltrated most major metropolitan areas and serve as the default “Muslim group” when governments, civic organizations or other groups want to conduct outreach. They often lead calls of Islamophobia against those who question or point out bad actions by individual Muslims or groups.

MEF successfully brought CAIR under scrutiny by the U.S. government for misuse of federal grant money. Now a series of revelations about CAIR’s use of Sharia financing tools and some potential violations of federal regulations for non-profits has turned the spotlight even more brightly on its finances and activities. MEF fellows and experts weigh in on all of this.

The War with Iran has taken up most of the attention and with renewed hostilities that seems likely to continue. The Houthis have been stirring up trouble on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula with threats to close the strait at Bab-el-Mandeb. Both the Saudis and Emiratis have longstanding issues with the Houthis and the worry about missile and drone attacks on their oil fields and airports is almost as problematic as attacks on tankers.

The jihadist government in Syria has offered its help in Lebanon to deal with Hezbollah. That concerns many in the region but most acutely the Lebanese who fear another occupying force. President Trump has made a deal allowing Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium for civilian nuclear power. That raises the possibility Iran may be allowed to do so as well in any potential peace agreement.