Benjamin Baird: Enough Talk! How Do We Counter Islamism Across America?

Benjamin Baird, director of MEF Action, the Middle East Forum’s (MEF) grassroots advocacy initiative, spoke to a July 31^st Middle East Forum Webinar (video) in an interview with Stacey Roman, MEF outreach director, about countering Islamism in America. The following is a summary of Baird’s comments:

America’s cultural shifts since the 9/11 terror attacks on the U.S., in particular the growth of progressive and identity politics, have enabled Islamist activists to portray themselves as an “embattled minority” engaged in a civil rights struggle. A consequence of “progressive wokeism” is that “Islamists are controlling the narrative when it comes to a whole host of issues” foreign and domestic. Islamists have become the self-appointed gatekeepers who propagate their understanding of Islam and spin counterterrorism and foreign policy situations to their benefit. They are aided in this by a sympathetic and “complicit media.” Journalists even consult with the Islamist organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), to weigh in on antisemitic violence instead of consulting with Jewish community leaders. The Investigative Project on Terrorism’s (IPT) book, CAIR’s Antisemitism Unmasked, catalogs the group’s antisemitic rhetoric and actions, while in StopAntisemitism.org‘s 2019 report, “The New Antisemites,” pro-Israel and pro-Jewish groups denounce CAIR for its antisemitic history.

The media obscured inconvenient truths after Mohammed Khairullah, the mayor of Prospect Park, New Jersey, was removed from a White House guest list because of his inclusion on a terrorist watch list. Journalists omitted significant details of Khairullah’s associations with Islamists, instead portraying him as a victim of a “xenophobic” government. IPT investigative journalist John Rossomando exposed social media posts of Khairullah posing with mujahideen fighters during his many trips to Syria, including one image showing the mayor at a rally featuring Al Nusra Front banners, the flag of Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate at the time. Not one of the national media outlets portraying Khairullah as a victim mentioned Rossomando’s exposé or meaningfully examined his past.

Joe Kaufman, a counter-Islamist activist in South Florida, attended a Palm Beach County School Board meeting to protest awards being given by an Islamist-allied group, the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), to board members who were instrumental in getting school days off for Muslim holidays. Kaufman objected to SFMF’s involvement because of its “history of bigotry and terror ties.” Rather than reporting the motivation for Kaufman’s protest accurately, reporters from the Palm Beach Post headlined that the school board had been “lambasted” for closing the school on those Muslim holidays.

Politically, by legitimizing Islamists, Islamist-friendly media enable Muslim Brotherhood (MB) groups in America to gain influence and power in fields as diverse as the “media, or law enforcement, or government.” By activating their grassroots organizers, Islamist groups sponsor legislation and promote candidates who influence state and federal lawmakers. Islamists exploit impoverished locales by providing social welfare services as a form of missionary work, or da’wah, to indoctrinate its recipients in radical Islamism.

MEF Action pushes back against the “mainstreaming of Islamist groups in America” and gives counter-Islamist grassroots activists the avenues to counter Islamism. The MEF Action Center is a networking clearinghouse which offers supporters ways to engage in letter-writing campaigns to elected officials, sign petitions, and join protests and rallies. There are currently three campaigns underway, one of which is countering a bill MEF opposed in 2021 and 2022 that is being reintroduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). If adopted, the bill would establish a “special envoy on Islamophobia” who would vilify U.S. allies such as India, France, and Israel while ignoring the worst perpetrators of Muslim violence committed by the Muslims themselves.

CAIR is politically active and runs lobbying campaigns to mobilize their base, which is “just a fraction of the U.S. population,” to contact elected officials. MEF Action counters CAIR by rallying counter-Islamist supporters to contact their elected officials and push back against Islamist legislation. Islamists who run for political office also bankroll other Islamist candidates’ campaigns. To counter this, MEF’s Islamist Money in Politics (IMIP) initiative tracks and exposes the Islamist money trail used by Islamist candidates.

By researching the Federal Election Commission website, IMIP exposed Muad Hrezi, a Libyan American candidate who ran in 2022 for the U.S. House in Connecticut. Less than a third of his individual donations came from the state’s residents; the remainder was funded by American citizens tied to the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood. Hrezi’s donors also included two individuals Libya has designated as terrorists, while other donors represented Libyan MB political parties, as well as Libya’s “unofficial lobby” in the U.S., the Libyan American Alliance. Faisal Gill, an Islamist candidate for LA City Attorney in 2022, likewise received many of his donations from outside the city, thereby raising questions about his political allegiances. All too often, donations to political campaigns originate from Islamists themselves who perpetuate hate and have ties to terrorism. Journalists who questioned Virginia lieutenant governor candidate Sam Rasoul about why the majority of his donations came from Muslim activists outside of Virginia were denounced by mainstream media as Islamophobes.

Countering Islamists involves exposing the Islamists’ weak spots. Islamists involved in terror finance cases are likely to have been cited in other counterterror investigations. Revealing the history of these Islamist groups and amplifying their caustic comments about “Jews, Hindus, LGBT persons, [and] women” is part of MEF’s mission. A recent resolution introduced in California designates August as American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness month, but the bill praises dangerous Islamist groups in the U.S., including CAIR and the Muslim-American Society, which is tied to the Egyptian MB. Both are designated as terror groups by the United Arab Emirates. Another is the Islamic Circle of North America, a proxy for a group “involved in war crimes in South Asia.” MEF supporters in California who wish to oppose the resolution should visit this campaign page.

Islamists inflate and exaggerate the occurrence of Islamophobia, with Islamist groups such as CAIR inaccurately claiming that Muslims are subject to twice the number of bias incidents as Jews. FBI statistics prove that Jewish Americans are the most persecuted religious group in the U.S., thus exposing Islamist groups’ penchant for claiming victimhood status. Internationally, Islamists ignore hate towards Muslims in authoritarian nations such as China and Myanmar, yet are hostile toward the policies of democratic countries such as France, India, and the U.S.

Foreign entities back Islamists in the U.S. A case in point is the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), an umbrella group comprising America’s top domestic Islamist organizations. These groups, which are supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party, signal their loyalty by parroting Turkish regime talking points and encouraging American Muslims to travel to Turkey. Erdoğan supports these groups by offering the Diyanet Center of America (DCA), his “little Versailles” non-profit complex located on sixteen acres in Lanham, Maryland. The DCA includes a mosque and minaret, meeting halls, condominiums and an apartment complex, a restaurant, shops, and a sports center.

With its proximity to Washington, D.C., the DCA underwrote Islamist lobbying efforts during the 2022 National Muslim Advocacy Day by sponsoring USCMO and five hundred Islamist activists who lobbied elected officials on Capitol Hill regarding Islamist issues. Some of these activists were given free room and board at DCA facilities. A South Asian Islamist group, Justice for All, received lobbyist training at the DCA, acting as representatives of a foreign Islamist government in possible violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). That the Department of Justice’s FARA unit is more worried about China than Islamist groups points to the need to expand the FARA unit to investigate foreign influence in higher education and lobbying initiatives.

Anti-Islamist organizations in the U.S. comprising Muslims, ex-Muslims, and non-Muslims play an important role in countering Islamist influence. Effective groups such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s AHA Foundation, the CLARITy Coalition, and the Muslim Reform Movement collaborate in the counter-Islamist effort.

Oddly, some major Jewish organizations are more focused on embracing Islamists as part of their interfaith alliances. These Jewish community groups therefore legitimize the very sources that are hostile to Jews, Hindus, and Christians, a move that facilitated CAIR’s inclusion on a White House commission to fight antisemitism. Although the Anti-Defamation League used to feature a “soft” portrayal of CAIR on its website, an updated page now features specific instances of antisemitism perpetrated by the Islamist group’s senior leaders.

Absent Islamists’ overt ties to terrorism, the fight against “lawful Islamism” is a battle that can only be fought in the court of public opinion.

“There is an activist class of young Muslim-American professionals who are waiting to take over from the Islamists who are in power today.” American campuses are rife with Islamist hate groups, where many of the young Islamist activists are perfecting their skills and becoming more fluent in the language of progressive politics. “The legitimacy of Islamist groups is where they derive their power . . . being part of progressive circles definitely cements their place and makes them more dangerous.” The Canary Mission, a counter-Islamist group that documents hate groups and their activists that are hostile to the U.S., Jews, and Israel, is particularly effective in documenting Islamist hate groups on campuses.

Countering Islamists is not a narrow issue of the culture wars that can be relegated to either the right or the left, but instead is a bipartisan issue that can affect both sides of the political spectrum. Both Republicans and Democrats should reject Islamism’s hateful ideology, which threatens America’s basic values and freedoms. "[Islamists] may not call for violence, but they share the opinions of violent Islamists.”

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