Earlier this month, Islamist Watch revealed the extreme anti-Semitism of a former official at the Minnesota branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Abubakar Osman served as the CAIR Minnesota’s Government Affairs Coordinator. In 2008, he wrote: “i wish hitler was alive to fuck up the jewish ppl and add more jewish causalities to the 6 million he killed in the holocaust...”
After thousands shared this information on social media, Osman apologized, writing that he was “disgusted” by his words, which were that of an “immature teenager.”
CAIR Minnesota also felt obliged to comment, stating: “we condemn these hateful and hurtful words in the strongest terms possible.”
CAIR perhaps felt an urgent need to speak out – as another recent Islamist Watch article explains, a bill currently before the Minnesota legislature nominates the Islamist group to membership of a new proposed taskforce on “Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.” Osman’s horrifying comments were risking CAIR’s prospects.
But Osman was not the only example of anti-Semitism at CAIR Minnesota. Current CAIR Minnesota board member Abdul Basit has written that Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz “plots” against Senator Bernie Sanders because she is Jewish.
In addition, CAIR Minnesota events feature a number of prominent hate preachers. Siraj Wahhaj, for example, is a leading radical cleric frequently invited to address CAIR Minnesota events, and who is featured on CAIR Minnesota’s website. In his sermons, Wahhaj has called for the killing of adulterers, referred to America and its people as “Shaytan” [the Devil], denounced homosexuality as a “disease,” encouraged American Muslims to engage in jihad overseas, and has preached: “Woe to the Muslims who pick kafirs [non-Muslims] for friends.”
Other recent CAIR Minnesota guests have included Hatem Bazian, who was widely denounced last year after tweeting two anti-Semitic images that accuse “Ashke-Nazis” [a derogatory term for Jews] of rape, murder and organ-trafficking; and Hussam Ayloush, director of CAIR’s Los Angeles branch, who, in 2018, called for Israel to be “terminated” and expressed support for convicted terror financiers.
Two weeks ago, Islamist Watch wrote to both CAIR Minnesota and the national CAIR headquarters, asking for comment on other anti-Semitism at the Minnesota branch. This time, we received no reply.
Once again – and as our CAIR to Comment series has repeatedly shown – CAIR only speaks out against hate when it is politically advantageous and the downsides are minimal. It condemned Osman because a deluge of social media anger was imperiling its attempts to win over Minnesota legislators, and because Osman was no longer an employee, and is thus expendable.
CAIR branches keep quiet about their current anti-Jewish board members and guest speakers, meanwhile, simply because the Islamist group thinks it can get away with it.
