The Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US-based Islamist organisation with ties to the Islamic terrorist organisation Hamas, called on the US government on Tuesday to discontinue the use of the term “terrorist watchlist,” since it is made up “almost entirely” of Arab and Muslim names.
Last week, a hacker released a list of names on the FBI’s secret so-called “terror watchlist.” The names were overwhelmingly Arab and Muslim. Some were reportedly placed on the list as children. 1/4
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) January 24, 2023
“This list confirms what we already knew: after 9/11, the FBI created a Muslim registry. If the FBI is allowed to keep this discriminatory, unjust registry, it’s only a matter of time before others are targeted as well,” the Islamist organisation with terror links wrote in a thread of tweets, accusing the Joe Biden administration of anti-Muslim bias.
“The FBI distributes this registry to tens of thousands of law enforcement agencies, hundreds of private companies, & 60+ foreign governments. We call on the Biden admin to end its dissemination. It has served no purpose other than to ruin the lives of innocent Muslims,” CAIR wrote in its subsequent tweet.
It also shared a link to its press release titled, “CAIR Urges FBI to Stop Distributing Secret Terror Watchlists After Leaks Show ‘Almost Entirely Lists of Arabic and Muslim Names’.
The demand came after a Swiss hacker, on January 20, Friday, reportedly gained access to copies of the No-Fly List and Selectee List. These two lists are subdivisions of the US security agency FBI’s terror watchlist and the Terrorist Screening Data Set. The list, which was from 2019, contained about 1.5 million entries.
The Islamist organisation, that obtained the list, claimed it featured primarily Muslim and Arab names and accused the FBI of deliberately targeting the Muslim community.
“Even a cursory review of the lists shows they are both almost entirely lists of Arabic and Muslim names. Children who were at most 10 years old at the time are on the No-Fly List. A then 7-year-old is on the Selectee list,” Justin Sadowsky, Cair’s trial attorney, said in a statement.
CAIR and its anti-India propaganda
Notably, CAIR identifies itself as a Muslim civil rights organisation in the United States that claims to protect ‘civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims’, The fact, however, is that CAIR is an Islamist group that has spoken against India and Hindus on several occasions. The organization has been vehemently pushing Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu propaganda in India.
Last year, CAIR released a report titled “Still Suspect: The Impact of Structural Islamophobia”, in which it said that there has been a rise in discrimination against Muslims living in the United States.
The CAIR, in its report, claimed that it had received 6,720 complaints nationwide last year involving a range of issues, including immigration, travel discrimination, law enforcement, government overreach, hate and bias incidents, custody rights, school incidents, and free speech incidents.
The CAIR claimed that government discrimination and bias continue to have a disproportionate effect on American Muslims and further demonstrate that our communities continue to be viewed with suspicion. The report also listed the impacts of severe structural and interpersonal Islamophobia in the United States.
Ironically, CAIR, which always complains about alleged Islamophobia in the United States, has been aggressively promoting Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu propaganda in India. We are aware of how CAIR had extended support for the extremely Hinduphobic ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva‘ conference.
Not only this, but in December last year, CAIR had reportedly taken offence at the display of the names of the LeT terrorists and scenes from the deadly 26/11 terror attack that was displayed on a mobile billboard truck in New Jersey. While calling the movement of the vehicle ‘deliberate and well co-ordinated’, CAIR criticised the broadcast of 26/11 footage as ‘messages of hate.’ This was despite the fact that the mobile billboard truck did not display anything contentious but the truth.
In January 2022, CAIR launched Hinduphobic propaganda based on a report by alleged journalist Rana Ayyub. In a press release, CAIR demanded the movie theatres not to release Sooryavanshi, a Hindi movie. In the press release, CAIR alleged the movie spreads “disgusting and dangerous” anti-Muslim propaganda inspired by the fascist Hindutva movement.”
The organization has also called for the release of 49-year-old Pakistani terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving 86 years in prison for attacking US Army and FBI personnel in Afghanistan.
The Islamic organisation and its link with Islamic terror outfit Hamas
It is noteworthy that CAIR has links with the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist terror organisation Hamas. Hamas has a long history of violating human rights. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by several countries including The European Union, the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom etc.
