A newly formed activist group plans to protest an Islamic group’s campus involvement at OU Saturday.
The recently formed group, called Oklahomans Against CAIR Hate, said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is linked to terrorist activities overseas. The group wants to expose CAIR for what they see as a sponsor of terrorism, especially on the OU campus.
“CAIR tries to portray itself as an innocuous civil rights organization, but it is not," Cindy Crenshaw, Oklahomans Against CAIR Hate president, stated on the group’s Web site. "CAIR leaders have been sentenced to 65 years in prison for terrorist related activities; CAIR received funds from a bogus ‘charity’ called the Holy Land Foundation which funneled money to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas; the FBI cut off relations with CAIR late in 2008 out of concerns for CAIR’s terrorist connections; and CAIR is regarded as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League, a nearly 100-year-old respected institution dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of proof of CAIR’s terrorist connections.
“As a veteran, a mother and a survivor of a terrorist attack, I call upon Oklahomans of all faiths, all political persuasions and all walks of life, especially those in the news media, to speak the truth about CAIR as a group with connections, and to join us Saturday night to protest CAIR’s planned event at OU.”
However, Roberta Clark, associate regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, told The Daily in an e-mail her organization does not consider CAIR as a hate group.
Ahmad Khattab, president of the OU Muslim Student Association, said the protesters do not understand what CAIR is and what it does.
“We’ve worked with CAIR for many years, and they’ve been very helpful in improving the image of Islam and Muslims in America,” Khattab said. “When these people come on campus to protest CAIR, I feel they are attacking me personally.”
Khattab said the group’s accusations against CAIR do more harm than good.
“By them coming to campus and shouting out stereotypes, they are promoting ignorance,” Khattab said. “It is that negative stereotyping, ignorance and bias that they will show that makes life hard for many Muslim Americans in this country every day. CAIR really does do positive things, and by throwing out rumors and false accusations, they are showing that they are just here to be hateful.”
The protest is scheduled to take place at the Oklahoma Memorial Union at 7 p.m. Saturday, but language on the Web site suggests the group will try to disrupt the CAIR sponsored event in Meachum Auditorium that evening. The CAIR event will feature a film called “Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Think.”
“I was planning on attending the event, and I hope that instead of disrupting the event and being rude, they would be willing to sit down and talk about our differences and clear some things up,” Khattab said. “I think that if they would talk about their concerns and questions with us, there would be a better understanding of the truth.”
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JoeSangirardi 2 years, 4 months ago
Is it possible for non-Islamic OU students/Islam sympathizers to stand against the protest Saturday evening? Or to Attend the film being shown?
fresh 2 years, 4 months ago
"And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of proof of CAIR’s terrorist connections."
Is this an objective statement?
To sound a little less biased I would say, "That is just a few of the mounting allegations against the group's suspected terrorist ties."
Just saying.
Laila 2 years, 4 months ago
Everyone is more than welcome to attend the documentary screening! The purpose is to educate and promote open dialogue, so you are encouraged to attend and join.
cacremin 2 years, 4 months ago
I would like to see some hard evidence that CAIR is a hategroup. The only hatred I can see is hatred against Muslims.
I encourage everyone to do their own research before believing this irresponsibly unverified article. A good starting place is CAIR's website. It contains a PDF document dispelling many rumors about the organization, all of which were presented in this article as factual. http://www.cair.com/
Does anyone else find it odd that we don't consider "Campus Crusade for Christ" a hate-group when their name implies that they are waging a holy war?
zTruth 2 years, 4 months ago
I see you changed the original title but it's still misleading. It should read "Protest planned against CAIR Oklahoma at OU"
CAIR has advocated for terrorists, such as in the case of convicted terror supporter Sami al Arian, who they call a political prisoner of our government and against a number of our national security enhancements in place to prevent another terror attack.
You failed to bring fair balance to your article by not providing one independent verified fact about CAIR.
For more facts about CAIR google on the web: CAIR's support for terrorists is alarming!
I challenge you to verify these facts.
JJanowiak 2 years, 4 months ago
This is absolutely disgusting. I admit that I was going to write a letter to the editor protesting the congressional candidate who started this whole mess but didn't because the truth about CAIR seemed a little more complicated than "the whole thing is a lie." My impression is that some members of CAIR had connections with Hamas and met with them a few times before they learned suicide bombings from Hezbollah. My biggest problems with these protesters is they way they conceptualize Hamas - it's as though once you label something a terrorist group there is suddenly nothing left to learn about it. Hamas may perpetrate terror (on a scale much reduced from several years ago) but is also a government ruling over Gaza with fully-fledged social support networks. I don't support them but that doesn't mean that, if you want to get things done in Gaza, you don't have to talk to them.
But this is neither here nor there. CAIR is a conservative Muslim organization and the requirement of veiling is distasteful but that DOES NOT mean they are a terrorist front. These protesters are marching outside an event meant to show ignorant bigots like them how Muslims across the world truly feel about terror and the West. I am deeply ashamed to go to a university where the community is filled with hate towards members of one of the world's biggest religions. And try as they might to dissimulate about their hatred, to them this is not about CAIR or terror, but what they think is an evil cult whose members must be expelled or at the least not exercise their rights as U.S. citizens.
Hopefully there is more outcry from the student body sympathetic to their classmates. If there is a counterprotest planned can someone post the details here?
zTruth 2 years, 4 months ago
In a court brief in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. SABRl BENKAHLA on page 58 (footnote 13) CAIR and the Muslim American Society were described as arms or founded by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. It goes on to say CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists.
zTruth 2 years, 4 months ago
The ADL issued a press statement earlier this month calling CAIR and other Islamic organization's anti-radicalization efforts a "sham" after troubling information emerged from an Islamic convention held in Chicago in December:
"...But the convention, which had been specifically identified by MAS and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as the venue to begin the effort to combat radicalization, failed to seriously address the problem. In fact, it provided a platform for extremist views, according to ADL.
"It is shocking that this conference, identified by some major Muslim-American groups as the venue to start the process of reform at a time of growing attacks and threats by American Muslim extremists, was a sham and nothing more than a cover for the dissemination of hateful anti-American and anti-Israel views and anti-Semitism," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "The fact that it provided a platform for extremist views calls into question the sincerity of the effort to serve as a legitimate counterbalance to radicalization. No legitimate blueprint for change can emerge from a convention permeated by messages conveying hatred of Jews, the denial of Israel's right to exist and the idea that the U.S. is at war with Islam."
google: Muslim-American Organizations' Anti-Radicalization Effort 'A Sham'
dargus 2 years, 4 months ago
zTruth, isn't it possible that this particular event, sponsored by the OU Muslim Society, is a worthwhile event that should be attended instead of protested? Perhaps we could all learn something by coming together instead of being hostile to each other. I doubt any terrorists will be present at this event.
zTruth 2 years, 4 months ago
Telling the truth is not being hostile.
zTruth 2 years, 4 months ago
Mr. Khattab, a number of people know about CAIR. It's an organization ID'd by the FBI as part of the Muslim Brotherhood Hamas infrastructure in America. CAIR stands with convicted terror supporter Sami al-Arian.
The Muslim Student Association was also started by the Muslim Brotherhood back in 1963 or so after the immigrations laws were changed by President Lyndon Johnson. It was specifically named as an organizational part of the Muslim Brotherood's General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America dated 5/22/1991. The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic supremacist political organization, for those of you who don't know.
CAIR Dir. in Oklahoma, Razi Hashmi, actually shilled for Hamas twice that I know of. Once when he told U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin she should be neutral when she spoke out against Hamas and again when he cried out against Israel attacks against - now how did he phrase it - oh yes, against "the Hamas rulers" during the Gaza conflict last year.
Hamas was started by the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.