Israeli minister moves to designate US Muslim civil rights group CAIR as a terror organisation

Israel's Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli on Wednesday revealed moves by his ministry to proscribe the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a terror group.

Posting on X, Chikli said the ministry had submitted a formal request urging a "review of all cooperation" with groups allegedly connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Chikli claimed to have evidence of links between the US civil rights group and the movement, as well as Hamas - a group already proscribed by both the US and Israel. Aside from Austria, no Western country has banned the Muslim Brotherhood.

The minister linked the letter to US President Donald Trump's announcement days earlier that moves were underway to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation in the US.

The announcement drew praise from Israel, but many countries are wary of the impact this could have, particularly with the weaponisation of the group by some Arab states to crack down on domestic dissent.

The ministry's letter, addressed to Israeli Defence Ministry Director-General Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, also alleges that members of CAIR expressed support for the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

CAIR dismissed the claims as "the old Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy theory", likely referring to far-right conspiracy theories claiming that the Brotherhood - of which Hamas is an offshoot - is planning a global takeover through its agents and entities. Experts have compared the conspiracy theory to tropes used against European Jews in the early 20th century.

"What an honor. We must be doing something right," CAIR said on X.

"By the way, Minister@AmichaiChikli, your government sucks up billions in American taxpayer dollars every year and spends millions on your department's propaganda budget. Yet the best attack you can level against us is the old Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy theory? With all that free American money, couldn't you make up something new? Something more original?"

The group also included links to a decades-old statement on its website condemning "all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qaeda, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, or any other group designated by the U.S. Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization".

Israel and President Trump's targeting of CAIR follows Texas Governor Greg Abbott's designation of the group, along with the Muslim Brotherhood, as foreign terror groups and transnational criminal organisations.

The move bars CAIR and the Brotherhood from buying land in the state, and subjects them "heightened enforcement".

In announcing the designation, Abbott claimed that the two groups want to "forcibly impose sharia law and establish Islam's mastership over the world".

The Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin chapters of CAIR asked a federal judge to strike down the proclamation, saying that it relies on "inflammatory statements that have no basis in fact".

Founded in 1994, CAIR has 25 chapters around the country and is the United States' largest Muslim civil rights group. While also advocating for domestic issues, the group has been strongly critical of Israel's war on Gaza and other human rights issues around the world.