Gov. Greg Abbott has declared the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood foreign terrorist groups.
Abbott signed a proclamation on November 18, naming CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations – banning them from buying Texas land, and allowing Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue to shut them down.
“Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations,” Abbott posted on X. “This bans them from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorizes the Attorney General to sue to shut them down.”
CAIR is a prominent nationwide Islamic advocacy group, and the Muslim Brotherhood is a militant Islamic group from which Hamas emerged. Abbott’s order names them foreign terrorist and criminal organizations, which can face enforcement under Texas law.
“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in a press release. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”
CAIR replied to Abbott with a letter, claiming the proclamation is “defamatory” and saying it has “no basis in law or fact.” The group pledged to continue its work in Texas.
“The real reason anti-Muslim hate groups and pro-Israel lobby group obsessively target CAIR and other American Muslim institutions is because of our steadfast advocacy for Palestinian rights,” wrote CAIR Director of Government Affairs Robert McCaw in the letter. “Sadly, your office has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government.”
The group’s website has featured a statement since 2009, saying “we unequivocally condemn all acts of terrorism.”
McCaw claimed Abbott was advancing “anti-Muslim bigotry” instead of serving Texans. He also claimed the governor has “unleashed violence against Texas students protesting the Gaza genocide to satisfy your AIPAC donors.”
“Our civil rights organization answers to the American people, relies on support from the American people, and stands up for American values,” McCaw said. “We have successfully sued you three different times for shredding the First Amendment for the benefit of the Israeli government, and we are ready to do so again if you attempt to turn this publicity stunt into actual policy.”
Terrorist Ties
Abbott cited numerous Texas laws against foreign terrorist and criminal groups, potentially allowing enforcement against CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. Ahead of the proclamation, he consulted with the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Homeland Security Council.
“The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable,” Abbott said in the release.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt by Hasan al-Banaa.
Abbott cited al-Banaa’s support for jihad. “Jihad is an obligation from Allah on every Muslim and cannot be ignored nor evaded,” the group’s founder reportedly said.
Al-Banaa explicitly defined jihad as the “fighting of the unbelievers, and involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship and smashing their idols.”
The Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, is currently serving a life sentence for plotting an armed insurrection in Egypt. Badie reportedly described the group’s goal as establishing Islamic “mastership of the world.”
“The Muslim Brotherhood provides support to localized branches in countries and territories throughout the world, including groups that conduct terrorism internationally,” the proclamation reads.
The group has several branches, including HASM and Liwa al-Thawra, which the State Department has labeled Global Terrorist Entities. According to the proclamation, governments of countries including Austria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have limited or outright banned the group’s activities.
Hamas, which launched violent attacks against Israel on October 7 – killing more than 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals, including Americans – was founded as the Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
CAIR was founded as a “front group” for Hamas and its network in the United States, the FBI alleged. Now, it has become the largest and perhaps most influential Islamic advocacy group in America.
Hamas leaders established CAIR as a “new organization with no evident ties to Hamas and operating in ways that would have made it appear as moderate in the eyes of Americans,” according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Researchers explained a larger dynamic at play: “the ability of the US-based Hamas network to regenerate itself and continue its activities under new guises.”
CAIR was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in one of the largest terrorism prosecutions in history – against the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation, charged in 2004 with being a front group for Hamas.
During the trial, internal documents showed CAIR was a subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood and offered “ample evidence” to establish ties to Hamas, according to the proclamation.
After the trial, the FBI suspended contracts with CAIR. Former President Joe Biden’s administration also distanced itself from the group in 2023, following CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad’s comments that he was “happy to see people breaking the siege” during the October 7 terror attacks.
Awad also reportedly boasted American Muslims are “ready to move to the next phase,” and are building “an army” of 50,000 to infiltrate politics and advance Sharia law, according to the proclamation. The year of CAIR’s founding – 1994 – Awad reportedly said, “I am in support of the Hamas movement.”
The cabinet of the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR a terror group in 2014, as The Dallas Express reported.
In his proclamation, Abbott cited some of CAIR’s other past ties to radical Islam, including the following:
- Founding Board Member of CAIR-Texas Ghassan Elashi, a treasurer for the Holy Land Foundation. He was sentenced to 65 years in prison for terrorism.
- CAIR Communications Specialist and Civil Rights Coordinator Randall Todd Royer was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2004 for conspiring to aid Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
- CAIR Community Relations Director Bassem Khafagi pleaded guilty to federal bank and visa fraud in 2004 after spreading propaganda for suicide attacks and funneling money to support terrorism.
- CAIR Fundraiser Rabih Haddad, arrested and deported for working as executive director of the Global Relief Foundation, which supported Al Qaeda.
- CAIR-Michigan Director Muthanna al-Hanooti was convicted in 2011 for accepting 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil for helping Saddam Hussein’s government.
- Sami Al-Arian, a convicted financier of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. CAIR publicly honored him with the “Promoting Justice Award” in 2014 and featured him in a 2020 lecture.
Islamic Influence In Texas
Radical Islam has been expanding across the Dallas area for years, even after the trial of the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation for supporting Hamas.
Two Islamic terrorists, who pledged allegiance to ISIS, attacked the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland in 2015 for hosting a Muhammad drawing contest. They opened fire at a police checkpoint outside the event, when a police officer stopped them in their tracks – shooting and killing them.
The East Plano Islamic Center hosted events with CAIR-Texas in 2021 to support Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman charged with shooting at American soldiers.
In August 2024, Awad also spoke to EPIC mosque congregants, laying out a wide-ranging plan to reshape American politics in the model of Islam.
Awad reportedly said an “army” of 50,000 journalists, lawyers, and academics could create 40-50 Muslim members of Congress within a decade. He also said CAIR has been working to eliminate and change textbooks in public schools that portray Islam and Muhammad negatively.
Recently, EPIC has also been planning a massive Islamic city near Josephine, called EPIC City – renamed this month to “The Meadow” amid public scrutiny, as The Dallas Express reported. In October, Paxton filed a lawsuit against the project’s developers.
CAIR claimed “hate” and “bias” were to blame for opposition to EPIC City. Abbott signed a law earlier this year against Sharia law in housing developments.