Florida House adopts resolution calling for agencies to cease contact with CAIR

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida House unanimously adopted a resolution 98-15 on Thursday urging state executive agencies and law enforcement to suspend contact and outreach with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, filed HR 1209.

According to the resolution, the FBI suspended contact with CAIR due to its relationship with Hamas, a terrorist organization designated by the U.S. Department of State.

CAIR has also been identified as an associate of the Muslim Brotherhood in a prosecution trial involving the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

In addition, the group received money from an organization the U.S. Department of Treasury said has links to a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization, which was accused of funding jihadist organizations, the resolution said.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas initiated a brutal attack of rape, torture, and death on the Jewish state of Israel. The assault resulted in over one thousand casualties, including Israelis and Americans.

Hundreds of Israelis and Americans were also captured and taken hostage.

Since the massacre, Hamas has carried out over 11,500 rocket attacks on the country, falling in line with its goal to destroy the Jewish state. Iran, an ally to Hamas, has issued similar threats.

Rep. Christopher Benjamin, D-Miami Gardens, asked Fine if any vetting of the allegations were done from the resolution, including if they were “fact-checked.”

“Every single one of them has been footnoted in the staff analysis,” Fine said. “Frankly all of them are easily findable on the internet. There’s nothing confidential or secret about any of them. They have been fact-checked by me.”

In November 2023, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, speaking at the American Muslims For Palestine Convention in Chicago, praised the massacre.

“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on October 7,” he said. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”

“And yes, the people of Gaza have a right to self defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes Israel, as an occupying power, does not have a right to self defense,” he said.

“I would note that I’m not the only one who found this statement offensive,” Fine said on the House floor. “I don’t agree with Joe Biden on very much, but he did too.”

Benjamin, alluding to Muslim hatred, opposed the measure.

“I agree with Representative Fine, if the resolution was on that itself, that would have been enough to admonish him,” Benjamin said, referring to Awad.

Although, Benjamin refused to admonish the organization as a whole, giving past examples in which the organization helped Muslims from discrimination, emphasizing CAIR National and CAIR Florida as “not the same things.”

“This organization means something to Muslims. This organization represents hope. This organization represents someone who will stand up when all others fail. Even if you vote down on this bill, it doesn’t make you an antiSemite, just as voting up on it won’t make you Islamaphobic,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin, furthermore, explained Islam having a negative cognition with extremism, including terrorism.

“When it comes to Islam, if you want people to be quiet, just slap the title terrorist on it, and nobody will have anything to say,” Benjamin said. “No one will stand up, no one will speak out, no one will defend.”

Benjamin also referred the words “Islamic terrorist” as the “boogeyman”.

Fine said Benjamin’s statement was “gaslighting.”

“This organization was founded, as we heard in the early ’90s, one year after they got together with another organization, and its in the staff analysis, you can read it and you can look at the citations, where they said Hamas has started, we need a front to advocate for it in America,” Fine said.

Fine also mentioned CAIR Florida inviting a convicted terrorist to the state as a featured speaker.

CAIR associates have been arrested on various terrorism-related charges over the years.

Ghassan Elashi, a Texas CAIR board of director, was sentenced to 65 years in prison in 2009 on various counts for conspiracy to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, among others.

Another, Randall Todd Royer, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to help al Qaeda and the Taliban battle American troops fighting in Afghanistan. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in April 2004.

“It isn’t slander if its true,” Fine said. “A fish rots from the head.”

Fine, insinuating Benjamin’s labels claim, ostracized the organization in his closing statement.

“We damn well ought to slap the title of terrorist on something when they are terrorists,” Fine said.