The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released a memorandum exposing the long history of racism and bigotry expressed by witnesses scheduled to speak at a congressional hearing today about the “Sharia hoax” resurrected by anti-Muslim extremists over the past year. CAIR previously shared the memorandum with key members of the House Judiciary Committee.
SEE: CAIR Letter to House Subcommittee Rebutting Sharia Hoax
SEE: Read CAIR’s Congressional Briefing Memo on Anit-Muslim Witnesses
SEE: CAIR’s Educational Fact Sheet on “Sharia in American Life”
On Feb. 10, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government is scheduled to hold a hearing titled “Sharia-Free America: Why Political Islam & Sharia Law Are Incompatible with the U.S. Constitution,” to fan the flames of hate against American Muslims using conspiracy theories about Islam taking over America.
In a letter sent to members of the House subcommittee, CAIR detailed the history of anti-Muslim hate and racism among several of the witness called by the Republican-controlled committee.
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw said:
“All Americans have the constitutional right to practice their own faith or no faith at all. That’s why today’s anti-Muslim congressional hearing is an attack on both the American Muslim community and the First Amendment itself.
“Fascist politicians like Randy Fine have made it clear that they would happily expel or exterminate every ‘mainstream Muslim’ in the United States if they could get away with it. The hate such politicians spew about Muslims today is no different than what was once said about Catholics and other minorities in our nation. Calls for the ‘destruction’ of all mainstream Muslims also mirror the dangerous rhetoric that the Nazi Party weaponized against German Jews and other minorities in the years leading up to the Holocaust.
“Republican and Democratic leaders should unequivocally repudiate the cynical campaign of anti-Muslim hate exemplified by this hearing and make clear that religious freedom applies to all Americans, including American Muslims.”
Witnesses at the hearing include Stephen Gelé, who, according to the New York Times, represented a nonprofit organization that promoted legislation by notorious anti-Muslim bigot David Yerushalmi that would have made “adherence to Islam” a “felony punishable by 20 years in prison.” Gelé was also reportedly involved in a previous effort to promote anti-Islam laws in states nationwide.
Another witness, Robert Spencer, was once a key leader in the anti-Islam hate movement in the United States. In 2013, Spencer was banned from entering the United Kingdom because his views “foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence.” His recommended reading list has included racist books such as Jean Raspail’s 1973 “Camp of the Saints,” which depicts France being overrun by non-white immigrants from India.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) labeled Spencer an “anti-Muslim extremist.” The SPLC labeled Spencer as part of the “Anti-Muslim Inner Circle,” a core group of 10 individuals responsible for the “surge in popular anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.”
Another hearing witness is Krista Schild of the RAIR Foundation, which the SPLC identified as part of a broader network of anti-Muslim hate groups that promote conspiracy theories and vilify American Muslim communities. CAIR’s Islamophobia project has also documented RAIR Foundation as having been accused of spreading Islamophobic and antisemitic hate and aligning itself with known-white supremacist groups and individuals since at least 2013.
2019: The network behind state bills ‘countering’ Sharia law and terrorism
Anti-Muslim bigots have recently revived a decades-old manufactured “anti-sharia” hysteria designed to frighten voters into backing Islamophobic candidates and political leaders.
2011: What’s behind nationwide anti-Shariah push?
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com