Florida Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican, introduced a bill to classify the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The legislation, which directs the U.S. State Department to investigate the designation, “takes long-overdue action to confront the terrorist threat posed by CAIR,” which Fine called “a Trojan horse for terrorism operating inside our own borders.”
He cited reports of CAIR blaming Israel for the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and partly as a result, was removed from the White House national strategy on antisemitism under the Biden administration.
CAIR “was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation’s trial regarding their support for Muslim terrorism and their founders’ role in funneling over $12 million to Hamas,” he said, referring to the case that emerged near the end of the 1990s.
He further claimed that the council “still maintains a direct relationship” with the terror group in the Gaza Strip that is still holding about 50 Israeli hostages, some dead and some alive, in the coastal enclave.
“Enough is enough,” said Fine. “For far too long, groups like CAIR have operated in our country and on our college campuses, promoting violent radical ideologies and defending the indefensible. CAIR has no place in American society.”
Fine passed similar legislation in the Florida House of Representatives in 2024 that ordered state agencies and local governments to suspend their relationship with CAIR.
