In December, Gov. Ron DeSantis designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood 鈥渢errorist organizations.鈥�
His called upon the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to 鈥渦ndertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities鈥� by those groups, and requires all executive agencies to prevent 鈥渁ny person known to have provided material support or resources to such organization鈥� from receiving 鈥渁ny contract, employment, funds or other benefit or privilege鈥� from 鈥渁ny state executive agency, any state entity regulated by such agency, or any county or municipality in the state.鈥�
CAIR Florida immediately went to federal court and persuaded U.S. District Judge Mark Walker to issue a temporary injunction blocking the designation, citing First Amendment concerns.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier responded on April 20 by filing a 55-page plea in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, arguing the executive order doesn鈥檛 target protected speech or activity but 鈥渟imply designates terrorist organizations in an effort to keep state resources from those designated entities and their material supporters.鈥�
(In a separate filing, the AG鈥檚 office is trying to get Walker tossed from the case, alleging he made 鈥渟everal derogatory statements directed at Florida officials鈥� that demonstrate bias against DeSantis and Uthmeier.)
DeSantis鈥� move came weeks after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott similarly the two groups as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations. Meanwhile, filed legislation in Congress a year ago designating CAIR a foreign terrorist organization. The measure has picked up just seven co-sponsors and has never received a committee hearing (Fine sponsored a similar bill in the Florida House during the 2024 session; but never acquired a Senate companion).
That followed by Arkansas Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and then-Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik requesting that U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent investigate potential ties between CAIR and Hamas, already a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
CAIR, founded in 1994, has labeled itself the most prominent civil rights organization for the Muslim community in the United States. Its national headquarters is in Washington, D.C., and it has more than 25 chapters around the country, including in Tampa and Sunrise, in Broward County.
So why, during the past year, has the organization has become such a target for some conservatives?
CAIR鈥檚 critics would say it鈥檚 not an overnight epiphany.
They look back to the aughts, when CAIR was listed as an 鈥渦nindicted co-conspirator鈥� in the U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation (HLF) for Relief & Development case in 2007. That listing lost the organization credibility and support in certain circles. Nearly two decades later, it remains the top talking point when critics such as DeSantis and Abbott attack CAIR.
The Holy Land Foundation case
The foundation at the time was considered the largest Muslim charity in the country. In a unveiled on July 27, 2004, a federal grand jury in Dallas accused it and seven of its senior leaders of providing and conspiring to provide material support to Hamas, the Islamic militant group that operates in Gaza and was designated by the U.S. government in 1997.
A May 29, 2007, listed 246 individuals and entities as unindicted co-conspirators in the case, including CAIR. They were accused of acting as part of a network designed to aid Hamas, although they were not criminally charged or indicted. CAIR was cited for alleged involvement with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood鈥檚 (a designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997) or its offshoots.
CAIR responded by filing a brief with the U.S. District Court for the Northern Division of Texas , arguing the filing continued the 鈥渄emonization of all things Muslim鈥� that began after Sept. 11, 2001.
Both the federal trial court in Dallas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the release of the names of those 246 groups and individuals under the Fifth Amendment.
However, U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government had presented 鈥渁mple evidence to establish the association鈥� of CAIR as well as the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust with Hamas, by as by Politico鈥檚 Josh Gerstein.
Shirin Sinnar, a law professor at Stanford University, says that move was extremely prejudicial to all the organizations named in that document.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a number of Muslim organizations and people named, and the decision to do that when you don鈥檛 have evidence actually to accuse them of a crime, but to surface their names in that fashion and expose them to public vilification, is a problem,鈥� she told the Phoenix.
READ MORE: CAIR Florida comes to the Capitol, despite 鈥榯errorist鈥� designation
鈥淚 think that was a deeply problematic decision and it did have consequences, unfortunately, for those whose names were raked through the mud at that time.鈥�
CAIR officials emphasize a fact: Neither they or their organization has ever been charged with any crime. 鈥淣ot once,鈥� the group says on on its website set aside to address 鈥渃onspiracy theories about CAIR.鈥�
鈥淭he HLF case in Texas is probably one of the classic examples of a mockery in the courts,鈥� CAIR Florida executive editor Hiba Rahim told a Phoenix reporter during a news conference in Tampa on April 7.
鈥淭here were over 200 organizations that were listed at that time as unindicted co-conspirators. The court struck that down. And since then, CAIR has never been accused of anything. And I鈥檇 like to draw everyone鈥檚 attention to this word 鈥榰nindicted,鈥� which has a very heavy meaning. If there was anything to be charged with, we would be indicted, which we have not been, because there is nothing there.鈥�
As Rahim noted, the first prosecution against the HLF defendants ended in a mistrial. In a second trial in 2008, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its leaders were found guilty of providing material support to Hamas. One of them, , a co-founder and former chairman of HLF who was reported to have been a founding board member of CAIR鈥檚 Texas chapter, was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
The reverberations for CAIR were palpable.
The FBI says evidence introduced in that trial 鈥渄emonstrated a relationship between CAIR, individual CAIR founders (including its sitting president emeritus and executive director) and the Palestine Committee,鈥� wrote Richard C. Powers, assistant director in the Office of Congressional Affairs in the FBI, in a letter to then-Arizona U.S. Sen. Jon Kyle in June 2009.
鈥淭he FBI鈥檚 decision to suspend formal contacts was not intended to reflect a wholesale judgement of the organization and its entire membership,鈥� Powers 鈥淣evertheless, until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.鈥�
In June 2009, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said she would no longer designate a day in November of that year to honor CAIR, citing communications from at least two interest groups about the group鈥檚 alleged ties to terrorism, as reported in the
In 2011, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller said the bureau had no 鈥渇ormal relationship鈥� with CAIR, but that the organization鈥檚 officials and chapters regularly worked with FBI officials on investigations and related matters, The New York Times .
(It鈥檚 not unprecedented for the FBI to cut ties to groups it has previously worked with. The agency announced in October that it was cutting ties with both and the Southern Poverty Law Center).
Elad Ben David is a researcher in the Institute for National Security Studies-Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and an expert on contemporary Islam in the United States and other western societies. Ben David, who holds a doctorate in Middle Eastern studies, says that, for CAIR鈥檚 critics, the designation in the HLF case has become a recurring reference point 鈥� often invoked without much legal context 鈥� serving more as a 鈥渟ymbolic marker than as definitive proof of wrongdoing.鈥�
鈥淥ver time, this has created a kind of reputational stickiness,鈥� he wrote in an email to the Phoenix. 鈥淥nce an organization is publicly linked to a major terrorism-related case, that connection can endure well beyond the legal process itself. It tends to resurface in public debates, policy discussions and even official rhetoric, reinforcing a particular narrative regardless of the lack of prosecution.鈥�
The Hamas surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis, gave the issue fresh urgency. That was followed by the furious military response by the Israeli Defense Forces, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to an Israeli military spokesperson, the Times of Israel in January. That鈥檚 roughly the figure given by the Gaza Health Ministry.
Protests against Israel鈥檚 response took place on Florida university campuses in the fall of 2023, led by the group Students for Justice in Palestine. In response, Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System, issued an banning the group from participating in protests at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida. CAIR Florida challenging that order, although ultimately the case was dismissed.
A year later, DeSantis opined that pro-Palestinian student protesters from their universities, and that those who were international students should have their visas canceled.
鈥淐AIR鈥檚 conduct following the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, merit [sic] renewed scrutiny,鈥� Cotton and Stefanik wrote in to Secretary Bessent in October. As did CAIR鈥檚 efforts 鈥渟upporting anti-Israel campus protests,鈥� which, the two Republicans said, 鈥渉ave led to incidents of antisemitic harassment and violence.鈥�
Ben David believes the convergence of those factors helps explain the escalation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 less about a single organization in isolation and more about a broader political and cultural moment in which issues related to Islam, Israel and activism have been become especially salient,鈥� he said.
No Florida lawmaker has been more critical of CAIR than Fine, whose that, 鈥渋f they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,鈥� prompted CAIR to demand he , calling him a 鈥渁 modern Klansman and Nazi all wrapped into one, only his targets are Muslims and Palestinians.鈥�
鈥淐AIR was formed for the sole purpose of supporting Muslim terror,鈥� Fine, who is Jewish, told the Phoenix in a text message.
鈥淭hese disgusting people said what happened on Oct. 7 made them happy. Muslim terror has no place in the state of Florida 鈥� or America 鈥� and I am glad to see the state continuing the efforts I began with HR 1209 in 2024, where the Florida House officially designated CAIR Muslim terrorists. I am continuing that fight at the federal level.鈥�
Shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, Nihad Awad, CAIR鈥檚 national executive director, said he was 鈥渉appy to see people breaking that siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land, that they were not allowed to walk in,鈥� in a posted on X by the Middle East Research Institute.
鈥淎nd yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense.鈥�
Those comments triggered a firestorm of criticism.
Awad released two weeks later claiming 鈥渁n anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian hate website selected remarks from my speech out of context and spliced them together to create a completely false meaning,鈥� referring to the Middle East Research Institute.
Targeting civilians 鈥渋s never an acceptable means of doing so, which is why I have again and again condemned the violence against Israeli citizens on Oct. 7 and past Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, including suicide bombings, all the way back to 1990s 鈥� just as I have condemned the decades of violence against Palestinian civilians.鈥�
Nevertheless, the remarks sparked sharp objections, this time from Democrats.
quoted a spokesperson for then-President Joe Biden as condemning 鈥渢hese shocking, antisemitic comments in the strongest terms.鈥� Arizona Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego 鈥渄espicable and downright antisemitic.鈥�
Ben David argues it was a 鈥渕istake鈥� for CAIR not to be clear in condemning the Oct. 7 attack, but one that reflected strategic tension CAIR faces 鈥渂etween the expectations and prevailing sentiment of a Muslim base that is hostile toward Israel, and the need to maintain public political legitimacy 鈥� against the backdrop of intensified anti-Israel discourse following Oct. 7.鈥�
Last month, three groups 鈥� the Middle East Forum, the National Jewish Advocacy Center, and the Network Contagion Research Institute 鈥� filed an amicus brief in support of DeSantis鈥� executive order against CAIR.
鈥淐AIR is not the benevolent civil rights organization that it purports to be or that the district court believed it to be,鈥� the brief argues, contending Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood created CAIR to 鈥渃arry out their mission within鈥� the United States.
Their brief repeats another argument critics of CAIR have alleged over the years: that it was conceived 鈥渘ot as an independent 鈥榗ivil rights鈥� organization鈥� but instead 鈥渁s an instrument to support Hamas鈥� political, financial and ideological campaign in the U.S. while avoiding detection.鈥�
The Phoenix reached out to all three groups behind that brief, as well as the law firm that filed it. A representative of the National Jewish Advocacy Center initially agreed to speak but ultimately declined to do so.
When asked to respond, a CAIR spokesperson referred the Phoenix to a section of the organization鈥檚 website that addresses 鈥渦rban legends.鈥� The page a letter by then-Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014 to Awad in which he wrote, 鈥淟et me reiterate, first, that the U.S. government clearly does not consider CAIR to be a terrorist organization.鈥�
CAIR also cites a newsletter written by Awad in 2000 in which he states that the organization was formed to address 鈥渟tereotyping and defamation鈥� of Muslims in the United States.
Members of the Jewish and Christian communities have appeared with CAIR Florida at press conferences in Tampa and Tallahassee in support of the group.
鈥淭he most important thing is solidarity. CAIR has always stood with us in the community,鈥� said Samuel Ronen of the Progressive Jewish Coalition of Tampa Bay.
鈥淐AIR on paper and in practice is really no different than an organization like the ACLU, which, while the right might target every now and then, certainly not with the same bile, not the same fear mongering that they鈥檙e bringing to CAIR, right?鈥� Rosen said.
鈥淎nd the only real difference there that I can tell, at least based on the work that I have seen inside the ACLU and the work that I鈥檝e seen being an ally of CAIR, is that these are Muslims. That鈥檚 truly the only difference that I can think.鈥�
Andy Oliver, pastor of Allendale Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, said in a text message to a reporter that his faith compels him to 鈥渟tand with my Muslim neighbors when they are targeted by the state.鈥�
鈥淚f I follow Jesus, I cannot stay silent while another community is scapegoated. Today, it鈥檚 Muslims being called terrorists. Tomorrow it will be churches, nonprofits and anyone else who refuses to bend to DeSantis鈥� narrow view of who belongs in Florida.鈥�
Some conservatives have advanced that same argument, at least regarding legislation DeSantis signed into law last month allowing a handful of state government officials the power to designate domestic terrorist organizations in Florida. The bill (), sponsored by Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Dania Beach, also bans state funds for schools affiliated with designated foreign or domestic terrorist groups.
鈥淚 think that when you give that much authority to an elected, or, in the case of this bill, sometimes non-elected officials, I think that鈥檚 very dangerous,鈥� former Florida Panhandle state House Republican Joel Rudman told a Phoenix reporter on radio in Tampa in March.
鈥淣ow, my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, I鈥檓 sure they鈥檙e looking at this bill, saying, 鈥楾hese statutes. They can鈥檛 be warped. They can鈥檛 be abused. We have no intention of abusing them.鈥� But you have to understand that every bill you pass into law, there鈥檚 going to have some unintended consequences, and you have to be prepared for how those statutes are going to be interpreted when you鈥檙e not the majority party. 鈥� I think any constitutional conservatives Republicans should have a problem with that bill.鈥�
A focus on Sharia law
That bill also bans Sharia law in Florida.
Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the libertarian CATO Institute鈥檚 Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. He wrote in in October that, as a Muslim who has long admired America鈥檚 freedoms, he agrees Sharia should 鈥渘ever be the law of the land, not only in America but anywhere else, including the Muslim world.鈥�
Aykol writes that in places like Iran, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia, Sharia is a 鈥渉uge concern鈥� but says that it鈥檚 not really 鈥渓aw鈥� in the Western sense.
鈥淚t is rather about how Muslims pray, dress, eat, or fast,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t also includes rules of marriage, divorce and raising children, as well as business contracts and loans. None of these mandates violate human rights, as long as they are observed voluntarily, and they don鈥檛 have to define the laws of any state.鈥�
He goes on to note that while the Muslim-majority world itself is considerably secular, fearing Sharia law in the United States 鈥� where the Muslim minority makes up 1% of the population 鈥渋s highly far-fetched.鈥�
Some GOP candidates have put their opposition to Islam and the threat of Sharia law at the in the past year.
In late March, Republican former Florida House speaker and gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner during which he claimed 鈥渢he long-term compatibility of Islam in this country does not exist.鈥� If elected governor, he said, he would propose a federal ban on Muslim immigration to the United States.
Other Republicans around the country have made startingly brash comments about Islam.
鈥淢uslims don鈥檛 belong in American society,鈥� Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles has .
Akyol worries the elevated anti-Muslim rhetoric will leave Muslims unsafe.
鈥淭his will also harm America鈥檚 story of being a free country where everybody can worship freely and everybody can live in peace and equality regardless of their religion,鈥� he told the Phoenix in a phone conversation.
鈥淎nd these politicians that are worried about Islamists 鈥� they see Islam as a major problem. They have a point 鈥� Islamism is a major problem in some parts of the world but, if American Muslims are unsafe, if American Muslims are demonized, I think the biggest winners will be the Islamists, because their narrative to other Muslims is that 鈥榝reedom is a lie. Democracy is a lie. The western countries are always hypocritical and hateful of Muslims. Never trust in them. They will always come after you.鈥�
鈥淎nd, actually, if Muslims are demonized simply because for what they are or what they believe in or how do they live, then that will be a vindication of the Islamists鈥� narrative, which will use this very effectively.鈥�
Meanwhile, litigation continues in CAIR鈥檚 lawsuit. The DeSantis administration hopes the Eleventh Circuit overturns Judge Walker鈥檚 injunction halting the governor鈥檚 executive order.
The underlying lawsuit challenging the designation remains in Walker鈥檚 court in Tallahassee. For now, anyhow.
DeSantis and Uthmeier want the Eleventh Circuit to remove Walker from the case, claiming that his order blocking the designation of CAIR as a terrorist organization 鈥渄emonstrates his inability to put aside his contentious history with the governor and fairly decide the case.鈥�
As examples, the governor鈥檚 attorneys cite Walker鈥檚 written comment in his order granting CAIR Florida鈥檚 motion for a preliminary injuncton that, 鈥淭he First Amendment bars the governor from continuing the troubling trend of using an executive office to make a political statement at the expense of others鈥� constitutional rights.鈥�
Another sentence they say that demonstrates his bias is this: 鈥淥nce again, Florida chooses political posturing over the First Amendment.鈥� In all, they cite six statements from Walker that they claim show his alleged bias.
is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
