The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) styles itself as America's largest Muslim civil rights advocacy group. Its executive director, Nihad Awad, recently took advantage of a reporter's inflammatory article on a likely miscommunication with a presidential candidate to tweet to his English audience, "Exactly what #ISIS wants: #DonaldTrump's recent call to force American Muslims to carry special ID."
Moments later, Awad more directly reflected CAIR's real status as a front for the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood when in Arabic he expanded upon those comments to compare the U.S. to Nazi Germany. The IPT translated the comments:
"It actually happened. The Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is calling for forcing American Muslims to carry ID's classifying them on the basis of their religion. Exactly like Hitler did."
A Saudi tweeter noted that "The Arabic is completely different in meaning and has a big racist and religious sense."
Readers can determine for themselves whether members of the media distorted Trump's response to the reporter's questioning, as the Investigative Project on Terrorism takes no position because it is unclear.
The debate will sort itself out, but Trump's comments are not the real issue. CAIR is not some benign petitioner for the grievances of Muslims.
Its Florida chapter is holding three annual conferences just this month for the year 2015. The first, held in Orlando, featured a Hamas-linked, Chicago-based imam, Kifah Mustapha. The second, held in Tampa, featured a racist comedian, a U.S.-named co-conspirator for a terror trial and an Islamist who has threatened the wrath of God on world leaders, Frontpage Magazine reports.
CAIR, which was involved in the largest terrorism financing prosecution in U.S history as an unindicted co-conspirator, bills itself as a humble advocacy organization when it seeks support among an English audience.
Then, at times within minutes of posting comments designed to elicit sympathy, it illuminates its ingrained radical tendencies by casting the ugliest of aspersions on Western politicians to antagonize its Arabic constituency.
It never takes much for CAIR to reveal its original and true mission.
Pete Hoekstra represented Michigan for 18 years in Congress, including as chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. He currently serves as the Shillman senior fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism, and is the author of "Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya."