US Muslim rights group slams 'morally bankrupt' attacks by lawmakers

HAMILTON, Canada

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Monday condemned recent accusations by US lawmakers Randy Fine and Elise Stefanik, calling their anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian rhetoric "morally bankrupt."

"It's morally bankrupt, but in this country, they are free to peddle politically motivated smears," Robert S. McCaw, director of CAIR's Government Affairs Department, told Anadolu a written statement.

Responding to social media posts by Fine and Stefanik targeting CAIR and recommending that it be labeled a "federally-designated terror organization," McCaw said the attacks are rooted in political disagreement over advocacy for Palestinian rights.

"Randy Fine is a well-documented anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian keyboard bigot who routinely celebrates on social media Israel’s repeated attacks on civilians, including American citizens. If Fine had even a shred of actual evidence to support his baseless claims, he would have presented it already. He has not, because he cannot," he stressed.

Defending CAIR's work, he said that "Fine and Elise Stefanik are free to stand on the wrong side of history by opposing our work defending the First Amendment rights of Americans who speak out against genocide."

He said American Muslim and Palestinian groups have faced similar accusations for decades but continue to operate legally and openly.

"Their anti-Muslim accusations have grown stale over the decades and have consistently failed to criminalize peaceful civil rights advocacy," he noted.

"Why do these smears always fail? Because they have no legal merit and are rooted in political disagreement, not evidence of wrongdoing.

"Being offended that someone opposes Israel’s illegal occupation and genocide of Palestinians doesn’t make them a terrorist. It just makes you a bad person!" he added.

Warning that the lawmakers' campaign risks wasting public funds, he said: "At worst, Fine and Stefanik will waste millions in American taxpayer dollars on McCarthyist congressional investigations targeting lawful advocacy for Palestinian human rights."

"At best, they will remind the nation of a basic truth: the American Muslim and Palestinian organizations they are trying to silence will outlast their political careers, just as they have outlasted many bigoted politicians before them."

McCaw's response came after Fine made a post on X arguing that "it is time for all 'Palestinian' organizations to be federally-designated terror organizations, including CAIR and 'Students for Justice in Palestine.'"

Stefanik echoed Fine, saying CAIR is "a terrorist organization and should be designated as such by the U.S. government."