A Washington-based Muslim nonprofit, which is one of the largest operating across the US, agreed this week to settle a case brought by a former board member and employee rather than open its books to reveal sources of foreign funding, The Post has learned.
Evidence in past court proceedings has shown links between The Council on American-Islamic Relations Foundation Inc. and both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
CAIR Inc. settled with Lori Saroya Thursday, months after US Magistrate Judge David Schultz ruled any assets owned by the group are all within the “scope of permissible discovery” as part of the former Minnesota chapter leader’s lawsuit against the controversial Muslim rights group.
Saroya filed her federal defamation complaint against CAIR last year after the group dropped a lawsuit against her, which accused her of embarking on a “defamation campaign” against the organization.
Call for federal probe
Lawmakers are demanding a federal investigation into the nonprofit, which took in more than $5.3 million in contributions and grants in 2022, the last year for which public filings are available.
“CAIR’s leadership has a long history of spewing vile antisemitism and anti-Zionist rhetoric, including openly praising the Hamas terrorists that brutally attacked Israel, murdering, raping, and kidnapping more than 1,200 people on October. 7 [2023],” said Josh Gottheimer, a Democratic Congressman from New Jersey.
Referring to court proceedings which showed the links, he added: “The allegations that CAIR receives funding from Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, if true, are deeply concerning and require an immediate investigation.”
CAIR, which was founded in 1993, was linked to Hamas in 2008 when US authorities successfully prosecuted five leaders at the Holy Land Foundation For Relief and Development, a now-defunct Texas-based nonprofit, for giving more than $12 million from the US to the terror group.
Once the HLF werewas compromised, a new group with no obvious ties to Hamas had to become the funnel for cash; US Authorities concluded that was CAIR during its prosecution of the earlier group, as cited in a report by The Program on Extremism at George Washington University.
Evidence in the trial against HLF showed that Ghassan Elashi, the treasurer of the charity, became the founding board member of CAIR’s Texas chapter and that HLF transferred funds to CAIR for “consulting services.”
The prosecution also presented evidence that Hamas provided “seed money” for CAIR, according to a congressional hearing.
Undisclosed amount
“The history is very clear,” said Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at GWU.
“CAIR was created by this core group of Hamas leaders in the US in the early 1990s. There are FBI wiretaps of a workshop given by the group’s leaders on how to deal with the media and create a veneer of respectability and use the language of civil rights.”
CAIR is the now the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country, and includes 33 chapters, including two in California.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas strike on Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead, CAIR’s executive director and co-founder Nihad Awad was seen on a video celebrating the attack.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on Oct. 7,” he said at a Chicago conference for the American Muslims for Palestine.
“And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not allowed to walk in.”
“And yes,” he continued, “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.”
The Biden administration broke ranks with the group, which it had tapped along with other nonprofits to create a national antisemitism strategy, following Awad’s comments.
“CAIR is part of a family of organizations, including SJP [Students for Justice in Palestine] that are deeply connected and share the same ideology,” said Lorenzo Vidino, the director of the Program on Extremism at the George Washington University.
“There’s been plenty of Congressional scrutiny of SJP, and now we definitely need a Congressional investigation, especially when you have the director of CAIR saying that Oct. 7 was a good thing.”
Saroya, a former Blaine City councilwoman worked as director of CAIR’s Minnesota branch from 2007 to 2016 then moved on to become National Chapter Development Director and a member of its board.
She resigned two years later, citing a culture of sexual harassment and raising questions about foreign funds the group was receiving, in her lawsuit.
When approached for comment Thursday, CAIR sent links to two of their webpages, titled Dispelling Rumors About CAIR and “CAIR: A Principled and Consistent Force Against Antisemitism,” but didn’t address the lawsuit directly.
An attorney for Saroya, whose settlement amount wasn’t disclosed, declined comment Thursday.
The amount of the settlement to Saroya was not disclosed.
“The parties have reached a monetary settlement to resolve Saroya’s claims against CAIR,” said a statement approved by both sides.
“The amount of CAIR’s payment to Saroya is confidential. In addition, CAIR retracts and has removed from its website its statement regarding Saroya and the 2021 lawsuit, which it regrets.”
