CAIR's
Terror Ties an Issue in San Diego School Lawsuit
by John Rossomando • Jan 2, 2018
at 4:21 pm
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Terror ties and "hostility toward Israel" are directly
relevant to a civil suit challenging the Council on American-Islamic
Relations' (CAIR) work with San Diego public schools, plaintiff's attorneys
argued in court papers filed Friday.
CAIR helped the San Diego Unified School District develop an
anti-bullying program. But five local families and two community groups sued last spring, claiming the program elevated Muslim
students above others. The school board agreed to stop working with CAIR in July, acknowledging that CAIR
is a religious group and the partnership may cross the line on church-state
separation.
The ligation continues, however, and the school board asked the court last month to strike references to
CAIR's anti-Israel positions and its connections to Hamas from the case,
saying they were irrelevant.
The Anti-Defamation League, which took over the anti-bullying program
after the board broke with CAIR last summer, has cited CAIR's "long
record of anti-Israel activity," a response filed Friday by the
Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) said. CAIR and its founders were part of a
Hamas-support network in the U.S. during the 1990s, records seized by the
FBI show.
The school district knew about CAIR's history before it was sued and had
opportunities to disavow the organization, the FCDF response said.
"Contrary to what Defendants would have this Court believe, there
is ample evidence demonstrating CAIR's harmful influence within the
District, including its manipulation of instructional materials to advance
their sectarian agenda," the FCDF wrote.
None of the cases the school district cited to justify removing the
references to Israel or extremists "addresses a situation like this
one, where a religious organization with an internationally reprehensible
reputation functions as the ministerial arm of a government
institution," the FCDF said.
Proselytizing is part of CAIR's religious mission, and it has chosen to
use public schools as a forum for spreading its religious message under the
cover of an anti-bullying program, the FCDF argued.
"Indeed, Nihad Awad, CAIR's National Executive Director, testified
that 'informing the American public about the Islamic faith is a religious
obligation and educational exercise,'" the FCDF said.
Related Topics: Civil
suits, Education
| John Rossomando,
CAIR,
San
Diego Unified School District, Freedom
of Conscience Defense Fund, anti-bullying
curriculum, proselytizing,
Nihad
Awad, Hamas,
Civil
suits, Education
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