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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations Tuesday, preventing both groups from obtaining land in the Lone Star state.
Abbott said in a statement that he made the move as “The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’”
“The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable. Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations,” Abbott added. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”
A proclamation signed by Abbott claims that CAIR “is an Islamist organization that, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, was founded as a ‘front group’ for ‘Hamas and its support network’ in the United States.”
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It added that, “CAIR and its members have repeatedly employed, affiliated with, and supported individuals promoting terrorism-related activities,” including Ghassan Elashi, a founding member of the Texas branch for CAIR and Treasurer of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development charity “who was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison for financing terrorism in 2009.”
The proclamation also states that Hamas was “formed in 1987 as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood” and that “activities of the Muslim Brotherhood branches have similarly been limited or prohibited by the governments of Austria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in light of the Muslim Brotherhood engaging in terrorism or attempting to destabilize those countries.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, CAIR described itself as “an independent American civil rights organization that has spent 30 years protecting free speech, advancing religious freedom, and promoting justice for people here and abroad.”
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“We have consistently condemned all forms of unjust violence, including hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism. In fact, we condemn terrorism so often that ISIS once put a target on our national executive director,” the organization said.
“Although we are flattered by Greg Abbott’s obsession with our civil rights organization, his publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation has no basis in fact or law. By defaming a prominent American Muslim institution with debunked conspiracy theories and made-up quotes, Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas,” it added. “The truth is that Mr. Abbott is an Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government.”
CAIR also said, “We have successfully sued Greg Abbott three different times for shredding the First Amendment for the benefit of the Israeli government, and we are ready to do so again if he attempts to turn this publicity stunt into actual policy.”
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The Muslim Brotherhood did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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