The conviction of a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) state operative is but the latest apparent link between that Islamist organization and Islamist terrorism. On April 13, 2005, Ghassan Elashi, founder of the group's Texas chapter (CAIR-Texas) – as well as longtime associate of CAIR's top leadership and beneficiary of CAIR fundraising and support – was convicted of laundering money for Islamic terrorist organizations from November 1995 through April 2001.
Dating back to the early 1990s, Elashi had close ties to CAIR's leaders Bassam Khafagi, Imam Siraj Wahaj, and Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer, former civil rights coordinator and communications specialist for the "Muslim civil rights group."
Elashi founded CAIR’s Texas chapter sometime before October 2000. (CAIR-Texas first appeared as an affiliate on the CAIR national website at that time.) Therefore, it is evident Elashi was a high-ranking CAIR official at the time he committed the pro-terrorist crimes for which he was convicted.
Elashi's conviction is bad news for CAIR. Its ties with Elashi are too deep and the evidence of CAIR's complicity too obvious for CAIR to spin. For example, just after the Islamic terrorist attacks of 9/11, the CAIR website contained a section entitled, "What you can do for the victims of the WTC and Pentagon attacks," which solicited contributions to the "NY/DC Emergency Relief Fund." The only problem was, this so-called "Relief Fund" never existed. The link provided by CAIR led the would-be contributor directly to the Holy Land Foundation website. The Holy Land Foundation, a government-designated terrorist front group, was also shut down by the U.S. government for funding terrorism overseas. The trial of its leadership is scheduled to begin next year.
And just who was the head of the Holy Land Foundation? Elashi.
A coincidence? Not likely. However, that will not mean CAIR will immediately admit the connection |