Why Won’t CAIR Break with Iranian State TV?

While the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is certainly not alone in its celebration of the Obama Administration’s deal with Tehran, their statement on the matter is of particular interest considering the organizations cozy relationship with Iranian propaganda machines like Press TV.

CAIR has for a long time enjoyed prime billing on Press TV, a network owned by the Iranian government. Since the start of the Syrian revolution, CAIR’s leadership has continued to appear on Press TV – not to demonstrate moral courage and hold the Iranian regime accountable – but to slam the United States as “anti-Muslim” and advance many of the regime’s talking points about America’s relationship to Muslims. The Assad regime could not have murdered over 120,000 Syrians, mostly Muslims, without the support of the Iranian regime and its propaganda machine with which CAIR is apparently pleased to affiliate. How can an organization claiming to care about the well-being and civil rights of Muslims stomach Iranian state TV, much less parrot its propaganda countless times?

CAIR’s choice to celebrate the deal with Iran with a mere footnote added about the Iranian regime’s ongoing massacre of civilians is revealing: why doesn’t CAIR take its obviously cozy relationship with Iranian state TV as an opportunity to regularly and vehemently advocate for the lives of those Muslims who die at the hands of the Iranian regime? While the plight of the Iranian people themselves is of great concern, many Muslims are concerned about the impact of sanctions relief on Syrians. Will some 8 billion dollars simply stock the Iranian regime’s shipments to the Assad regime and its supporters – including Hezbollah?

Perhaps this is just another example of CAIR’s hypocrisy – while claiming to advocate for the civil rights of Muslims and “make democracy work for everyone”, Nihad Awad still won’t explain why he is on record saying he would support Hamas, and the organization cozies up to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a body responsible for advocating extraordinary infringements on civil liberties and freedoms through blasphemy laws and other dangerous means.