The following appalling Tweet was sent out today by the executive director of CAIR for the Los Angeles region:

I think a discussion is long overdue in the role the most prominent Muslim American organizations play in legitimizing both US imperialism in the Middle East and Sunni supremacy. If the above tweet occurred in a vacuum, it might be brushed aside as an fringe view by one official. Unfortunately, it fits into a wider pattern.

As the largest and most well-known Muslim American organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), has an inconsistent record (to be charitable) when it comes to condemning US and Israeli intervention in the Muslim world. While it has admirably opposed Obama’s drone assassinations, Israel’s repression of the Palestinians and the US invasion of Iraq, it also has lobbied for no fly zones (i.e. air support for regime change) in both Libya in 2011 and Syria in 2015. It has largely remained silent on the Saudi air campaign targeting Shia regions of Yemen. The only press release by the organization I can find refers to US citizens stuck in Yemen but makes no criticism or condemnation of the Saudi air strikes responsible for most civilian deaths. When put next to its strongly worded condemnations of the Assad government over the Syrian civil war, this strongly suggests a sectarian double standard.

Now, in all fairness, it should be noted that CAIR appears to have had a better record on relations with Shia Muslims before the chaos that has unfolded in Syria in the past five years. It condemned sanctions against Syria in 2002 as well as the IDF’s 2006 rampage against Shia regions of Lebanon.

Yet the above tweet by Hussam Ayloush (who actually applauds the US military in other tweets, it should be noted) cannot be excused under any circumstances. At a bare minimum, CAIR’s national headquarters should repudiate the views expressed in the tweet.

Further Reading From Ikhras.com

Letter From A Reader: U.S. Muslim And CAIR Supporter Rejects Call For “No-Fly Zone” Over Syria

CAIR Hypocrisy On Full Display After Terrorism Hits Beirut And Paris