The AP laps up everything that CAIR gives them, even when CAIR lies about caring about anti-Semitism.
Added to the lead of the AP news article on the Holocaust Museum shooting are these words:
The assailant was hospitalized in critical condition, leaving behind a sprawling investigation by federal and local law enforcement and expressions of shock from the Israeli government and a prominent Muslim organization.
A quick trip to CAIR’s website finds this:
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/10/09) – A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today condemned a shooting incident at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., during which a security guard and the alleged gunman were reportedly wounded.
The AP takes the quote word for word out of CAIR’s press release, and puts it right after the quote from the Israeli government. Please note the placement, because it is done deliberately to evoke a narrative: Muslims condemn this anti-Semitic attack. And note that in the full quote, CAIR can’t simply condemn anti-Semitism. They don’t stand simply with the Jewish community over this attack on Jews. They make it about themselves.
In a statement from Israel’s government, Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein said the shooting was “further proof that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial have not passed from the world.”
And the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent American Muslim organization, said in a statement, “We condemn this apparent bias-motivated attack and stand with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repudiating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such disturbing incidents.”
Funny, but you don’t see CAIR condemning Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust conferences, or regular calls to destroy Israel. You do find CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, however. That trial ended in conviction, as well as extremely long sentences for the defendants.
As for the reason CAIR’s condemnations are never exactly quite right, well, take a look at the video at this link. CAIR was founded by Muslims with links to terrorist organizations.
And last, the AP still hasn’t bothered to fact-check the “prominence” of CAIR:
According to tax documents obtained by The Times, the number of reported members spiraled down from more than 29,000 in 2000 to less than 1,700 in 2006, a loss of membership that caused the Muslim rights group’s annual income from dues to drop from $732,765 in 2000, when yearly dues cost $25, to $58,750 last year, when the group charged $35.
The organization instead is relying on about two dozen individual donors a year to contribute the majority of the money for CAIR’s budget, which reached nearly $3 million last year.
CAIR, of course, will not divulge the names of their donors. Gee. I wonder why.