Hamas-Linked CAIR Got Over $7,200,000 in Taxpayer Money

Nihad Awad, the cofounder and longtime executive director of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has plenty of reasons to be happy. He notoriously said that the October 7 jihad massacre of 1,200 Israelis made him “happy,” and now it has been revealed that he has over seven million other reasons for a smile to break out on his taciturn, creepy face: that’s the amount of taxpayer funds his sinister organization has received, despite its links to one of the most evil groups on the planet.

The New York Post reported the appalling news on Friday: “According to the Intelligent Advocacy Network (IAN), a California-based, non-partisan advocacy group, the money was given to the chapter to help re-settle impoverished immigrants in California between 2022 and 2024.”

The “chapter” that the Post mentions is CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter, which appears to have gotten hold of the money in some irregular way: “In what appears to be a sleight of hand, the money – $7,217,968.44 — was sent to CAIR-Greater Los Angeles and not to CAIR-CA, which was the only group eligible to receive it, according to the complaint” that IAN has sent to the Justice Department.

The Post explains that “the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Muslim organization, which is not a registered non-profit and not eligible to handle charitable donations, received the entire pot of money according to the complaint, viewed by The Post.” The complaint stated: “These sub grants from CAIR-CA to CAIR chapters raise serious legal concerns about whether CAIR simply shifted more money to itself.”

The fact that CAIR-Greater Los Angeles got the money instead of CAIR-CA is actually only a small part of the problem. Why is CAIR getting any money to resettle “impoverished immigrants in California” at all? CAIR claims to be “America’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.” It adds, improbably, that it works to “protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”

Do you see anything about resettling impoverished immigrants, or anything about any work with migrants at all, in there? No. So the very fact that CAIR received this money at all ought to spark an investigation into money laundering, especially in light of the fact that the money seems to have gone missing, and apparently wasn’t used for those poor impoverished immigrants at all. It looks as if it went to CAIR itself. The Post noted that “CAIR Los Angeles also appeared to divide the federal grant and ‘sub-granted’ to other groups, including CAIR’s chapters in San Diego and San Francisco.”

Are CAIR’s San Diego and San Francisco chapters made up of impoverished immigrants? What do you think? But there is no accountability: “Those CAIR chapters were not registered with the IRS and once they receive cash, have no public responsibility to declare where it is spent, the complaint charges.” IAN board member Julie Marzouk stated: “There’s no transparency. This is part of a consistent pattern from CAIR — to muddy the waters and limit the public’s ability to track the money.”

IAN has called for an “immediate investigation” into CAIR, and such an investigation can’t come a moment too soon. The Post noted gingerly “evidence in past court proceedings has shown links between The Council on American-Islamic Relations Foundation Inc. and both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.” Indeed: CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case — so named by the Justice Department. CAIR officials have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups.

Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR’s cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements about how Islamic law should be imposed in the U.S. (Ahmad denies this, but the original reporter stands by her story.) 

CAIR has opposed virtually every anti-terror measure that has been proposed or implemented and has been declared a terror organization by the United Arab Emirates. CAIR’s Hussam Ayloush in 2016, shortly after Donald Trump was first elected president, called for the overthrow of the U.S. government. A woman who has served as CAIR’s national outreach manager is an open supporter of Hamas. A former CAIR official was caught on video in February 2025 saying “I demand jihad” and calling for the killing of Jews.

CAIR representatives, however, are masters at manipulation, and they have all too many government and law enforcement officials wrapped around their finger. Here is a job for DOGE if there ever was one.