(This was originally published on May 13, 2021, during another Israeli war on Gaza.)
I write as violence and tragedy explode yet again between the Palestinians and the Israelis. And it occurred to me the other day that the problems there and the problems at CAIR are similar: there is a pronounced power gap between the parties in each dispute/conflict, and as a result the more powerful is in no hurry to address the grievances of the less powerful.
Indeed, the problem is structural. Power corrupts. Period. (Except in the hands of the Greatest.)
The leader of Israel, with too much military might at his disposal, seems to know no other way but to keep oppressing the Palestinians and taking more of their land.
The CAIR leadership has settled into a style of running the organization in which it is able to champion the cause of justice anywhere but inside CAIR itself. When push comes to shove, it simply imposes its will. It ignores sexual harassment at its affiliates and perpetrates some of its own. Rather than deal honestly with allegations of foul play, it tries to bury the truth by bribing women into signing away their free speech.
The solution in the case of the Palestinians and the Israelis is to cut military and economic aid to Israel, and thereby reduce the power gap. The solution in the case of CAIR is for the leadership to accept the unionization of its employees and a new investigation of allegations of impropriety and mismanagement, conducted by investigators that those who have made the allegations can trust. All non-disclosure agreements should be lifted. This will greatly reduce the power disparity at CAIR.
In response to Leila Fadel’s article published by NPR on April 15, [2021], which was mild, the next day CAIR issued a statement that demonstrates it is in no hurry to deal honestly with the allegations, or that it worries much about the truth. In that statement CAIR claims it supports the right of employees to organize. That is half true. It would be entirely true if it added five words: “except inside its own walls,” as my previous essays should demonstrate.
As used to be a common manner of speech, with that CAIR document and three bucks and some change you can get a coffee at Starbucks.
All the conditions that the leadership of CAIR claims either exist or it aspires to would be greatly advanced if it simply accepted the unionization of its employees. That would help with the standardization of pay, rules for workplace conduct, and a grievance procedure with a neutral arbitrator.
Now, many of you might think my style is unconventional, even unbecoming of a Muslim. Muslims don’t “call people out” like this. Maybe so. I might have a bit of lingering regret that I did not pursue this matter when I first caught wind of it over a year ago. Many of you were alerted as well.
Here I find another analogy with the tragedy in Palestine. CAIR has abundant resources, courtesy of its donors, to fight and delay justice. Meanwhile, the women who are outgunned might resort to unconventional means in their pursuit of justice. The powerful will say that the discontents are not playing by the rules, choosing to ignore the procedures already in place to address their concerns [which Nihad Awad ignores or subverts at will].
Then I come along and I seem to have little regard for any rules. Well, when I hear that some of those discontents were “broken” by CAIR, that at least one victim of a CAIR chapter leader contemplated suicide daily for a period of time, that some have left the Muslim community, or Islam altogether, methinks something must be rotten at CAIR.
My curiosity has led me to one uncomfortable truth about CAIR after another, which will all come out in time. And then yesterday morning I found this text on my phone from a former employee of CAIR:
Through my own experience but more importantly after having spoken to some of the victims of CAIR I am shocked at this organization’s level of injustice, dishonesty and hypocrisy. I genuinely believe this is one of the most abusive Muslim organizations because it’s using its legal prowess funded by zakat money to violate and victimize mainly Muslim women. It’s just such an outrage and is so un-Islamic.
My advice to the leaders of CAIR is the same that my brother, a lawyer, used to give to his clients who were subpoenaed to testify in court: tell the truth as best you know it on day one and never deviate.
Reform CAIR 