6 days ago
US senator asks tax authority to strip Muslim civil rights organisation of nonprofit status
Republican Senator Tom Cotton called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Monday to revoke the nonprofit status of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation in the US, accusing it of providing material support to terrorists.
In his letter, Cotton accused the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) of purporting to be 'a civil rights organization protecting the rights of American Muslims' while having 'deep ties to terrorist organisations'.
He alleged the organisation was listed as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and that Cair participated in a meeting of Hamas supporters in Philadelphia.
'Tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right, and it should not subsidize organisations with links to terrorism,' the letter said.
Cair denounced the accusations as 'debunked conspiracy theories' in a statement sent to Middle East Eye.
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"Tom Cotton's baseless demand that the IRS target a nonprofit organization based on debunked conspiracy theories is an un-American political stunt straight from the McCarthy era and it's motivated by the senator's desire to protect the genocidal Israeli government from criticism," the statement said.
Cair said it is an independent organisation that has spent over thirty years defending the US constitution, anti-Muslim bigotry and has "opposed injustice both here and abroad".
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'This is called moral consistency and Senator Cotton should try it, but he better check with his handlers at AIPAC first," Cair said, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group that has contributed over $230,000 to the senator.
This is not the first time Cair has been subject to attacks for its pro-Palestinian advocacy; the organisation is just the latest in a list of pro-Israel campaigns that Cotton has run.
In December, the senator introduced a bill in the Senate that sought to eliminate the federal use of the term 'West Bank' and instead implement the use of 'Judea and Samaria', the biblical name for what is now the occupied West Bank, claiming the terminology aligns with Israel's historical and biblical claims to the territory.
In November 2024, after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of using starvation as a method of warfare, as well as crimes against humanity, plus other charges, Cotton lashed out at the ICC.
At the time, Cotton cited a US law that permits the president to use "all means necessary and appropriate" to free Americans or allies detained by the court.
Passed in 2002, the American Service-Members' Protection Act, often referred to as the "Hague Invasion Act," was designed to shield US personnel from ICC jurisdiction. Rights groups argue the law aims to intimidate nations that support the ICC treaty. It authorises military action to rescue any American or allied citizen held by the court in The Hague, the Netherlands.
'The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic,' Cotton wrote in a social media post on X. Khan is the chief prosecutor at the ICC.
