Does Sestak Agree with Schumer on CAIR’s Ties to Terrorism?  Will Sestak Return CAIR Money?

Allentown – As Congressman Joe Setak promotes his fundraising and Jewish outreach event with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tonight in Philadelphia, he should answer many of the outstanding questions about his alliance with the radical anti-Semitic group, the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and whether he will renounce all ties with them moving forward.

Questions Congressman Sestak Needs to Answer:
Does Congressman Sestak agree with Senator Schumer’s 2003 pronouncement about CAIR, in which he said: “We know [CAIR] has ties to terrorism”? (Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 09/10/03)

If Congressman Sestak does agree with Senator Schumer, why did he speak at the organization’s Philadelphia fundraiser in 2007 and praise CAIR for its “good work”? (Politico, 03/19/07)

Does Congressman Sestak think it is appropriate to speak to a group like CAIR when the founder and executive director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, has declared: “After I researched the situation inside Palestine and outside, I am in support of the Hamas movement more than the PLO”? (The Investigative Project on Terrorism)

Does Congressman Sestak think it is appropriate to speak to CAIR when the founder and executive director, Nihad Awad, has declared: “We are not shy to support the Palestinian resistance against occupation.  It is a legitimate God-given right.  This is what happened in Palestine and Palestinians are using legitimate means of resistance”? (Fox News, 03/14/07

Will Congressman Sestak return the $2,000 he has received from officers of CAIR?
Congressman Sestak continues to insist that CAIR is a “legitimate organization” but the long list of CAIR’s detractors spans the gamut from Sen. Schumer to Sen. Barbara Boxer to Sen. Dick Durbin, to the Anti-Defamation League to the American Jewish Committee to the FBI.
The founder and executive director of CAIR has openly embraced Hamas, while CAIR has refused to label Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.  Several CAIR employees and board members have been arrested, convicted, deported, or linked in some fashion to terrorism related activities  (The Jewish Exponent, 03/15/07).  Even back in 2003, Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin both testified to CAIR’s ties with terrorists and radicalism in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.  In December 2006, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) rescinded an award to an officer of the California branch of CAIR because of CAIR’s radical history and ties. (Newsweek, 12/29/06).

In 2009, the FBI confirmed what many had suspected for years, severing its ties with CAIR after CAIR was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in a 15-year FBI investigation that ended in the conviction of Hamas fundraisers.  During the trial, Special Agent Lara Burns testified that CAIR was a front group for radical organizations operating in the U.S. (Fox News, 01/30/09)

“Congressman Sestak needs to answer why he refuses to renounce his ties with the radical CAIR and whether he will return the contributions he has received from CAIR’s officers,” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik said.  “Like many of Congressman Sestak’s other positions on the economy and foreign policy, his alliance with CAIR despite its terrorist ties shows just how extreme Congressman Sestak truly is—too extreme for Pennsylvania.”