Bennett Responds To CAIR Press Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 11, 2014
Rep. Bennett Responds to CAIR Oklahoma Press Conference
OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. John Bennett said today he will not apologize for the comments he has made about CAIR Oklahoma.
CAIR Oklahoma held a press conference yesterday after calling on Bennett to apologize for his remarks and for Republican leadership to rebuke him.
“I have received hundreds of emails, voicemails, and personal thank you messages from all over the world for standing up against a cancerous problem that CAIR and other wings of the Muslim Brotherhood support,” said Bennett, R-Sallisaw. “CAIR is leading the charge to discredit me and trying to put political pressure on me with their irrelevant press conference at the Capitol. I would like to remind everyone that CAIR was the organization that sued the state of Oklahoma and effectively received an injunction to stop a state ballot question approved by an overwhelming majority of Oklahomans to outlaw Sharia law in Oklahoma.”
Bennett said supporting Sharia law is the same as supporting the brutal treatment of women and children under Islam.
“Sharia law is extremely detrimental to women and children and it allows very brutal treatment to them both under Islam,” Bennett said. “CAIR is also the unindicted co-conspirator of the largest terror financing trial that yielded over 100 convictions in the U.S. CAIR is the American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and it has been proven in federal court documents in the U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation trials in Dallas, Texas. The Oklahoma FBI office refuses to work with CAIR, and CAIR is on record supporting Palestinians launching attacks into Israel resulting in the killing of hundreds.”
Omar Ahmad, chairman of CAIR stated in the July 4, 1988, edition of the San Ramon Valley Herald: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur’an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”
Johari Abdul Malik was the guest speaker during their annual CAIR banquet in Oklahoma City. Malik was the outreach director of the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque. Malik had publicly defended Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi, founder of the American Muslim Council, who was found guilty of engaging in illegal financial transactions with Libya and sentenced to 23 years in prison. Malik also came to the defense of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali who was convicted of charges of conspiring to kill President George W. Bush. The Fort Hook shooter and members of the group who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 both had attended the mosque.
“A lot can be deduced about a group by who they choose to associated with and CAIR Oklahoma associates with a number of questionable individuals,” Bennett said. “CAIR’s intentions and motivations are right out of the Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum on the strategy for North America as factually presented in the U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation trial. In this memorandum CAIR and other Muslim Brotherhood organizations are directed to act and have displayed these directives. In the memorandum CAIR has followed the directives by “Co-Opting Key leadership” (like the ACLU and NAACP), “Subverting Religious Organizations” (like Oklahoma Conference of Churches), “Condemning “slander” against Islam”, “Claiming Victimization/demanding Accommodation,” “Fighting all Counterterrorism efforts” and subverting the U.S. education system. For these reasons, CAIR or any other organization linked to terrorism should not be allowed in Oklahoma.”
Bennett said no amount of pressure will keep him from exercising his First Amendment rights.
“I work for my constituents and no one else,” Bennett said. “I promised to stand up and fight for American and Oklahoma values. I will not resign, nor will I apologize.”
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