In the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terrorism-financing prosecution in U.S. history, a federal jury convicted the foundation and five of its leaders of sending money to Hamas. Prosecutors named the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) as unindicted co-conspirators.
Evidence at the trial included a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood strategy document, the Explanatory Memorandum. An attached list of “our organizations and the organizations of our friends” names ISNA, NAIT and the Muslim Students Association (MSA). Lara Burns, the retired FBI special agent who led the investigation, testified before the Senate in August that CAIR’s founders came out of the Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, which was established to support Hamas.
In January 2026, the State and Treasury departments designated the Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches of the Brotherhood as terrorist entities. CAIR denies any ties to Hamas, terrorism or the Brotherhood.
In 2024, CAIR’s political arm, CAIR Action, established a super PAC called the Unity & Justice Fund. CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said on a podcast that year that CAIR had created the PAC. All three CAIR Action board members also serve on CAIR’s national board. The fund’s treasurer, Basim Elkarra, is a former CAIR California executive director and CAIR Action’s treasurer. CAIR maintains that it neither created nor funded the PAC.
In an August 2026 fundraising email, the Unity & Justice Fund said it had helped elect New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, New Jersey congressional nominee Adam Hamawy and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, holds positions in two organizations named in the Holy Land Foundation case. He has served on ISNA’s 20-member founding committee since at least 2007; members must contribute at least $5,000 annually. According to IRS disclosures, he led CAIR’s Michigan chapter from 2005 to 2010 and remains on its board.
Federal Election Commission filings show Jukaku donated $300,000 to Fighting for Michigan PAC, which backs El-Sayed, in three $100,000 contributions, the last on June 22, 2026. On July 20, Jukaku and CAIR Action each gave $100,000 to the Unity & Justice Fund. CAIR Action had contributed $75,000 in March. On July 21, the fund gave $175,000 to Fighting for Michigan PAC.
A Fox News review of FEC records identified at least 41 current or former CAIR employees or leaders who collectively donated more than $115,000 directly to El-Sayed’s campaign. They include national board chair Manal Fakhoury, treasurer Eyas Abdeen, vice chair Emad Sabbah and Awad.
El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which Treasury designated in 2004 for supporting Osama bin Laden and Hamas. She was never charged or named as a co-conspirator. El-Sayed was active in the University of Michigan’s MSA chapter.
At the August 5 Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the Brotherhood, Kyle Shideler of the Center for Security Policy expressed concern about El-Sayed’s candidacy, citing Jukaku’s organizational ties. El-Sayed denies that he or his family has ties to the Brotherhood. Asked at a town hall whether he would disavow the group, he replied, “Sure, yeah, absolutely.”
The Unity & Justice Fund also backed Hamawy, the Democratic nominee in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, whom CAIR Action endorsed in the primary. In 1991, Hamawy met Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the “Blind Sheikh,” and accompanied him to a Detroit conference. He later translated for Abdel-Rahman at a press conference where the cleric denied involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Hamawy testified for the defense at Abdel-Rahman’s 1995 trial. Under cross-examination by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, he said he did not recall the cleric discussing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Detroit conference. Shown a transcript, Hamawy confirmed that Abdel-Rahman had called Mubarak a backstabber who became America’s loyal dog.
Abdel-Rahman was convicted on all counts, including seditious conspiracy and soliciting Mubarak’s murder, and sentenced to life. Burns’ Senate testimony identifies his Egyptian group, Gama’a al-Islamiyya, as a Muslim Brotherhood spinoff.
In 1994, Hamawy volunteered in Bosnia with the Benevolence International Foundation, a Chicago-based charity later shut down by federal authorities for providing logistical support to al-Qaida.
The Treasury Department and UN Security Council still list it as a sanctioned entity. Hamawy’s campaign said he testified truthfully under oath. He has called questions about his associations Islamophobic.
The Unity & Justice Fund gave $120,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, the largest PAC supporting Mamdani’s 2025 mayoral campaign. The PAC’s required donor disclaimer listed the fund among its top three donors. Unity Lab PAC, linked to CAIR’s California chapter, contributed another $23,500. Activist Linda Sarsour told a CAIR conference that Mamdani’s rise came from Muslim money.
Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has received CAIR contributions and raised funds for organizations linked to the Brotherhood. According to OpenSecrets, CAIR’s PAC gave $5,000 to an earlier Omar campaign. In 2019, she spoke at fundraisers for CAIR’s California PAC and Islamic Relief USA.
At a 2018 House Oversight subcommittee hearing, Rep. Paul Gosar cited a Middle East Forum report documenting ties between Islamic Relief and the Egyptian Brotherhood.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan has received contributions from CAIR and its officials. FEC records show that CAIR’s California PAC gave her campaign $5,000 on June 24, 2021. During her first congressional race in 2018, she received more than $30,000 from officials of CAIR, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Muslim American Society, according to the Middle East Forum. Fakhoury has also donated to Tlaib and Omar.
According to the research group Canary Mission, Salah Sarsour co-hosted a campaign event for Tlaib in 2018. Burns’ Senate testimony identifies him as a former Islamic Association for Palestine leader now with American Muslims for Palestine.
Immigration authorities arrested him in April 2026. A Department of Homeland Security press release described him as suspected of funding terror organizations.
Minnesota Attorney General and former congressman Keith Ellison has received $138,098 from CAIR officials, according to the Middle East Forum’s donor database. It ranks him as the largest recipient of contributions from leaders of CAIR, the Muslim American Society, ISNA and allied organizations since tracking began. The database also records $38,126 in donations from CAIR officials to Rep. André Carson of Indiana.
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