Texas governor asks Trump admin to revoke CAIR tax-exempt status
(JNS) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, wrote to Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary on Tuesday asking the department to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations and to revoke its tax-exempt status.
“As a federal court found in one of the largest terrorism financing cases in American history, there is ‘ample evidence to establish’ that CAIR is associated ‘with Hamas,’ including internal documents listing CAIR under the Muslim Brotherhood’s umbrella,” Abbott wrote.
Abbott, who designated the Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terror groups last month, noted that groups listed as foreign terror organizations must have their tax-exempt status revoked.
“One recent report found that CAIR awarded $1,000 cash grants to university students as a reward for disrupting classes and intimidating and harassing fellow students while celebrating Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack,” he wrote.
“Another found that CAIR’s California affiliate took in $7.2 million of taxpayer funds, supposedly to assist in the settlement of Afghan refugees, but used ‘less than 10%,’ leaving millions unaccounted for in official filings,” he said.
“Charity must not become a backdoor to sponsor terrorism, endanger Americans and subvert our democracy,” he added.
2 arrested after pro-Palestinian protest disrupts event on LA synagogue campus
(JTA) — The mayor of Los Angeles has denounced as “abhorrent” and antisemitic a protest that disrupted an event held Wednesday on the campus of the historic Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of the largest synagogues in the city.
Two people were arrested during the incident, which took place after pro-Palestinian activists who were protesting outside the synagogue entered an event featuring Jewish security professionals and disrupted it.
Video from the scene showed a handful of activists shouting inside the event, which was organized by the Consulate General of Israel to teach Koreans in the neighborhood, known as Koreatown, about security strategies, with a focus on AI innovations.
The group Koreatown 4 Palestine, an organizer of the protest, posted videos showing that they had displayed a banner reading “Elbit Out of LA,” a reference to the Israeli technology company Elbit Systems that is a prime target for Israel’s critics because of its role in developing tools used by the Israeli military. Goni Saar, an AI researcher for Elbit Systems, was speaking at the event.
Eliana Jolkovsky, a pro-Israel activist who posts under the handle @ThatKoreanJew, said she heard protesters outside shout anti-Israel epithets. She posted a video of herself asking a protester why they chose to demonstrate outside of a synagogue. The women responded, “We’re protesting in front of a site that’s hosting genocide supporters and trying to bring that to KTown.”
Pentagon fields kamikaze drone force to Middle East
(JNS) — U.S. Central Command announced on Wednesday that it has fielded a new force of kamikaze drones to the Middle East intended to deter “bad actors.”
The task force, codenamed “Scorpion Strike,” is the first time that the U.S. military has based such drones, also referred to as loitering munitions or one-way drones, to the region.
“This new task force sets the conditions for using innovation as a deterrent,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM’s commander. “Equipping our skilled warfighters faster with cutting-edge drone capabilities showcases U.S. military innovation and strength, which deters bad actors.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the FLM 136 drones deployed to the task force are reverse engineered clones of Iran’s Shahed-136 kamikaze drones that the Islamic republic has used to attack targets across the Middle East, including killing three U.S. soldiers in Jordan in 2024. Russia has also used the Shahed extensively to attack civilian and military targets in Ukraine.
The U.S. drones reportedly cost $35,000 per unit against the $16 million price tag for an MQ-9 Reaper.
“These drones, deployed by CENTCOM, have an extensive range and are designed to operate autonomously,” CENTCOM stated. “They can be launched with different mechanisms including catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff, and mobile ground and vehicle systems.”
Press Iran to release Jewish man jailed for going to son’s bar mitzvah, lawmakers tell Rubio
(JNS) — Last month, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) sounded the alarm to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio about one of his constituents being held in an Iranian prison. The congressman wrote to Rubio again this month, but this time, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) joined him in the letter.
The two asked Rubio to use “all available tools” to get Iran to release Kamran Hekmati, imprisoned for “attending his son’s bar mitzvah in Israel 13 years ago.” The lawmakers said Hekmati has aggressive bladder cancer and should be released “immediately on humanitarian grounds.”
Hekmati, 70, who holds both U.S. and Iranian citizenship and is a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the village of Great Neck Estates, was imprisoned earlier this year while visiting relatives in Iran. The lawmakers said that Hekmati had made that trip several times “without issue” until now.
In a letter to Rubio released on Monday, Suozzi and Tenney said Hekmati’s “alleged crime was attending his son’s bar mitzvah in Israel 13 years ago,” and the United States should use “all available tools to secure his safe and immediate return.”
The lawmakers also requested that the U.S. State Department and White House update them on efforts to obtain Hekmati’s release.
