With Texas leading an unprecedented state-level terror designation and federal scrutiny intensifying, America is edging toward a decisive showdown with the Islamists and their network of affiliates
November 26, 2025 15:36
The pendulum is swinging. Two years after Hamas led the deadly October 7 pogrom and enjoyed immediate Western support, pushback against the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates continues growing.
In July, Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 in the Senate, while Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Jared Moskowitz introduced it in the House. In August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that designating the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organisation was “in the works”.
The drumbeat really picked up last week, though. On Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a proclamation designating both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organisations based on the Texas penal and property codes. CAIR “has consistently denied” a Hamas affiliation, Lara Burns, Head of Terrorism Research for George Washington University’s Programme on Extremism, told me. However, “evidence in federal trials and academic research illustrates... their roots in the US-based Hamas infrastructure are indisputable.”
Two related reports arrived on Wednesday. The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy issued a comprehensive one on “the Muslim Brotherhood’s civilisational transformation strategy in North America”. Meanwhile, the Network Contagion Research Institute and the Intelligent Advocacy Network released a report recommending governmental investigations into CAIR California for alleged financial abuses. Among them, CAIR California allegedly “misused millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants since 2022”, hid “$3.13 million in lobbying expenditures while receiving federal” money, and funded anti-Zionist student activists who were disciplined by their universities.
Finally, on Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretaries of State and Treasury to report about designating “any Muslim Brotherhood chapters or other subdivisions, including those in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, as foreign terrorist organisations . . . and specially designated global terrorists.” (Qatar and Turkey are not named.)
It’s worth understanding then where American law and policy may be heading and the implications. Let’s start with Gov. Abbott’s proclamation, which Senator Cruz praised as an “excellent and important decision” that’s “critical to the safety and security of Americans”.
Practically speaking, the proclamation does three things. First, “it publicly highlights this concern” that “there are entities, such as the Muslim Brotherhood that are now operating in the United States with an intent to undermine Western values and disrupt Western Civilisation”, Alyza Lewin, president of US Affairs at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, told me. Second, “the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR can’t purchase or acquire land in Texas”. Third, Burns observed, “It may allow for certain state enforcement authorities to begin inquiries and investigations into the operations of CAIR, which has chapters “in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Austin”. To that point, Gov. Abbott announced Thursday that he had “directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations into the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR”.
Abbott’s designation “is a bit unprecedented”, Burns told me. Designating “entities as foreign terrorist organisations… is typically done at the federal level according to a very specific designation process” run “by the US State Department”. So, “we are in uncharted waters”.
Lewin observed that Abbott’s proclamation carefully delineated “concerns that people have with the Muslim Brotherhood, with Hamas, and with CAIR”. Further, “under the laws that he has set out here and described, it appears that yes, in Texas, he can certainly [designate terrorist organisations] according to Texas law”. Whether a judge would agree “depends on the judge”.
As for CAIR California, that organisation allegedly “offer[ed] interest-free educational loans and unrestricted $1,000 grants” in October 2024 “for students who ‘lost scholarships, housing, or other support because of their [anti-Zionist] advocacy”. Lewin would “like to see more information about this” but said that “to the extent” students participated in “criminal conduct” like vandalism and received “financial compensation from CAIR, that’s very concerning, because it suggests that they are providing funds in a way that is encouraging this kind of rule breaking” on campuses.
CAIR California allegedly also mismanaged and misreported funds. Burns said any “individuals who were knowingly involved in fraud… could be criminally prosecuted by the US Department of Justice, for charges including “grant fraud, making false statements, and filing false charitable tax returns”. Additionally, if government investigators confirmed these allegations, CAIR California’s charitable “status would likely get revoked by the IRS”.
There’s plenty to investigate at the state and federal levels. There may also finally be the political will to see and address reality, which is good, because this threat isn’t disappearing.
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