A spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said in a newspaper interviewer that there are “thriving Christian and Jewish populations” in Arab countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. According to a report in the St. Petersburg Times:
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic relations, said Graham was incorrect. “There are lots of Christian churches and synagogues in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Indonesia, Qatar, Kuwait. … If you go to any number of so-called Muslim countries you will see thriving Christian and Jewish populations.” One member of the Iranian Parliament is Jewish, Hooper noted. “The only one where you don’t see it, where you can’t have a Christian church or synagogue is Saudi Arabia,” Hooper said.
In fact, according to the Jewish Virtual Library, the Jewish populations of the four Arab countries mentioned above have been reduced since 1948 to about 210 individuals from a pre-1948 population of about 275,000:
- Egypt: 1948 Jewish population: 75,000 2004: Less than 100
- Syria: 1948 Jewish population: 30,000 2003: Fewer than 100
- Lebanon: 1948 Jewish population: 20,000 2008: Fewer than 100
- Iraq: 1948 Jewish population: 150,000 2004: Approximately 35 2008: Less than 10
Documents released in the Holy Land Trial have revealed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as identifying the organization itself as being part of the US. Brotherhood. A recent post discussed an interview with the Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in which he confirms a relationship between his organization and CAIR. Investigative research posted on GMBDW had determined that CAIR had it origins in the U.S. Hamas infrastructure and CAIR and its leaders have a long history of defending almost all individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, frequently calling such prosecutions a “war on Islam.”