Right under our noses in Texas, Islamist actors — cloaked in the language of charity, education, and cultural outreach — have quietly extended their influence deep into our communities, schools, and universities. What was once fringe concern has now become a strategic issue of foreign influence and ideological penetration that demands serious attention.
Governor Greg Abbott’s decisive proclamation designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations was the right call. CAIR, which claims to be a civil-rights nonprofit, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organization with decades of documented ties to terrorism, have for years advance agendas that are antithetical to the rule of law and the safety of our citizens.
While CAIR hides behind its non-profit designation, ongoing litigation has forced disclosure of foreign donations tied to governments with histories of supporting extremist causes, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.
Qatar, in particular, illustrates the danger. This Gulf state has provided safe haven to Islamist organizations, including Hamas, and poured billions into their coffers while cultivating ties with American institutions. Its state-linked Qatar Foundation has funneled money into classrooms and campuses under the guise of cultural and language programs. But when these programs come with materials that erase the existence of Israel, promote one-sided worldviews, and bypass transparent oversight, Texans have every right to demand that foreign governments shouldn’t be shaping what our children learn.
Even more concerning is the flow of funding into Texas universities — research contracts and gifts tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in size — with opaque reporting and possible access to sensitive intellectual property. The shuttering of Texas A&M’s Qatar campus after national security concerns is telling.
According to Sam Westrop of the Middle East Forum, a quarter of Texas’ 650 Islamic nonprofit organizations feature some degree of radical Islamist influence or control.
If Texas is to remain a bulwark of freedom, we must close loopholes in foreign-funding disclosure laws, scrutinize ideological influence in public education, and ensure that our academic institutions uphold American principles rather than foreign agendas.
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