Indiana Probes Islamist-Aligned Groups For Potential Terror Ties

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced a probe into the Council on American-Islamic Relations and National Students for Justice in Palestine on Wednesday, the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. Rokita demands that the groups hand over documents and communications related to their post-Oct. 7 actions and “records concerning the organizations’ ties to other groups and individuals with known connections to terrorists.”

“Through unedited body-camera and security-camera footage from that horrible day, I have seen Hamas murdering unarmed civilians, including children, in their homes and in the street, and while visiting Israel I have seen the aftermath firsthand,” Rokita said. “October 7th is Israel’s 9/11, and just as most of the world stood with us on that day and afterward, the majority of my fellow Hoosiers stand with Israel and against the bigoted barbarity directed at Jews that still exists. As attorney general, I am investigating organizations that may have given aid and support to Hamas in the wake of the October 7 attack.”

The Indiana legislature paved the way such investigations with a new law that came online in July. The bill authorizes Indiana’s attorney general to launch a civil investigation when he “has reasonable cause to believe a person or entity may be an affiliate of a foreign terrorist organization.”

The civil investigation is the first of four steps. Once the AG’s office concludes the civil investigation, he issues a “written determination” of whether the organization under investigation is affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations. The organization has 30 days to respond. Indiana’s top law official then “submits the final determination, supporting evidence, and the organization’s response to the governor,” currently Republican Mike Braun, who makes a final ruling on “whether to formally designate the entity as a terrorist affiliate.”

“A designated affiliate is denied state funds, contracts, tax benefits, and other state privileges,” a press release announcing the investigation stated. “The demands issued to CAIR and SJP are the first step in the process by which the State will evaluate and determine whether a terrorist affiliate designation may be warranted for these organizations.”

On Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinian terror organization Hamas slaughtered roughly 1,200 people, including nearly 50 Americans. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has officially condemned the attacks, but CAIR’s National Executive Director Nihad Awad asserted that “the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, while Israel does not, in a speech that surfaced” several weeks after the attack,” reported The Hill. “Awad also said he was ‘happy to see’ the people of Gaza ‘breaking the siege’ on Oct. 7.”

CAIR’s documented Hamas ties and pro-Hamas activism go all the way back to its founding in 1994. It also has a history of working to censor critics of Islam and Islamic terrorism, including by smearing them as “Islamophobes.”

Late last month, Florida finalized its designation of CAIR as a foreign terrorist organization, along with the Muslim Brotherhood and Antifa. Florida’s legislation cuts off designated groups from the aid of taxpayer-funded institutions and “creates state enforcement mechanisms and criminal penalties for providing material support to designated terrorist organizations.”

Texas categorized CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations at the end of last year, with Gov. Greg Abbott citing the entities’ “goal” as “to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’”

National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a central player in left-wing, anti-Israel campus protests across the nation following Oct. 7. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has said the group received funding from American Muslims for Palestine, an organization alleged to be affiliated with Hamas.

This year, victims of the Oct. 7 attack “sued American Muslims for Palestine, National Students for Justice in Palestine, and others, alleging the groups aided and abetted Hamas,” as reported by independent journalist Benjamin Ryan. A district court dismissed the suit, and the 4th Circuit affirmed the ruling on appeal.

SJP “brazenly … supported” Hamas in the wake of its October attack, says Wall Street Journal writer Elliot Kaufman, and has continued its activism with so-called “day of resistance” protests. The group openly backs a “Student Intifada” and says it “will politicize Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and develop their consciousness and the willingness to act.”

CAIR and SJP did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Joshua Monnington is an assistant editor at The Federalist. He was previously an editor at Regnery Publishing and is a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.