US Muslim Brotherhood Group Celebrates Decision In Georgia Free Speech Case Involving Former Russian State-Sponsored Media Journalist

The Geor­gia chap­ter of the Coun­cil on Amer­i­can-Islam­ic Rela­tions (CAIR) has wel­comed what it calls a major vic­to­ry in their law­suit against Georgia’s Israel boy­cott law after a fed­er­al dis­trict court ruled for­bid­ding boy­cotts of Israel was a vio­la­tion of the First Amend­ment. Accord­ing to a state­ment on the CAIR website:

May 24, 2021 In an order released today, Judge Mark Cohen ruled that the Uni­ver­si­ty Sys­tem of Geor­gia vio­lat­ed jour­nal­ist and film­mak­er Abby Martin’s con­sti­tu­tion­al rights when it can­celled her speak­ing engage­ment on a col­lege cam­pus because she refused to sign a state-man­dat­ed oath pledg­ing not to engage in boy­cotts of Israel. Mar­tin is a well-known advo­cate of the Boy­cott, Divest­ment, and Sanc­tions (BDS) move­ment against Israel, which the court ruled is pro­tect­ed by the First Amendment.

Read the rest here.

Abby Mar­tin, a pro­gres­sive jour­nal­ist and activist for­mer­ly employed by Russ­ian state broad­cast­er RT, was informed that her book­ing to speak at a Feb­ru­ary 2020 con­fer­ence at Geor­gia South­ern Uni­ver­si­ty on Crit­i­cal Media Lit­er­a­cy had been can­celed when she refused to sign a pledge not to boy­cott Israel. Mar­tin, rep­re­sent­ed in court by CAIR, rose to promi­nence as a 9/11 con­spir­a­cy the­o­rist and has a his­to­ry of mak­ing anti-Semit­ic state­ments. She has also accused Israel of using “Hitler’s meth­ods against anoth­er minor­i­ty to main­tain a Jew­ish majority.”

The law­suit is still in its ear­ly stages, and the fed­er­al court has not yet ruled whether the state law should be struck down. Geor­gia is one of 26 US states that have enact­ed laws to hin­der the Boy­cott, Divest­ment, and Sanc­tions (BDS) move­ment, which seeks to eco­nom­i­cal­ly and social­ly pres­sure Israel.

CAIR, a part of the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in the US, describes itself as “a grass­roots civ­il rights and advo­ca­cy group” found­ed in 1994 by three offi­cers of the Islam­ic Asso­ci­a­tion of Pales­tine, part of the US Hamas infra­struc­ture at that time. In May 2021, the Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report (GIOR) report­ed that CAIR had joined an ini­tia­tive to boy­cott a planned vir­tu­al White House Eid cel­e­bra­tion host­ed by Pres­i­dent Biden in con­nec­tion with his stance on the vio­lence in Israel and Gaza.

Pri­or GIOR report­ing on CAIR has also included:

• A Novem­ber 2020 report that CAIR had issued a state­ment con­grat­u­lat­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic Pres­i­dent-elect Joe Biden on his vic­to­ry, vow­ing to hold the forth­com­ing admin­is­tra­tion account­able on Mus­lim inclu­sion and civ­il rights issues.

• An April 2021 report that a coali­tion of Amer­i­can Mus­lim advo­ca­cy orga­ni­za­tions tied to the US Mus­lim Broth­er­hood had pub­lished a report on Amer­i­can Mus­lims elect­ed or re-elect­ed to pub­lic office dur­ing 2020.

• A May 2021 report that the Unit­ed States Coun­cil of Mus­lim Orga­ni­za­tions had pub­lished an open let­ter call­ing on Pres­i­dent Joe Biden to appoint a State Depart­ment spe­cial envoy to mon­i­tor and com­bat Islamophobia.