The governor of the US state of Florida, Ron DeSantis, on Monday designated the Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as well as the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organisations.
The moves comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott last month designated┬аthe CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organisations. Since then, US President Donald Trump has also issued an executive order directing agencies to initiate the formal process for designating certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisations.
According to Fox News, FloridaтАЩs designation of the CAIR is at the state level. It doesnтАЩt carry the legal force of a federal foreign terrorist organisation listing, which only the US State Department can issue.
In a post on X, the Florida governor said, тАЬFlorida is designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the CAIR as foreign terrorist organisations.
тАЬFlorida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organisations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,тАЭ he said in the post, which also shared images of the governorтАЩs executive order.
In response, the CAIR and its Florida chapter announced that a lawsuit would be filed against DeSantis in response to his тАЬdefamatory and unconstitutionalтАЭ order.
тАЬFrom the moment Ron DeSantis took office as Florida governor, he has┬аprioritized serving the Israeli government over serving the people of Florida,тАЭ the joint statement said.
тАЬLike Greg Abbott in Texas, Ron DeSantis is an Israel-first politician who wants to smear and silence Americans, especially American Muslims, critical of US support for IsraelтАЩs war crimes,тАЭ it said.
тАЬWe look forward to defeating Governor DeSantisтАЩ latest Israel-first stunt in a court of law, where facts matter and conspiracy theories have no weight. In the meantime, we encourage all Floridians and all Americans to speak up against this latest attempt to shred the Constitution for the benefit of a foreign government,тАЭ the statement added.
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