Each Orange County Supervisor has a $250,000 discretionary fund from which they cut checks to help out communities in their districts. Derided by critics as “slush funds,” they ostensibly exist a mechanism for supervisors to help fund feel-good projects like new playground equipment for community parks.
So why is Supervisor Vince Sarmiento using his slush fund to give tax dollars to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) an extremist political group that has been designated as a terrorist organization by the states of Florida and Texas, and found by the FBI to have had fundraising ties to Hamas?
Following the barbaric October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 innocent Israelis, national CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad was recorded making the following comment:
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege the walls of the concentration camp on October 7. Yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their own land that they were not allowed to walk in. And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense.”
His remarks prompted the Biden White House to break off ties with CAIR. Awad maintains his comments were taken out of context.
The donation fits a pattern of hostility by Sarmiento toward Israel. Sarmiento has accused Israel of committing “genocide” in its war against Hamas in Gaza, and has called for cutting off all U.S. military aid too the Jewish State.
READ: Editorial: Gaza Peace Deal Exposes The Dangerous Foolishness Of The Orange County Left
CAIR is a polarizing group that not only engages in political advocacy and activism – so why is Sarmiento using taxpayer dollars to underwrite its political activities, and has ties to anti-Israel terrorism?
This past weekend, both Sarmiento and CAIR were co-sponsors – along with a number of extremist groups like the socialist and anti-American Palestine Youth Movement – of an Abolish ICE protest in Garden Grove:
Sarmiento and the other groups sponsoring this event have recently pivoted from the efforts from anti-Israel activism to radicalism in favor of open borders and ending deportations of illegal immigrants.
At the same time, they have turned a blind eye to the Islamist regime in Iran’s murderous repression of recent demonstrations. The ruling mullahocracy killed thousands and thousands of demonstrators protesting for freedom and prosperity. Since Iran isn’t governed by Jews, the Islamist regime is spared the invective directed at Israel.
READ: Editorial: Why Is Orange County’s Progressive Left Silent On Massacre of Iranian Protesters?
Did CAIR solicit the donation? Or was it on the initiative of Supervisor Sarmiento? OC Independent e-mail Supervisor Sarmiento’s office, but we fully expect him to ignore such requests, as he has in the past.
The larger question is why Sarmiento using taxpayer dollars to support an extremist group that agitates in favor of extremist causes. Surely there are bona fide, non-political community organizations that could accomplish some actual good with that $3,000.
Also – why are Sarmiento and CAIR making common cause with extremist groups in the first place? The Palestinian Youth Movement, which not only supports Hamas but expressed support for the October 7 massacre. Is Sarmiento simply careless in his associations, or does he so crave the approval of the militant Left that he is willing to crawl into to the trenches with proto-totalitarians?
