{South Florida Muslim Federation}
The South Florida Muslim Federation has quietly removed the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations from its online list of member organizations, after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned Coral Springs officials that state and local resources may not be used by any group affiliated with CAIR, which Florida has classified as a “designated terrorist organization.”
Uthmeier issued the warning in a Jan. 23 post on X in which he shared Coral Springs Talk’s article about the controversy. He wrote that Coral Springs “should remember that state and local resources cannot be used by any organization affiliated with CAIR,” adding that “the city commission is on notice.”
The statement from Florida’s top prosecutor came two days after Jewish residents urged city leaders at Wednesday’s commission meeting not to host the South Florida Muslim Federation’s annual Florida Muslim Conference at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts, citing concerns that the event would platform speakers and organizations they allege promote anti-Jewish bigotry, incitement, and anti-Israel extremism, including CAIR.
The conference, scheduled for Jan. 30–31 at the city-owned arts center, is organized by the South Florida Muslim Federation, a tax-exempt nonprofit that lists more than 30 member organizations.
The Federation’s website had listed the Muslim civil rights group CAIR Florida as one of its members as recently as Jan. 21. By Monday, that listing had been removed, according to a review of archived versions of the site.
The controversy over the city’s hosting the annual Federation conference follows an executive order issued last month by Gov. Ron DeSantis designating CAIR a terrorist organization under Florida law. Federal authorities and extremist watchdog groups allege CAIR has previously been linked to the Muslim Brotherhood extremist group and financing of terrorism.
Uthmeier argues that the governor’s order bars state agencies and local governments from providing funds, facilities, or other resources to CAIR or its affiliates.
CAIR has rejected the state’s designation as discriminatory and unconstitutional and is challenging it in court. The group has also vehemently denied any links to terrorist financing and the Brotherhood.
Uthmeier’s warning on X appeared to apply DeSantis’ order directly to Coral Springs, where the conference is scheduled to take place at the city’s arts center for the second consecutive year.
“As a result of the statement made by Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier on X, city staff met with State Officials regarding the rental agreement with the South Florida Muslim Federation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and will be receiving clarification,” Coral Springs city spokesperson Lynne Martzall told Coral Springs Talk in an email Monday.
Several city commissioners at Wednesday’s meeting said they shared residents’ concerns over the issues they raised about the conference, but were constrained by First Amendment law.
City Attorney John Hearn told commissioners the city could not deny the rental of its arts center based on viewpoint.
“The First Amendment is not for the popular opinion,” he said. “It’s for the unpopular.”
The organization End Jew Hatred, the civil rights arm of the Lawfare Project, is promoting a letter-writing campaign calling on the city not to host the conference.
Many Jewish residents have also said they reached out to commissioners since the meeting to warn that hosting the Federation’s conference would be harmful to the local Jewish community, given the inclusion of multiple scheduled speakers at the conference they say have documented histories of promoting false and bigoted rhetoric about Israel, Zionism, Zionists, and Jews.
A number of organizations within the Federation have also promoted the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to isolate Israel and which critics say amounts to an anti-Jewish boycott. Florida law prohibits state agencies and local governments from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel.
In September, South Florida Muslim Federation President Samir Kakli promoted his involvement in a billboard campaign in Pompano Beach featuring the image of a skeletal Palestinian baby held in a woman’s arms beside the message, “America can and must stop starvation in Palestine.” The billboard drew attention for its implicit condemnation of America and Israel, suggesting they were responsible for the child’s condition. But the image was misleading. The baby in the photograph suffered from cerebral palsy and a severe genetic disorder unrelated to food access — a fact not disclosed on the billboard or in any public statements by the advertiser, the anti-Israel advocacy group Justice For All, according to Israel community advocates and media watchdog groups {Israel American Council – South Florida}.
Jewish watchdog groups and scholars – including the Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ) – have classified the activities of some Federation members as aligning with the antizionist hate movement — a libel-centered ideological campaign that recycles anti-Jewish tropes and stigmatizes Jews by branding Zionism, a core part of most Jews’ identity, as racist, genocidal, and illegitimate.
Antizionists use three core libels – “genocide,” “apartheid,” and “colonizer” – to portray Zionists as supremacist, bloodthirsty killers and mark them for violence and exclusion from civic spaces, according to MAAZ.
Social media posts indicate the Florida Muslim Conference has previously featured anti-Israel voices, but also hosted a range of educational and cultural programming for the Muslim community, as well as entertainment, children’s events, a shopping bazaar, and traditional foods. Testimonials laud the group for its helping Muslim community members and others access everything from healthcare and counseling to job openings, child care, and education.
Concerned Coral Springs residents have focused on the Federation’s platforming of some speakers they say have a history of dehumanizing Jews and Zionists, glorifying terrorism against Israel, and falsely portraying Israel as a racist, “genocidal” state that commits “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians.
At last year’s conference, one vendor was videotaped selling merchandise emblazoned with the face of deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar; products that residents said glorified the convicted terrorist.
The South Florida Muslim Federation’s partial online list of member organizations as of Wednesday, Jan. 21, included CAIR Florida.
Several residents have also cited remarks and social media posts by some of this year’s scheduled conference speakers they allege glorified violence against Israel and Jews. They claim some speakers have spread Hamas propaganda and made statements that, in their view, amounted to advocating for the genocide of Jews in Israel.
The South Florida Muslim Federation’s partial online list of member organizations as of Monday, Jan. 26, after CAIR Florida’s removal.
“Whether by complacency or complicity, the city would be providing a tax-funded facility to an organization affiliated with a group the state has now designated as a terrorist organization,” Rabbi Simcha Goldstein told commissioners Wednesday.
The Federation has not responded to requests for comment about concerns voiced by residents at Wednesday’s meeting.
When the Federation previously faced allegations of anti-Jewish bigotry, it forcefully rejected those claims and accused Jewish community members, and others making the accusations, of Islamophobia.
In a blog post published on its website Dec. 23, the same day Uthmeier issued his warning, the Federation wrote: “Our hope is this community gathering serves as a reminder to all in the South Florida community that despite the difficult times we may be facing, we are called upon to persevere and to embrace hope as an important act of faith. Like previous years, the Conference will be a joyous gathering space to convene and connect, uplifting one another in a place that values the distinct contributions of religious, ethnic and racial minorities in South Florida. We are excited to welcome people of all faiths, including our Christian and Jewish brothers and sisters, who share in our hope that through shared community and faith in our Creator, we can build a better, more peaceful world.”
In addition to concerns over scheduled conference speakers, some residents have pointed to an online panel discussion hosted by the Federation in October that included one of CAIR Florida’s leaders, and which they say included dehumanizing rhetoric about Jews and Zionists.
During the Federation video panel, titled “Paths to Building Understanding and Justice: Community Discussion on Israel and Palestine,” the event’s speakers accused Israel of genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing — claims deemed racist libels by scholars of antizionism — while never mentioning Hamas or the October 7 attack. Panel speakers from the anti-Israel groups Jewish Voice for Peace and U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights portrayed Israelis and Zionists as genocidal “colonizers,” spread anti-Jewish tropes, including one about the “heavily Zionist” news media; attacked the Anti-Defamation League as a “really horrible Zionist outfit;” and dismissed well-documented reports of rising antisemitism on college campuses as exaggerated.
Also in October, the South Florida Muslim Federation’s president at the time, Samir Kakli, urged his Instagram followers to protest the Jewish National Fund-USA’s Global Conference for Israel, a mainstream Jewish community event held at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Fl. Writing in an Instagram post, he said JNF “is not welcome in South Florida—their role in land theft and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians continues today.”
“Our government is funding a genocide of Palestinians [in] real time,” he wrote in another post.
In September, Kakli also promoted his involvement in a billboard campaign in Pompano Beach featuring the image of a skeletal Palestinian baby held in a woman’s arms beside the message, “America can and must stop starvation in Palestine.”
The billboard drew attention for its emotional impact and its implicit condemnation of America and Israel, suggesting they were responsible for the child’s condition. But the image was misleading. The baby in the photograph suffered from cerebral palsy and a severe genetic disorder unrelated to food access — a fact not disclosed on the billboard or in any public statements by the advertiser, the anti-Israel advocacy group Justice For All, according to Israel community advocates and media watchdog groups.
The billboard image originated from photographs published in July by several major media outlets, including The New York Times, during coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. Days later, The Times issued an editor’s note acknowledging the photograph had been mischaracterized and that the child’s condition was not caused by starvation.
Despite that correction, the debunked image resurfaced roughly two months later in Pompano, stripped of its context and repurposed for a billboard and a mobile digital truck campaign that circulated through parts of Broward County, critics said. Jewish advocacy organizations said the campaign coincided with a broader information campaign accusing Israel of intentionally starving civilians.
“Our Feed Gaza billboard is up in South Florida,” Kakli wrote in a Sept. 24 post encouraging supporters to share the image. In a subsequent post, he shared a video of a truck displaying the same debunked photograph and message as it traveled through Fort Lauderdale.
Kakli’s Facebook page included the disclaimer: “Any opinions expressed in my profile are my own, and do not reflect any company or organization.” The billboard and truck campaign were not sponsored by the Federation.
In October, the Israeli American Council’s South Florida chapter condemned the billboard, saying it displayed “a false and misleading image already debunked by major U.S. media outlets spreading [incitement] and harmful messaging toward our Jewish and Israeli-American community” and promoted “incitement and misinformation.”
Several Coral Springs residents alleged similar misinformation used to incite against Israel had been promoted by speakers at past Federation conferences, and were concerned they would be again.
The Florida Muslim Conference’s Israel-related programming has generated controversy before; Two years ago, residents say, its invited speakers included people with documented histories of anti-Jewish and antizionist rhetoric. Their platforming stirred a high-profile controversy and resulted in the Coral Springs Marriott declining to host the conference.
In the aftermath of that cancellation, racist Islamophobic rhetoric was directed at the Federation and Muslim community members. Jewish leaders and civil rights organizations condemned that backlash as unacceptable.
The cancellation triggered a U.S. Department of Justice inquiry into whether the conference’s civil rights had been violated, Coral Springs officials said. City Attorney John Hearn told commissioners Wednesday that federal investigators ultimately determined the city had done nothing wrong.
The Federation also filed a lawsuit against the Marriott and various Broward community leaders after the cancellation, alleging a discriminatory scheme to shut down their conference.
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