VIDEO: Muslim Republican featured on Daily Show calls accusations of terrorist ties ridiculous

Nezar Hamze, a registered Republican and the executive director of the South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, tells The Florida Independent that accusations tying his organization to Muslim terrorists are ridiculous.

The United West, an anti-Islamic organization led by Tom Centro, will host an event in Tallahassee on the first day of Florida’s 2012 legislative session to honor members of the U.S. military who served in Iraq. The group has called for an investigation into U.S. Muslim organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations due to ties it alleges exist between them and the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The first time I met Tom, he was with his original organization the Florida Security Council, showing The Third Jihad,” Hamze says. The Third Jihad is a movie about “radical Islam’s vision for America.”

Hamze adds that GOP Senate candidate Adam Hasner “was there, promoting the movie, making blanket statements of Muslims.”

He tells the Independent that the narrative that CAIR is a terrorist organization made by individuals like Trento, The United West, and Adam Hasner is ridiculous. “There is no serious law enforcement agencies that take any of those people seriously,” he says.

“That is how they win their vote. Adam Hasner is going all over the state propagating this Muslim Brotherhood threat, that they are coming to take over the United States,” Hamze adds, “but the reality is there is no Muslim Brotherhood in Florida, they are grandstanding and sensationalizing.”

Hamze adds that “unfortunately right now to bash Muslims, or bash Islam, has become mainstream GOP strategy. You have quote after quote from Republican presidential candidates that are absolutely ludicrous and fringe. It’s unfortunate because if you take those quotes and you replace Islam with Judaism or Christianity it is completely unacceptable, but for some reason, it has become mainstream in the GOP to attack Muslims.”

“The traditional Republican values of conservatism is where I align myself, with the traditional Republican Party platform and not necessarily the mouthpieces of the GOP of today,” Hamze says. “You take fiscal issues, spending issues, foreign policy and I will get toe to toe with any Republican out there.” He adds that New Jersy Gov. Chris Christie and Ron Paul are two of the very few GOP leaders who do not use anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Last night, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart aired an episode on the decision by the Broward Republican Executive Committee to reject Hamze’s application to become a member of the Executive Committee and create a Muslim Republican Club last September: