The ISDB’s funding comes in the form of a sharia loan known as istisna, and current 501(c) rules impose no meaningful public disclosure requirements on the recipients of foreign loans and mortgages.By Middle East ForumA new Middle East Forum investigation reveals that the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB), a multilateral bank whose top shareholders include the governments of Iran, Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, has disbursed $7.7 million to finance “CAIR Plaza,” a residential and commercial development in Washington, D.C., designed to provide the Council on American-Islamic Relations with rental income for decades.CAIR’s own website states that the group “does not receive funding from foreign organizations or governments.”The ISDB approved the project in 2013 at an estimated cost of $30 million, committing $11 million in sharia-compliant financing alongside $5 million from its Awqaf Properties Investment Fund.The bank’s 2023 Awqaf fund report records total disbursements of $7.7 million to date.The listed beneficiary is the Washington Trust Foundation, a 501(c) entity whose stated purpose is to support the CAIR Foundation.The development at 201 K Street NE, a few blocks from Union Station, comprises 49 apartments and retail space and is listed by its developers at $18.5 million.Property records show the land is owned by the Greater Washington LLC of Delaware.CAIR founder Nihad Awad has served as an official of the LLC, which the Washington Trust Foundation lists as a related entity on its own tax returns.The Washington Trust Foundation’s most recent Form 990 values the construction project at more than $17 million, up from $2 million in 2021.The filings do not disclose the foreign source of the funds.The ISDB’s funding comes in the form of a sharia loan known as istisna, and current 501(c) rules impose no meaningful public disclosure requirements on the recipients of foreign loans and mortgages.CAIR carries a long record of concern. In 2009, the FBI cut formal ties with the group after federal prosecutors named it an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial.The United Arab Emirates designated CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014. The state of Texas did the same in 2025.The investigation also documents the ISDB’s wider American footprint:$13.1 million across 44 K-12 schools, including a North Texas school the Forum previously found was established and staffed by Hamas-aligned operatives; a $90 million dormitory tower in New York for the Turken Foundation, an organization founded and managed by members of Turkish President Erdoğan’s family; and $7 million pledged to a residential project of the Islamic Center of Irving in Texas.“For years CAIR told Americans it takes no foreign money. The Islamic Development Bank’s own reports prove otherwise,” said Gregg Roman, Executive Director of the Middle East Forum.“A bank part-owned by the leading state sponsor of terrorism is building a permanent revenue stream for an Islamist group blocks from the United States Capitol. Congress should open an investigation, and the Treasury Department and the IRS must close the disclosure loophole that allowed this to happen in the dark.”“The paper trail is not hidden—the bank publishes it,” said Sam Westrop, director of the Middle East Forum’s Islamist Watch project and author of the investigation.“ISDB reports name the CAIR-linked beneficiary and count the dollars disbursed. CAIR’s tax filings show the assets. The only place this money does not appear is in CAIR’s public claims about its funding.”The Middle East Forum calls on Congress to investigate foreign government-backed financing of American Islamist organizations.The Forum further calls on the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to require nonprofits to disclose publicly foreign loans and sharia financing instruments, including istisna arrangements, on the Form 990.Read the full investigation: https://www.meforum.org/fwi/cairs-7-7-million-of-foreign-financingThe post Investigation reveals $7.7 million in foreign government-backed financing behind ‘CAIR Plaza’ appeared first on World Israel News.