Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in the United States. It was established in 1994 with the mission to enhance the understanding of Islam, protect civil liberties, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. CAIR works to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam and Muslims, advocates for the rights of Muslims in the US, provides legal assistance to individuals facing discrimination, and engages in community outreach and education. It's one of the most prominent organizations working to address issues affecting Muslims in America.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has an extensively documented history of having significant ties to terrorism and antisemites, predating the current 2023-2024 Israel-Barnas war by three decades. A George Washington University Report and a Report from the Investigative Project on Terrorism, detail CAIR's extremism in depth. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in 2021 named CAIR as one of the ten most antisemitic entities in the world, joining Iran and Barnas on that list, and for good reason ("Global Antisemitism 2021 Top Ten").
CAIR's antisemitic rhetoric, well before October 7, 2023, included but was not limited to the following themes: (1) Accusing Jewish organizations, such as AIPAC, of controlling government institutions or using money to buy out politicians in exchange for supporting Israel, (2) Spreading conspiracy theories or presenting falsified claims about Israel, 3) Denying the Jewish people their right to exist in the State of Israel and explicitly calling for the dismantling of the Jewish state, 4) Denigrating a whole class of Jews as well as using imagery and symbols which have historically been deemed antisemitic, and 5) Comparing Israel to Nazis.
CAIR officials regularly cite the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," which if occurred, Israel would be wiped off the map. CAIR's Michigan Executive Director, Dawud Walid, delivered a speech in 2012 in which he stated, "Who are those who incuned the wrath of Allah?" He answered his question, "hum al-yahud, hum al-yahud [they are the Jews, they are the Jews]." CAIR's Los Angeles Executive Director, Hussam Ayloush, in 2014 called supporters of Israel "Nazis," when he stated, "interesting how supporters oflsrael use exact same excuses that Nazis used to justify their murders at the Warsaw Ghetto."
At a 2018 AMP event, Billoo reiterated that she is "not going to legitimize a country, [Israel], that I do not believe has a right to exist." In 2019, CAIR's Chicago Executive Director, Ahmed Rehab, stated, "Fuck Zionism. And Fuck you too, France," in response to France's decision to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, as has the United States. CAIR's Washington Executive Director, Imraan Siddiqi, stated in 2020, "AIPAC's cool with Nazis and Nazi-adjacents-just as long as they don't support Palestinian rights."
CAIR also often sponsors rallies where attendees display banners or signs with antisemitic phrases, and CAIR never disavows those atrocious slogans. At a May 11, 2021 protest rally in Los Angeles, attendees bellowed: "Long live Palestine, death, death to Israel" and another chant in Arabic, was translated into English as, "with our blood and our souls, we would sacrifice for Palestine." In response to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey's tweet in 2021, "Arizona stands with Israel," Rehab responded, "Governor Doug Ducey stands with powerful AIPAC lobbyists in fear of losing reelection financing."
In 2021, at the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) conference, Nihad Awad even called Israel's pre-1967 borders "occupied," stating, "we have to fight. We have to take the fight to the other side. Moving the U.S. embassy, our embassy, from Tel Aviv, which is occupied, to a city that's supposed to be protected under international law, to move that embassy, we should not accept that as a de facto." He went further, "we have to pressure the administration to take our embassy back to Tel Aviv. And inshallah [God willing], it will be free later." At the same AMP conference in 2021, CAIR's San Francisco Executive Director, Zahra Billoo, urged the American Muslim community to distance themselves from "polite Zionists." She stated, "we need to pay attention to the Anti-Defamation League. We need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation, the Zionist Synagogues, Hillel chapters on our campuses."
On November 4, 2023, Ayloush posted on his Facebook page, "Couldn't the Zionists have chosen an empty land to establish their supremacist project outside of Palestine?" Zainab Chaudry (MD-CAIR) posted on her Facebook page on or about December 26, 2023: "Zionist arrogance and entitlement has nothing to do with God and everything to do with self-interest." Abdullah Jaber, Florida's CAIR Executive Director, posted a video on his Facebook page on or about December 5, 2023, where he argued that Jews who back Israel are not the chosen people. "If someone out there believes that committing a genocide is okay and that makes you chosen of God, then I am sorry. Definitely you don't know God, or there is no God to you."
The executive director of the Muslim civil rights group the Council on American-Islamic Relations faced controversy over comments he made about Hamas's 7 October surprise attack on Israel, with Israel supporters accusing him of praising the event. Nihad Awad, who made the comments in question at a conference on 24 November 2023, was speaking at the American Muslims for Palestine [a HAMAS linked group] gathering in Chicago, when he was recorded by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) [an Israel-linked group].
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on October 7. And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, that they were not allowed to walk in. And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defence, have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defence," Awad said, as the audience responded with applause.
Video footage of his speech saw widespread news coverage, including news that the White House had apparently removed CAIR from a website showing organisations that have been working with the US administration on antisemitism. “We condemn these shocking, antisemitic statements in the strongest terms,” said Mr. Biden’s spokesman, Andrew Bates. “The horrific, brutal terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 were, as President Biden said, ‘abhorrent’ and represent ‘unadulterated evil.’”
He also said, "The hatred, the prejudice, the violence, the discrimination against Jews because of their faith or their life or their religious practices is a hateful mindset, behavior and action. We as human beings, as Muslims, as Palestinians, see it as evil the way it is, and [it] should be condemned because antisemitism is a real phenomenon, a real evil, and it has to be rejected and combated by all people regardless of their faith tradition, ideology, or those people who have no ideology. It is an attack on humanity and should be clearly condemned by all people."
In a statement on December 7, 2023, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said: “The average Palestinians who briefly walked out of Gaza and set foot on their ethnically cleansed land in a symbolic act of defiance against the blockade and stopped there without engaging in violence were within their rights under international law; the extremists who went on to attack civilians in southern Israel were not. Targeting civilians is unacceptable, no matter whether they are Israeli or Palestinian or any other nationality.”
While Awad said in 1994 that he was “in support of the Hamas movement,” he said in 2006 that “I don’t support Hamas today,” and CAIR has denied any ties to the group or support for terrorism.
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