MAR 29, 2024 JLM 69°F 06:04 PM 11:04 AM EST
Fact-Checking the CAIR, ADL Flame War regarding Zahra Billoo

A pretty remarkable thing happened last weekend. The leaders of two organizations which are supposed to be in business to fight bigotry took turns accusing each other of engaging in bigotry.

One party is right. But having us say so doesn't go far. So consider this an invitation to American news outlets which engage in fact-checking to examine the statements from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and sort out fact from fiction for readers and viewers.

The fight was sparked by comments, which the Investigative Project on Terrorism first reported Dec. 1, made by CAIR's San Francisco chapter director Zahra Billoo during a Thanksgiving weekend conference hosted by the anti-Israel group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

After seeing her boss, CAIR co-founder and Executive Director Nihad Awad, call Tel Aviv – Israel's most populous city – "occupied," Billoo warned her audience not to distinguish between "the vehement fascists" among pro-Israel voices in America, including me, and "the polite Zionists."

In Billoo's thinking, if you think Israel should continue to exist, you're an enemy.

In the wake of criticism, CAIR issued a statement Friday that denied that Billoo said anything objectionable, and accused her critics of mounting an "online smear campaign," asserting it was an example of "false allegations of anti-Semitism in a cynical attempt to silence American Muslims who speak up for Palestinian human rights."

It singled out ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who called Billoo's remarks, "textbook vile, #antisemitic, conspiracy-laden garbage attacking the mainstream US Jewish community" and "something you would expect from white supremacists."

Greenblatt "claims to be an ally in the fight against Islamophobia," CAIR's statement said, "while regularly weaponizing Islamophobia against American Muslims."

Somehow, CAIR claimed the reference to white supremacists as sexist: "Comparing a female Muslim civil rights leader to a white supremacist is a disgusting yet unsurprising new low," it said.

Then, CAIR went all Pee-wee Herman on the ADL. It "supported unconstitutional laws punishing political boycotts of Israel" and Greenblatt dared to attend a ceremony celebrating the U.S. Embassy in Israel's move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite the presence of "bigots like Benjamin Netanyahu, John Hagee and Robert Jeffress ..."

CAIR then turned to social media to accuse the Jerusalem Post of "lying" in a story published Sunday that accurately quoted Billoo's comments.

Greenblatt responded by saying Billoo continued "a long campaign to push American Jews out of social justice and civil rights spaces." Her comments and CAIR's defense were "both blatant acts of antisemitism."

All I can say is welcome to the party. Some of us have been sounding the alarm about CAIR's support for Hamas and antisemitism since the 1990s. Perhaps that's why CAIR smears people like Daniel Pipes and me as "vehement fascists."

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Comments
John Tucker 16:27 21.12.2021
CAIR is an evil organization, it should be destroyed. CAIR = don't care about nobody except Muslims.
Susan Medrano 13:09 21.12.2021
I am Irish & I live in Ventura. That does not give me the right to claim this as my Homeland. God gave Israel to His people & they have the right to fight!
Moshe Moses 11:20 21.12.2021
Johnathan Greenblatt head Jewish Anti Defamation League. G-d has opened your eyes to the real racist Jew & Israel hater Zara Billo Hamas Terror supporter ,Council Islamic Relations,
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