Although the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has a long and documented history of attacking Jews and Israel, many American elected officials don't seem to mind.
A November 20 Chicago virtual fundraiser sponsored by the self-professed American Muslim civil rights organization, drew five members of Congress, a US senator, governor, and attorney general. They praised the group's fight against hate and bigotry, and its alleged commitment to justice.
"For decades, CAIR-Chicago has been the leading Muslim community organization in the area," claimed Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D). It has "been at the forefront of so many issues, protecting civil liberties, informing your voters, providing services to the community."
Not only was Durbin "proud of CAIR-Chicago's leadership in our community," but he also looked forward to working with it on "many shared goals."
More than 50 elected officials, including Durbin, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also sent CAIR-Chicago letters to help its annual fundraiser.
Pritzker described CAIR-Chicago's achievements as "remarkable." Others praised CAIR's role as "a crucial voice for the Muslim community" in the fight against "bigotry and hate."
But no speaker mentioned the bigoted message and antisemitic narratives pushed by CAIR since its founding more than 25 years ago. Nor did they explain how it was possible to fight bigotry and hate when the organization is led by bigots and haters.
"F*** Zionism. And F*** you too France," wrote CAIR's National Strategic Communications Director and Chicago chapter Director Ahmed Rehab in 2019, after the French parliament adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)'s working definition of antisemitism.
Rehab has a history of spewing antisemitic hate. While a DePaul University student in 1996, he wrote an essay that minimized the Holocaust, and claimed an exchange he saw on a Charlie Rose show "confirmed the Jewish control over the media."
A forthcoming Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) book will expose details of CAIR's long history of incendiary antisemitic statements, and show how they violate the IHRA's working definition of antisemitism, adopted by the US State Department in 2016, and by numerous world governments since.
Hamas military wing leader Muhammed Siyam spoke at the 1995 New Year's convention in Los Angeles. "Finish off the Israelis," he said. "Kill them all! Exterminate them! No peace ever! Do not bother to talk politics." Copies of the notorious antisemitic forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were sold at the same conference. A MAYA conference in August 1994 distributed an IAP booklet called "America's Greatest Enemy: THE JEW! and an UNHOLY ALLIANCE," which featured Jewish and Zionist conspiracies for global domination, as well as Holocaust denial claims.
As IAP's progeny, CAIR continues to serve the same agenda. Its leadership has repeatedly pushed dual-loyalty smears, canards about Jewish control over American policy, described Israel as a racist and genocidal state, and called for its destruction.
In August, Awad protested President Biden's meeting with new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Hosting Bennett, Awad argued, is as bad as welcoming the Taliban to the White House.