“CAIR’s new report claims to measure Islamophobia and free speech on campus. It doesn’t,” Mark Goldfeder, of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS.
Critics told JNS that a new rating of hostile campuses from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which blamed Israel for being attacked on Oct. 7 and which has a long history of anti-Israel statements, ought to be regarded with a lot of skepticism.
“CAIR has caused so much pain for American students in recent years with their statements and actions that it’s hard to believe they are genuinely concerned about hatred of any kind,” Jayne Zirkle, director of communications and outreach at the Lawfare Project, told JNS.
“With that being said, we are proud to stand against Islamophobia and for free speech always,” Zirkle said. “America’s students deserve campuses where ideas can be debated openly, faith can be expressed freely and alliances, like the U.S.-Israel relationship, can be explored without fear of bias or censorship.”
