A message from CAIR

 

CAIR Calls on NY Elected Officials to Apologize for Marching with Racists and War Criminals, Repudiate Israel's Genocide The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on New York elected officials who participated in the Israel Day Parade to apologize for marching alongside extremist Israeli officials with records of racist, anti-Palestinian incitement and to publicly repudiate Israel’s genocide in Gaza, among other ongoing crimes against humanity.   SEE: Far-right Israeli Ministers Join Thousands at Israel Day Parade in New York - Haaretz   Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich participated in the annual parade in New York City. He has faced widespread international condemnation for racist rhetoric, support for illegal settlements, and advocacy of genocidal policies targeting Palestinians civilians.   In 2024, CAIR said his call to “annihilate” cities and refugee camps in Gaza was evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent.   In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:   “New York elected officials who chose to march in the Israel Parade alongside genocidal leaders like Bezalel Smotrich and ignore the Israeli government's ongoing crimes against humanity should apologize to their constituents and to all people of conscience.    "Smotrich and other officials who attended this march have enacted racist and violent policies that would be unacceptable from any other public figure. Their participation in a public celebration American soil, and the willingness of American politicians to appear alongside them, helps normalize hatred, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.   “New York officials who claim to support human rights, racial justice, and religious freedom cannot credibly stand with figures who have openly advocated the dispossession and dehumanization of Palestinians. Every elected official who participated in this event must repudiate Israel’s genocide in Gaza, renounce the racist ideology Smotrich represents, and apologize for validating it.”   CAIR has repeatedly condemned Smotrich’s racist and genocidal actions and rhetoric, most recently condemning his order for Israeli authorities to uproot 3,000 Palestinian trees in the occupied West Bank.   Last week, CAIR’s New York chapter called on public officials in New York City to condemn racist chants at a rally against Mayor Mamdani. READ MORE

CAIR, CAIR-SFBA Condemn Appointment of Racist Venture Capitalist Shaun Maguire to Pentagon Board In a statement, CAIR and CAIR-SFBA said:   “Someone with a history of racist and bigoted remarks has no place advising the Pentagon. Appointing Shaun Maguire to a Defense Department advisory board sends a disturbing message to every American who supports human rights and the First Amendment. The U.S. military, which includes thousands of Muslim service members, should reject anti-Muslim hate, not reward those who promote it with positions of influence and authority.” READ MORE

CAIR in the News Video: CAIR-MN, CAIR LDF File Federal Lawsuit Against DHS, ICE, for Illegal Targeting and Search of Twin Cities Organizer Advocating for ICE Divestment Video: CAIR-Texas Sees Increase in Reports of Anti-Muslim Incidents CAIR: San Diego’s Muslim community looks to healing in wake of mosque attack. ‘We must find a greater love.’ – San Diego Union-Tribune Tazheen Nizam, executive director of the San Diego office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, said the pain might last forever, even as healing beings. “This is such a devastating act of violence that the community went through. This is such a devastating loss. The grieving in the sense of mourning and crying and all that might stop, but the pain is going to be there. And that wound that has been inflicted on us may never heal completely,” she said. That pain has many facets, she added. There is the “front and center” feeling when children return to the school after the holiday and don’t see Amin. The “back of their mind” feeling when they visit the center. The pain that “we were subject to this, and many questions about the reasoning, and what-ifs.” CAIR: Trump adds another controversial Silicon Valley investor to his team – San Francisco Chronicle CAIR: SF Trump-Backing VC Lands Pentagon Tech Gig, Sparks Uproar - Hoodline CAIR: Muslim Groups Criticize Lieutenant Governor for Calling Religion “Demonic Death Cult” – WZDM CAIR: Muslim families look to Arabic immersion education to give their children a foundation in faith and identity - WBEZ