Council on American-Islamic Relations Arizona Chapter Invites ‘Squad’ Member Rep. Rashida Tlaib to Speak at Banquet

M.D. Kittle

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) bills itself as a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding, with a mission to “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”

CAIR is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, say Jewish groups that have watched the council vilify Israel and stand silent on the unholy warriors of Hamas.

The Arizona chapter of CAIR, based in Mesa, has followed the lead of the national chapter, which, one day after Hamas launched a terrorist attack against innocent Israeli civilians, called for Jihad. The Muslim organization’s silence on the brutal actions of Hamas, the torture, rape, and murder of more than 1,400 human beings, was deafening.

“We all have a responsibility to do what we can for the people in Gaza. Speak out about the injustices taking place, write to your local officials, donate to verified sources,” CAIR-Arizona said on its X account.

The same account gushed about the upcoming appearance of Israel-hating U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12) at CAIR-Arizona’s annual banquet at the Sheraton Mesa at Wrigleyville.

We are honored to have US Representative Rashida Tlaib as our keynote speaker for this year’s banquet!” the group boasted in promoting the event titled, “Muslim-American Legacies: Past, Present and Future.”

The bombastic member of “the Squad,” a group of far-left congressional extremists, has been accused by even some of her most ardent liberal peers of “fanning the flames” in the Israel-Hamas war.

Tlaib has yet to delete a statement she made last week on her X account blaming Israel for bombing a hospital in Gaza despite overwhelming evidence the deadly explosion was the result of an errant rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad group and aimed at Israel.

“Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that. @POTUS this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate,” the congresswoman wrote to President Joe Biden. “Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslims Americans like me. We will remember where you stood.”

Tlaib’s post was so egregious it earned a community note explaining what actually happened.

The Palestinian American has led a group of a dozen far-left Democrats in calling for a ceasefire in the escalating Israel-Hamas war, a resolution that disregards Israel’s sovereign right to protect its citizens from terror.

“We all know collective punishment of millions of Palestinians is a war crime. No one – no one – can deny that,” Tlaib said last week on a press call. “The answer to war crimes can never be answered with more war crimes.”

Officials from CAIR-Arizona did not return The Star News Network’s request for comment.

Within hours of Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel, CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad tweeted in Arabic, “All Arab peoples must go out on Sunday, October 8, and every day, in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and in rejection of normalization with the occupier and the apartheid regime.”

As investigative reporter Susannah Johnston wrote over the weekend in National Review, Hamas’ charter rejects peace “initiatives” and “so-called peaceful solutions,” saying that “there is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.”

It’s more than anti-semitic rhetoric, Johnston notes.

“The U.S. government listed CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial that led to the closure of the HLF for funneling millions to Hamas and to lengthy prison sentences for key officials, including HLF chairman and treasurer Ghassan Elashi, who served as a founding board member of CAIR-TX,” the reporter for Focus on Western Islamism wrote.

“The Holy Land Foundation 5 are a group of wrongfully convicted humanitarians at the core of one of the biggest cases of US political persecution of the century,” wrote CAIR-FL in 2020.

Many of their allies clearly see Hamas as “freedom fighters,” not terrorists, as the U.S. government has long identified the militant group.

The Marriott Crystal Gateway hotel in Crystal City, Virginia., located in the shadow of the nation’s capital, reportedly canceled the Council on American-Islamic Relations planned annual banquet.

CAIR’s Awad told ABC News the banquet will go forward at a location that has not been publicly announced.

“The key message is that we’re not going to be stopped, silenced or intimidated,” Awad told the news organization.

In Texas, the Hilton Houston Post Oak by the Galleria canceled a conference scheduled Friday through Sunday by the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights over unspecified safety concerns.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) praised the hotel chain for “taking a moral and correct action” in canceling the “radical Jew-Hating, Israel-hating Hamas-linked CAIR (Council on Council on American Islamic Relations) national banquet that was scheduled at the Marriott Crystal for Saturday night, October 21, 2023.”

“CAIR blamed Israel for Hamas’ slaughter, rape, beheadings, torture and kidnapping of Israeli civilians, on the very same day the slaughter occurred, and since then. The CAIR banquet program featured notorious Israel-bashing speakers who foster antisemitism and incite and support terror against Israel,” ZOA President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Director of Research & Special Projects Liz Berney, Esq. said in a statement.

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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Rashida Tlaib” by Rashida Tlaib. 

 

 

 

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