The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Introduction

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that seeks to position itself as the leading American Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S.

Founded in 1994, the organization ostensibly focuses on responding to the proliferation of anti-Muslim incidents and sentiment nationwide, but key CAIR leaders often traffic in openly antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric. Some of CAIR’s leaders, such as Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive director, were previously involved in a now-defunct organization that openly supported Hamas and, according to the U.S. government, functioned as its “propaganda apparatus.” 

Awad also met with several members of the Muslim Brotherhood as recently as 2022. In an April 2024 Facebook post, Awad eulogized the late Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, who the U.S. and UN designated as a recruiter and fundraiser for al-Qaeda. According to The New York Times, al-Zindani was a “one-time mentor of Osama bin Laden.” The U.S. Treasury designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2004, accusing al-Zindani of recruiting for al-Qaeda training camps.

Following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, many of CAIR’s leaders defended or justified the unprecedented terror assault, and argued it was a “legitimate right” of the Palestinians to “resist the occupation.” Awad claimed that Israel did not have a right to defend itself after the attack and that he had been “happy” on October 7 “to see people breaking the siege.”

Over the years, some of CAIR’s leaders have also cultivated suspicion among the public toward a wide array of American Jewish institutions. For instance, Zahra Billoo, CAIR San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director, declared that “Zionists” are “your enemies.”

She warned followers to “pay attention” to “Zionist synagogues,” Hillels (the premier U.S. Jewish student organization) and Jewish Federations. When Billoo faced criticism for her remarks, CAIR National released a statement in support of her comments.

On October 7, as the scale of the assault was not yet clear, Billoo minimized the atrocities of the Hamas attack and said the world was “witnessing decolonization.”

Awad has often engaged in similar antisemitic rhetoric, claiming that “Zionist organizations” are “enemies of the Muslim community” and that “Zionist organizations make up the core of the Islamophobia network in the United States.” He has also alleged that pro-Israel groups have “corrupted” the U.S. government and that Israel’s existence has no legitimacy.

Following Hamas’s attack on October 7, he further engaged in antisemitic tropes, such as denouncing the “Zionist lobby.”

CAIR leaders have also posited that pro-Israel organizations are responsible for U.S. police brutality, and that “Zionists” and Israel are analogous to the Ku Klux Klan and ISIS. Billoo has expressed support for Hamas firing rockets at Israel, and has called for “Zionists” — the vast majority of Jews, who believe Israel has a right to exist — to be banned from antiracist, interfaith and LGBTQ+ work. Such rhetoric is an affront to the vast majority of American Jews, as well as to the vast majority of Jews around the world, for whom a connection to Israel is integral to their Jewish identities. (ADL defines Zionism as the movement for self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.) 

CAIR has also drawn controversy for its stances on LGBTQ+ issues, including its opposition to pro-LGBTQ+ materials in public school classrooms.

CAIR leaders’ antisemitic and inflammatory comments post October 7

Nihad Awad, national executive director, CAIR

On November 24, 2023, Awad made controversial statements at an American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) conference that were criticized by the White House and Jewish groups. He later said the comments were taken out of context:

• “The people of Gaza decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp on, October 7th. And yes. I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their lands that they were not allowed to walk in. And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense. And this is not me emotionally speaking. This is what the international law says, that occupier power has no self-defense from the territory it occupies.”

In February 2024, he invoked historic antisemitic tropes about Jewish control over political affairs and dual loyalty and charged that an immoral, corrupt "Zionist lobby" manipulated Congress into approving a $95 billion foreign aid bill that included $14 billion for Israel:

• “The Zionist lobby, or the pro-Israel lobby, was able to influence the Congress and the Senate to pass resolutions that give Israel $14 billion, regardless of the massacres. What is the reason for this moral and political corruption? It is because some institutions have managed to amass money over the years, and buy the loyalty of those [lawmakers]. The solution is that we liberate their loyalty from political corruption."

On July 16, 2024, three days after Donald Trump was injured in a shooting at a rally in Butler, PA that is being investigated as an assassination attempt, Awad tweeted a link to a CNN story about the Secret Service being on high alert in the weeks before the attack due to a potential threat on Trump's life from Iran. Awad commented on the story, which did not mention Israel: "Are you sure this is not an Israeli plot to ignite another war between the US and other countries in the Middle East at its behest?"

Hussam Ayloush, CEO and Executive Director, CAIR Greater Los Angeles Area

In November 2023, Ayloush compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and said it didn’t have a right to defend itself. At a teach-in hosted by the Islamic Society of Orange County, he said:

• “The myth or the claim ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’: no. An occupier never has the right to defend itself. Nazi Germany in France has no right to defend itself. Nazi Germany in Poland does not have the right to defend itself... you are an occupier. The only one who has the right to defend themselves are the occupied. In this case, the Palestinian people.”
• “Israel should be attacked. If you continue to occupy people's land, every means according to international law to defend and resist the occupation is [in] your hand…You choose to do it non-violently...good for you, no problem with that... You want to pick up arms and defend your people and your land, that is a legitimate right.”

On October 7, 2023, Ayloush wrote a post on Facebook, declaring that people should not be “so surprised and appalled” that Hamas launched the terror attack that day, which killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians

• “To all morally corrupt politicians or activists who only remember to comment when Israel is under attack while remaining hypocritically silent as Israel viciously attacks Palestinians every single day of the year. ... we should never act so surprised and appalled that such dehumanized people will lash out in such desperate ways and imitate (with a lesser scale) their oppressors. Palestinians are not different than any other people. They want to live free and with dignity on their own land. It is time we end this western hypocrisy that has allowed, funded and defended this Zionist brutality and colonial racism to go on for over 75 years. Peace requires justice.”

Zahra Billoo, Executive Director, CAIR San Francisco

On October 7, 2023, Billoo wrote a post on Facebook that appeared to justify the attack as a response to alleged Palestinian oppression, suggesting the victims were colonizers undergoing “decolonization.”

• “Pray for Gaza. We are witnessing decolonization.”

On May 15, 2024, Billoo claimed on X that anyone who is pro-Israel or who waves an Israeli flag is "pro-genocide."

Zainab Chaudry, Director of Maryland Outreach, CAIR Maryland

On October 7, 2023, Chaudry appeared to defend the Hamas terror attack in a Facebook post, calling it an “uprising” and labeling Israelis “colonizers” against which Hamas was engaging in “resistance”:

• “When you wake up to read media coverage of the uprising in Palestine, keep in mind that they are a people who are illegally occupied. Militarized occupation is inherently evil and violent The state of Israel was created through the oppression, persecution and subjugation of Palestinians. It sits on the graves of martyrs and people forcibly displaced from their homes, forced to endure humiliation, terror, desecration of their holy spaces. Thoughts and prayers fall from the lips and fingertips of elected officials who are sympathetic to the colonizers, but have ignored the rights and dignity of the colonized for decades. The thirst for freedom is an innate instinct we’re born with. Resistance is a reminder that it can’t be quenched through might and force.”

On October 9, 2023, she appeared to refer to Hamas terrorists as “Palestinian freedom fighters” in a post on Facebook:

• “ukrainian freedom fighters = heroes...palestinian freedom fighters = terrorists...that’s how western media and pundits spin the narrative. The pain of black, brown, arab people has always been diminished, tokenized, written off as inconsequential - often even by other people of color...It’s shameful and disappointing but not surprising to see elected officials scramble to show their support for an apartheid government that has been waging terror against Palestinians for decades, without ever having acknowledged how that same government has terrorized and incited the violence spreading in the region for decades”[all sic]

On October 17, 2023, Chaudry equated Israel to Nazi Germany in a Facebook post that included swastika imagery:

• “that moment when you become what you hated most.”

Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director, CAIR Chicago 

During an October 15, 2023, press conference, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab suggested that Joseph Czuba, the man charged with murdering a six-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy in the Chicago area, may be “of Jewish background:”

• “This individual, Joseph Czuba…there are claims that he is of Jewish background, and he was incensed by what happened in Israel.” Rehab later cautioned the Muslim community against taking revenge for the tragedy, saying, “Do not let the injustice of an individual or a people cause you to engage in an injustice.”

Abdullah Jaber, Executive Director, CAIR Florida

On November 14, 2023, Jaber stated at a Tallahassee, FL protest that he could not be accused of antisemitism because, he argues, Israeli Jews are not authentically Jewish:

• “Before anyone says ‘antisemite’…Israel is not a follower of Abraham, Moses, or Jesus.”

Salaedin Maksut, Executive Director, CAIR New Jersey

On October 7, 2023, Maksut posted on Facebook, negating the agency of Hamas in committing atrocities:

• “Occupation is the root of the problem."

Blatant and Classic Antisemitism from CAIR Leaders

Prior to October 7, some prominent CAIR officials, including Awad, Billoo, Ayloush and others, regularly infused their criticism of Israel with explicit antisemitic ideas that portray the mainstream American Jewish community as duplicitous and overly powerful.

Several CAIR leaders have expressed their view that Israel and “Zionists” control and corrupt the United States government; are the chief purveyors of Islamophobia; and oppress marginalized communities.

At an AMP convention in Chicago, Illinois in November 2021, Billoo stated:

• "I also want us to pay attention to the 'polite Zionists,' … We need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation [sic]. We need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues. We need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on our campuses. Just because they're your friend today doesn't mean that they have your back when it comes to human rights…know your enemies, and I'm not going to sugarcoat that they are your enemies.
• There are organizations and infrastructures out there who [sic] are working to harm you, make no mistake of it. They would sell you down the line if they could, and they very often do behind your back. ...so know your enemies."

In December 2021 at the annual MAS-ICNA (Muslim American Society and Islamic Circle of North America) conference in Chicago, Illinois, Awad, CAIR’s executive director, stated:

• "There are [sic] one segment of enemies of the Muslim community who will never give up their plots to undermine the Muslim community, and these are really the core of the Islamophobia network in the United States. In specific, Zionist organizations make up the core of the Islamophobia network in the United States. You know why? Because the only issue they care about is Israel. As long as you speak for the Palestinian people and stand up for justice you are their enemy and they will plot against you, they will spy on you, they will distort you, they will smear you."

On a few occasions, Awad has articulated the antisemitic allegation that Israel and pro-Israel organizations control and corrupt the United States government:

• Washington, D.C., August 2014: At an anti-Israel rally, Awad told the audience: “Do not accept Israeli talking points. AIPAC should have its hand off the United States Congress. They have corrupted our foreign policy; they have corrupted our political leaders.”
• July 2014, Twitter: “Israel lobby has corrupted American politicians by skewing US foreign policy to support killing of civilian population in #Gaza…”
• July 2014, Twitter: Awad alleged that U.S. policy toward the Palestinians was “driven by the Israel lobby.”

At an anti-Israel rally in New Jersey in May 2021, Maksut, CAIR’s New Jersey executive director, claimed that Israel bears responsibility for oppressing marginalized groups in the U.S. and implicitly tied Israel to the murderers of George Floyd:

• “We have to realize that the same foot and the same knee that is choking the Palestinian people is the same foot and the same knee that is choking the Black and Brown people in this country. The powers that are funding the oppression of the Palestinian people are the same powers that are funding the oppression of minority groups in this country. It is the same money. They are cutting the same checks. They are the same people. They are sitting in the same offices of government.”

In a December 2021 Facebook post, Ayloush, CAIR‘s Los Angeles executive director, wrote: “...Islamophobia is an industry mostly funded by global Zionist donors and foundations. That's an established fact."

In February 2023, Ayloush wrote on Facebook: “Ever wondered why our police is becoming more brutal, more racist, and more like an occupation army? Well, wonder no more. It is being trained by Israel!”

Rhetoric Supporting Terrorism Against Israel and Opposition to Israel’s Legitimacy

Some CAIR executives have expressed support for violence against Israel and a refusal to accept Israel’s existence. Awad has refused to condemn Hamas, and Billoo has justified Hamas rocket attacks. Ayloush has called for the Israeli “regime” to be “terminated.”

• In April 2004, When Awad was asked about Hamas during an Al Jazeera interview, he refused to condemn the group: “We do not condemn, and we will not condemn any liberation movement inside Palestine or inside Lebanon.” (CAIR has countered by noting that in 2006, Awad stated that he “[does] not support Hamas today.”)
• May 2023, Facebook: Awad: “Israel was created illegally and by force in Palestine in 1948 with the help of Britain and the United States.”
• November 2014, Twitter: Billoo quoted anti-Zionist activist Kathlyn Gadd in defense of Hamas’ practice of shooting rockets at civilian areas in Israel: “Blaming Hamas for firing rockets at [Apartheid] Israel is like blaming a woman for punching her rapist. #FreePalestine.”
• November 2018, Twitter: Ayloush: “Iran’s regime calling Israel a ‘cancerous tumor’ is like the pot calling the kettle black. All the people of that region will be better off once both murderous regimes are terminated.”
• Chicago, Illinois, November 2019: At American Muslims for Palestine’s annual convention, Billoo stated she is “not going to support [Israel’s] right to exist.”

Stigmatizing the Mainstream Jewish Community

Despite the well-documented fact that most American Jews identify in some way with Zionism, Zahra Billoo and Hussam Ayloush have repeatedly demeaned and disparaged Zionism and Zionists. Billoo has declared that no one should work with Zionists. Ayloush has compared Israel and Zionists to ISIS and the KKK and has weaponized the trauma of the Holocaust by suggesting that the actions of the “Zionist regime” are reminiscent of those that “led to...a Holocaust.”

Zahra Billoo:

• September 2019, Twitter: “Individuals who leave the United States to volunteer with Daesh [ISIS] and/or the Israeli[sic] Defense Forces are one in the same.”
• February 2015, Twitter: Billoo tweeted that she is “more afraid of racist Zionists who support Apartheid Israel than of the mentally ill young people the #FBI recruits to join ISIS.”
• Chicago, Illinois, November 2019: Billoo announced she would apply a “Palestine litmus test to any interfaith spaces” in which she participated, adding “if you want to be in community with me, my people and the Palestinians I work in solidarity with, then let’s have a conversation about how Israel as it exists today is an illegitimate state.”
• February 2019, Twitter: “Zionism, as a racist ideology, has no place in LGBTQ+ and antiracist movements whose goal is the liberation of all people.”

Hussam Ayloush:

• May 2021, Facebook: “No person with a conscience can be a Zionist.”
• May 2021, Facebook: “Shame on every politician, activist, journalist, or clergy who continues to excuse, justify, defend, or ignore the war crimes committed by the murderous apartheid Zionist regime for the past seven decades. When will your humanity awaken?... Please share with others to remind them that our silence in the past led to genocides and a Holocaust.”
• May 2021, Facebook: “Zionism and Judaism are not equivalent, any more than ISIS and Islam are, or the KKK and Christianity are. Don't confuse violent and bigoted political ideologies with peaceful religions.”
• June 2022, Facebook: "Zionism turns normal people into proud bigots who shamelessly endorse and justify segregation and apartheid.”

Controversies:

Early Controversy: Some CAIR Leaders’ Alleged Links to Hamas

CAIR was founded by several leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a radical anti-Israel organization that was once described by the U.S. government as part of the “propaganda apparatus” of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization (it is also viewed by the EU as a global terrorist organization). Nihad Awad, who was IAP’s Public Relations Director, became CAIR’s first Executive Director, a position he retains today. 

IAP, which was active in the U.S. from 1981 until about 2004 and is now defunct, was explicit in expressing support for Hamas. A December 1989 communiqué stated: “The only way to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine, is the path of Jihad… Hamas is the conscience of the Palestinian Mujahid people.” In 1987, immediately following the establishment of Hamas, IAP began to print and distribute Hamas literature, including Hamas communiques. IAP also circulated the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

CAIR was also linked to the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a Texas-based charity whose founders were convicted in 2009 for providing material support to Hamas. Ghassan Elashi, the CEO of HLF, was, according to the Sacramento Bee, a founding member of CAIR’s Dallas chapter. For his part, Awad has stated that “Elashi was a former member of CAIR in Dallas.” HLF was the chief fundraising arm of The Palestine Committee in the U.S., of which CAIR was a member. The Palestine Committee was created by the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas’s parent organization) and was headed by Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook. Since 1995, Marzook has been designated by the U.S. government as a Specially Designated Terrorist.

In May 2009, HLF’s five founding officers, including Elashi, were sentenced to prison for financing terrorism by funneling more than $12 million to Hamas. According to news reports, evidence presented at the trial demonstrated that other CAIR leaders were also linked to HLF and Hamas activity in the U.S.  

Throughout the HLF trial, CAIR organized support for the defendants and joined several other organizations, including the Muslim American Society (a non-profit educational and religious organization), to form the “Hungry for Justice” coalition in support of HLF. Two CAIR leaders acted as media contacts, while Khalil Meek of CAIR’s Dallas chapter served as the coalition’s primary spokesperson.

CAIR was included on a 2007 Department of Justice list of nearly 250 “unindicted co-conspirators” in the HLF case. A federal appeals court subsequently ruled that the government had been wrong to make the list public, and the list has since been re-sealed. In response to CAIR’s involvement with the Holy Land Foundation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) decided to “suspend formal contacts” with the group.

Meetings with Members of Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Republic of Iran

In May 2022, Awad met with several members of the Global Muslim Brotherhood in Qatar, including Abu Jarra Sultani (former leader of an Algerian Islamist party) and Ibrahim Abu Mohammed (former Grand Mufti of Australia). Sultani has described the perpetrators of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo terror attack in Paris as “individuals who decided to avenge [the prophet Muhammad].” In 2004, Sultani was signatory to a letter also signed by terrorist leaders Hassan Nasrallah, of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, and Hamas’s Khaled Mashaal calling for “jihad” and “military resistance” against Israel. Abu Mohammed met with Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh during a trip to Gaza in 2012, and initially refrained from condemning the Charlie Hebdo attack. 

A decade prior to meeting with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, in December 2012, Awad traveled to Qatar, where he shared a stage with the late radical Islamist preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi at a press conference promoting a movie about the Prophet Muhammad. Al-Qaradawi was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, engaged in blatant antisemitism and repeatedly expressed support for terror against Israel, including suicide bombings, and terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah. 

Separately, CAIR leaders have also engaged with the Iranian regime to appeal for the release of detained American citizens.

Controversies Related to LGBTQ+ Issues:

CAIR has also waded into controversy regarding the LGBTQ+ community, opposing pro-LGBTQ+ content in public school classrooms; calling for constituents to report when a transgender girl uses a girl’s locker room; and supporting the banning of Pride flags on public property. CAIR Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid has been particularly vocal on LGBTQ+ issues. Responding to a report that Atlanta is considered the most LGBTQ+ friendly city in America, Walid complained that such a development made the city “the capital of debauchery.”

• Dearborn, Michigan, October 2022: Dawud Walid: “they're in the locker room in school, and some guy says that he's a girl and then wants to be in the locker room when our daughters are changing their clothes. Right? Right. This makes it then impossible for them to take off their scarves, much less change their clothing in the locker room. This is a serious issue. So we, if this ever happens, if you hear about this happening in Dearborn, to contact us about this immediately...”
• June 2023: Speaking in support of the city of Hamtramck’s decision to ban LGBTQ+ flags on public property, Walid said: “Flags carry symbolism. Those symbols carry social and political messages."
• Atlanta, Georgia, July 2023: Walid stated: “...like you said, Atlanta is now considered the most friendly homosexual, lesbian, transgender city in America ...how was Atlanta in the 80s and 90s seen as a Black Mecca for the African American people and now it's known to be the capital of debauchery?"
• May 2023: CAIR Maryland, as part of the Family Rights for Religious Freedom coalition and in its individual organizational capacity, opposed the lack of an opt out for lessons in Montgomery County Public Schools containing pro-LGBTQ+ materials. They cited parental rights to their children’s education.