SWC: White House Must Condemn CAIR’s Celebration of Hamas’ October 7th Atrocities

December 7, 2023

Remove the Hate Group from the List of Resources from its National Strategy to Combat Anti-Semitism

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling, once again, on the White House to remove Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)  as one of its resources for their anti-Semitism initiative. This comes on the heels of Nihad Awad, the Executive Director of CAIR who spoke at the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) convention in Chicago on November 24, 2023, saying that he was happy to see the people of Gaza "break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp” on October 7th. 

“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,”Awad added. “Gaza transformed many minds around the world, including people who are not Muslim. What kind of faith do these people have? They are thankful, they are not afraid. Israel did not scare them because they knew their heaven is in Gaza, and if they would like to die, they will go to another heaven.”

“Civil rights group? No! CAIR is a blatant anti-Semitic hate group that openly legitimizes the mass murder of Jewish families, rape of Jewish girls and women and kidnapping of hostages of babies, and the elderly from Israel, the US, and many other nations. Instead of condemning the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, its leader declared Hamas’ crimes against humanity as a victory for the Palestinian people,” declared Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC Associate Dean and Global Social Action Director.

For further information, please email Michele Alkin, Director of Global Communications at malkin@wiesenthal.com or Shawn Rodgers at srodgers@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rights organization. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS, and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).