Despite its apparent disdain for progressive activism, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is still willing to provide legal cover for leftist radicals, especially when they prepare to harass Jews and Zionists on college campuses on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre. The organization has allied with the lawyers from Palestine Legal to advocate for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), in its fight to hold a pro-Hamas “vigil” at the University of Maryland on Monday, October 7. CAIR and Palestine Legal filed suit on behalf of SJP after school officials denied the organization permission to hold the event, citing security concerns.
In response to CAIR’s legal challenge to the school’s decision, United States District Court Judge Peter J. Messitte ruled in favor of SJP on October 1. Consequently, SJP will be able to use October 7 to initiate another round of chaos-inducing protests, just like the rallies that disrupted higher education during the spring semester of 2023. Predictably, CAIR is jubilant.
“We’re excited that the judge did the right thing and stood by the First Amendment,” said Gadeir Abbas, senior litigation attorney with CAIR. “There still may be tension. There still may be, vigorous disagreement, but that’s by design. That’s what the First Amendment is for.”
CAIR frequently pays lip service to the First Amendment but gets furious when its opponents exercise their own right to free speech. For example, CAIR called for the ouster of Tennessee State Rep. Andy Ogles when he declared, “Death to Hamas” and “Kill them all,” after anti-Israel advocates confronted him in February, 2024. In CAIR’s world, it’s okay to incite harassment of Jews on college campuses with false accusations of being “genocide” supporters, but calling for the defeat of America’s enemies, who have kidnapped and killed U.S. citizens, while making public calls for Israel’s destruction, isn’t okay.
CAIR, which was founded by Nihad Awad after he met with Hamas leaders in a Philadelphia hotel room in 1993, displayed a similar hypocrisy when the group’s Minnesota director, Jaylani Hussein, was challenged by a small group of people outside chambers at the Lino Lakes City Hall in Minnesota in August. After the confrontation, Hussein became hysterical and ran to the media saying he was forced out of City Hall by followers of City Councilman Chris Lyden. At a press conference, Jaylani called for people in Lino Lakes to force Lyden to resign using an as-yet-not-public email as the pretext.
And CAIR asserted its First Amendment rights when it turned the town of Toms River, New Jersey against Dan Leonard for mocking and scoffing on social media at Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and sharia law. The organization did nothing to calm the situation down after Leonard’s daughter received rape threats. And it used these same rights to turn the citizens of Dearborn, Michigan, against city employee Bill Larion for using the word “camels” in a Facebook post. ABC affiliate WXYZ was a willing participant in Larion’s persecution.
The upshot is that CAIR uses the First Amendment to legitimize pro-Hamas activism by SJP, which is well-known for inciting violence against Jews on college campuses. While it uses the First Amendment to defend such behavior, it then assails the rights of others to express anti-Hamas sentiment. Despite numerous instances of CAIR displaying its loyalty to Hamas after October 7, media outlets rely on the organization for commentary more than ever.