Why is this day different from all other days?
For the first time since the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) backtracked in June on its MEF-prompted condemnation of an American Muslim for Palestine (AMP) staffer’s blatant anti-Semitism, a CAIR branch has condemned an instance of anti-Semitism at MEF’s urging.
This week, we contacted CAIR-Los Angeles director Hussam Ayloush to ask for comment on anti-Semitic flyers that were distributed across the Los Angeles area. The flyers equated a swastika with a Jewish star and opined against, “The murder of innocent women and children by a Rothschild led Jewish Zionist armed militia to forcibly confiscate the Land of Palestine now known as Israel.”
After we wrote to Mr. Ayloush, CAIR Los Angeles posted a press release condemning the flyers.
While we welcome this denunciation of bigotry, CAIR’s ready condemnation of this example of anti-Semitism stands in stark contrast to dozens of other instances we have presented to CAIR officials in recent months. This March alone, we also contacted CAIR-National and CAIR-Philadelphia to ask for comment on the hateful sermons by a Philadelphia imam of the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society—a community with which CAIR-Philadelphia has worked in the past.
In his sermons, the imam, Abdelmohsen Abouhatab, asserts that Jews control the media and the “riches of the world.” His bigotry is easily as pernicious as that displayed on the flyers. Yet, in this case, CAIR has refused to condemn the hate.
CAIR seems perfectly able to proclaim its disapproval for “all forms” of anti-Semitism when the hate is likely comes from non-Muslim or right-wing sources. But, when confronted with Islamist anti-Semitism, CAIR dispenses with its ostensible convictions and looks the other way.
