In an earlier move to address antisemitism, President Joe Biden’s administration worked with an Islamic organization that is now backing the anti-Israel, anti-America protests overtaking college campuses.
Amid the Israel-Hamas war, anti-Israel protesters across America have set up encampments on college campuses, overtaken buildings and refused to comply with orders to disperse. Others have replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy organization, has voiced its support for the encampments while condemning police interference.
Last year, the White House consulted CAIR while developing the country’s first-ever national strategy to combat antisemitism. The Biden administration has frequently touted the strategy when discussing antisemitism, particularly as the campus protests have intensified.
Back in May of 2023, the organization was first chosen by the Biden administration to help “launch a tour to educate religious communities about steps they can take to protect their houses of worship from hate incidents, such as instituting appropriate security measures, developing strong relationships with other faith communities, and maintaining open lines of communication with local law enforcement,” an archived version of a White House fact sheet reads.
U.S. President Joe Biden, left, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. Miriam Alster/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
But after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, the White House moved to cut ties with CAIR due to remarks by the organization’s co-founder and national executive director, the New York Post reported. The organization’s name was later scrubbed from the fact sheet in December 2023.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” Nihad Awad, CAIR’s co-founder, said in November. “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 land that they were not allowed to walk in.”
“We condemn these shocking, antisemitic statements in the strongest terms,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates previously told the Post after the remarks were circulated online by the the Middle East Media Research Institute.
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad at AMP Convention: I Was Happy to See the People of Gaza Break the Siege on October 7; They Were Victorious; the People of Gaza Have the Right to Self-Defense – Israel Does Not #Hamas #Gaza #Palestinians @CAIRNational @NihadAwad pic.twitter.com/WDbSRjFJo0
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 7, 2023
After going silent for nine days, Biden finally gave remarks on the protests plaguing U.S. institutions this week. In his brief and unexpected remarks, Biden condemned violent and unlawful protests, but added that the National Guard shouldn’t intervene.
CAIR hit Biden for the remarks, criticizing the president for failing to condemn police trying to break up the encampments. The organization has weighed in on a variety of protests occurring at schools, generally in a supportive manner.
“To make matters worse, President Biden’s vague, both-sides speech failed to specifically mention and condemn the violent attacks that pro-Israel rioters and law enforcement officers have launched against students protesting the Gaza genocide at UCLA and other schools across the country,” CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a press release.
The president has continued to face backlash to his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Some has even come from within the president’s own administration and campaign staff.
In November, a coalition of State Department staffers petitioned the president to demand that Biden call for a ceasefire, something at the time the administration was against. A series of anonymous staffers on the president’s campaign staff petitioned in January, arguing that Biden is complicit in genocide. (RELATED: Biden Seemingly Threatens To Condition Aid To Israel If Civilian Casualties Aren’t Addressed)
“It is not enough to merely be the alternative to Donald Trump. The campaign has to shift the feeling in the pits of voters’ stomachs, the same feeling that weighs on us every day as we fight for your reelection. The only way to do that is to call for a ceasefire,” the January letter states.