"Zionist synagogues," the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel and other Jewish organizations are "enemies" who are part of a conspiracy behind Islamaphobia, American police brutality, and US border control, according to a speech made by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) San Francisco executive director and former Women's March board member Zahra Billoo.
"When we talk about islamophobia, we often think of the vehement fascists... but I also want us to pay attention to the polite Zionists, the ones that say 'let's just break bread together,'" said Billoo on November 27 at the American Muslims for Palestine's (AMP) Annual Convention for Palestine in the US.
According to Billoo, the reason that these organizations were coming after Muslims is that they are afraid that Muslims advocate for Black Lives Matter, police accountability, homelessness, against poverty, for the environment and "a free Palestine." Consequently, they "must come after us," said Billoo.
"We need to pay attention to the Anti-Defamation League, we need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation, we need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues, we need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on our campuses."
Billoo works for CAIR, a "nonprofit, grassroots civil rights and advocacy organization" that is "America’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization."
Later in the speech, Billoo called on attendees to oppose the organizations she previously described as "the polite Zionists."
"Oppose the vehement fascists, but oppose the polite Zionists, too. They are not your friends... When we talk about Islamaphobia and Zionism let's be clear about the connections."
AMP describes itself as "a national education and grassroots-based organization" seeking to spread information about Palestinians. Billoo's remarks came at their 14th annual convention, themed “On the Road to Free Palestine.” The conference took place in Chicago from November 25-27.
Billoo advised the AMP convention to "know your enemies," which were "the Zionist organizations" and "the foreign policy organizations who say they're not zionists but want a two-state solution."
The reason that Billoo described them as enemies was the assertion that Zionist organizations were behind the propagation of Islamophobia and various ills afflicting the United States.
Throughout her speech, Billoo referred repeatedly to the connection between Islamophobia and Zionism, claiming that "Islamophobia is a well-funded conspiracy, a well-funded project — A well-funded project to marginalize us."
"We have to connect the dots between the organizations that promote Zionist agendas materials marketing and legislation are the same ones that want to ban Muslims, are the same ones that want to pass anti-sharia legislation," she said.
She explained that the Israeli military trained police officers in the United States to "kill unarmed black men, women and children." Further, the technology "used at the US-Mexico border is the same technology used at the apartheid wall."
David Lange, Executive Director of Israellycool Israel Advocacy, who discovered and publicized the statements on Thursday, said Billoo's speech was "incitement" that "could lead to bloodshed."
Billoo was briefly a board member of the Women's March before she was ousted for a series of radical tweets that were called antisemitic at the time. She described the reports about her as "an Islamophobic smear campaign led by the usual antagonists."
"The extremist, fringe nature of these positions are clear in the unapologetic use of antisemitic tropes in describing the Jewish community and direct calls for enmity with Jewish Federations, the ADL, and Hillel, organizations that, together with others, represent the vast majority of the US Jewish community," stated the Jewish Federations of North America.
"We call on people of all faiths to reject these outrageous statements, which we will not allow to undermine our long history of cooperation and friendship with the American Muslim community.”