More than 10,000 people sign: Investigate Omar, Tlaib and CAIR
Hundreds turn out to protest against Omar's talk in Los Angeles.
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANStop Antisemitism staged a large protest outside the Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles where Ilhan Omar was speaking on March 23, 2019(photo credit: GENE BLEVINS)
An online petition calling on US Attorney General William Barr and special antisemitism envoy Elan Carr to take a deep look at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has reached 10,000 signatures.“It has just been about a week and we are very excited,” said Liora Rez, co-founder of the organization Stop Antisemitism, which launched the petition on change.org. “But what we want is for Barr and Carr to investigate CAIR’s ties to Hamas and how Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are involved with this organization, which we feel is extremely troubling.”The petition calls into question what lies behind CAIR and states that the organization helped get these Muslim women into office. It further explains that CAIR was founded following a 1993 meeting in Philadelphia of the US Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, which the Department of Justice has described as a covert organization established to support Hamas.In 2007, CAIR was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case that found Holy Land Foundation responsible for siphoning over $12 million to Hamas. A 2009 ruling by US District Court Judge Jorge A. Solis determined that CAIR is Hamas.The CAIR website denies the above allegations and says the group is focused on combating “stereotyping and defamation.”The petition asks the following:“While these two Congresswoman are challenging the dual loyalty of the members of the Jewish-American community, since Ilhan and Rashida don’t have dual loyalty, WHO ARE THEY LOYAL TO?”The petition was launched only days before CAIR hosted Omar at its fourth Annual Valley Banquet in Los Angeles on March 23. Stop Antisemitism staged a large protest outside the Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles where Omar was speaking Saturday night.The protesters lined the sidewalks, waving Israeli and American flags and holding up signs saying “Omar equals hate” and various other slogans, supporting Israel and denouncing Omar.
Protesters staying at the Hilton waved large banners saying “CAIR hates Jews” and “Ilhan hates Israel” from their balconies.“We were happy the Jewish community and those who support the Jewish community came together as a whole and really showed that this has to stop,” said Rez. “These antisemitic tropes and continuous insults by Omar will not be tolerated.“We came together – Democratic and Republican, and everyone in the middle – this is a bipartisan effort to stop antisemitism,” Rez said.A smaller counter-protest rose up in support of Omar. Minor confrontations and verbal exchanges were reported by NBC 4 Los Angeles.Omar’s Saturday night address at the CAIR event was first brought to light by The Jerusalem Post, which was also among the first to document the politician’s antisemitic tweets. In February, Omar tweeted that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), whose annual policy conference is taking place this week in Washington, is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel.Democratic and Republican politicians condemned Omar’s remarks and she has since apologized. However, days later, she was once again caught up in a controversy over whether or not she would be speaking alongside Yousef Abdallah – who has advocated for violence against Jews and expressed antisemitic sentiments on his social media pages – at an Islamic Relief USA dinner on February 23.Omar did speak at the event, though Abdallah did not participate. The Islamic relief organization has also been accused of being antisemitic and anti-Israel.Rez said that Stop Antisemitism is a grassroots organization founded by a group of individuals interested in “waking up the American people.“It is time to unite and work together to eradicate the hatred that seeks to ruin our American way of life,” said Rez. “We said, ‘enough is enough.’ It will not end with antisemitism. Rising extremism and hatred in America threatens our values and way of life.”
To sign the petition, click here.Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.
