The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has advised the White House on combating antisemitism, gave K-12 parents and college students a template to denounce their school’s support of Israel in the wake of the Hamas terror attack.
Israel declared war over the weekend after being attacked by Hamas, a U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist organization, resulting in the deaths of over 1,300 Israelis and 3,000 more injured, with over 100 taken hostage, according to The Wall Street Journal. CAIR’s California chapter released template letters for students and their parents to use to call out their school or university if it puts out a statement in support of Israel, according to the press release.
“In the wake of Israel’s recent assault on Gaza, many schools and universities have recently released one-sided statements of support for Israel that have been emailed to students, families, and community members in their school districts,” CAIR of California wrote. “The schools’ statements fail to acknowledge the dispossession of the Palestinian people under the illegal Israeli occupation and apartheid system or their humanity as they are bombarded and killed by Israeli forces.”
An IDF soldier walks past body bags of over 20 dead Hamas militants with the word “terrorist” written in Hebrew, on a main field at Kibbutz Be’eri, where dozens of civilians were killed days earlier near the border with Gaza on October 11, 2023, in Be’eri, Israel. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
CAIR’s templates for both colleges and K-12 schools, which read the same, argue that support of Israel is “unbalanced and bias[ed]” since it does not acknowledge “the ongoing and historical suffering and death of Palestinians.” The letters accuse Israel of keeping Palestinians in an “open-air prison” and engaging in a 15-year “siege and blockade” of the Gaza Strip.
Israel ended its military occupation of Gaza in 2005, according to the New York Times. The Jewish state has been providing water and electricity in the area for years, but recently cut off access to the resources in an effort to regain the hostages taken during the attacks, according to multiple reports.
“It is essential that your school keep in mind that the Palestinian people have endured decades of dispossession, dehumanization, and annexation under the illegal Israeli occupation and apartheid system,” the letters read. “Their humanity should be recognized and respected as they face the devastating consequences of violence, including the recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.”
The letters briefly mention the conflict in Israel over the weekend, saying that while violence against civilians should not be condoned, schools need to “identify the overwhelming hypocrisy” of supporting the Jewish state but not supporting Palestinians in the past.
The White House announced its “National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism” in May and listed CAIR as one of the organizations it had consulted on the project. CAIR’s national organization released a statement on Monday blaming Israel for the conflict and demanding that the Biden administration “oppose Israel’s ‘self-declared war crimes'” and made no mention of Hamas.
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