Here is a good example of how the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) uses spurious claims of victimhood in order to deflect attention away from the root causes of the 9/11 attacks, and of Islamic jihad terrorism in general. Note that Amr Shabaik of CAIR-LA doesn’t provide any actual evidence for the assertion that Muslim students are “vulnerable” or would be “marginalized” by honest discussion of what happened on September 11, 2001. All he offers are feelings: “The survey, conducted by CAIR California in 2018-2019, revealed that nearly 1 in 3 Muslim students do not feel safe, welcomed and respected at school, with 29.35% of students reporting that school staff made offensive comments about Islam or Muslims at school.”
The possibility that many Muslim students do not feel safe, welcomed or respected doesn’t actually tell us anything about the behavior of administrators or students. All it tells us is that many Muslim students do not feel safe, welcomed or respected. Their feelings may be entirely unjustified by the reality of the situation. Also, “29.35% of students” claim “that school staff made offensive comments about Islam or Muslims at school.” Offensive in whose eyes? Since Hamas-linked CAIR and so many other Muslim groups claim that any honest examination of the motivating ideology behind jihad terrorism is offensive, it is impossible to know whether the school staff really said something genuinely offensive, or simply made an accurate observation about Islam.
In any case, by advancing the wholly spurious claim that Muslim students are endangered by discussion of 9/11 that examines the role of Islamic doctrine in the events of that day, Hamas-linked CAIR clearly endeavors to shut down that discussion. Who benefits from that? What would be the result of students having no idea why the hijackers attacked on 9/11? They would be more complacent regarding the jihad threat than they might be otherwise. Apparently, that is what CAIR wants.
This is a tried-and-true tactic. Many times when I have spoken around the country, at colleges and universities and elsewhere, local Muslims or Muslim students have claimed that they feel “endangered” or “threatened” by my presence. This is utterly absurd, as I have never called for, approved of, or applauded any violence, and if the Muslims in question aren’t jihadis or Sharia supremacists, I’m not talking about them anyway. But this tactic intimidates many cowardly non-Muslims into canceling such events, and that’s the goal from the start.
“CAIR-LA Encourages Educators to Discuss the Anniversary of 9/11 Without Marginalizing Already Vulnerable Muslim Students,” by Ayan Ajeen, Hamas-linked CAIR, September 10, 2020:
(LOS ANGELES, CA – 9/10/2020) – The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today announced it sent a letter to school districts and universities throughout the Greater Los Angeles area to encourage educators to promote diversity, inclusivity and mutual understanding when discussing the anniversary of September 11, 2001 (“9/11”).
In the letter dated Sept. 4, CAIR-LA Civil Rights Managing Attorney Amr Shabaik wrote:
“The tragic events of 9/11 exposed and widened society’s divisions and made the global community even more precarious as it pertains to the cooperative nature of nations and the rule of international law.
“Since then, federal, state, and local governments have all tried numerous methods with varying degrees of success to address America’s unresolved issues of racial, ethnic, and religious bias in order to reconcile our nation with its foundational values, such as religious freedom, diversity, and serving the world as a country of financial opportunity and political refuge.
“Many attempts also have been made by school administrators, district boards, and other nonprofit organizations to address and improve our nation’s loss of purpose and degrading culture. Unfortunately, despite their good intentions, some educators may be unaware of the biases that they impart upon their students.
To safeguard against such implicit or explicit biases in classrooms, we recommend proactively training your educators to facilitate a neutral lesson plan that teaches students about 9/11 in a nuanced way that does not conflate the entire religion of Islam with the tragic events of 9/11.”
READ: Letter to School re: 9/11
CAIR-LA also provided a list of educational resources for educators to supplement their lesson plans. Provided in those resources are recommended steps for instructor to take, including:
- Being sensitive to the religious diversity in your classroom and choose your language carefully when referring to the perpetrators. Educators should be mindful of stereotyping the Muslim community and how this could have an impact upon students.
- Being sensitive to the visual materials – photos, videos, audio – and their emotional nature and potential impact upon students. Choose materials that clearly meet the goals and objectives of the lesson.
- Instructors should avoid articulating their personal political beliefs about 9/11.
- Being sensitive to the vulnerability of students who have a history of trauma in their own lives and how they may connect this event to their personal experiences.
- Avoiding having students engage in educational activities that simulate the roles of perpetrators, bystanders, upstanders, etc.
Shabaik pointed to a recent report surveying approximately 1,500 Muslim students enrolled in public and private schools throughout the state of California.
The survey, conducted by CAIR California in 2018-2019, revealed that nearly 1 in 3 Muslim students do not feel safe, welcomed and respected at school, with 29.35% of students reporting that school staff made offensive comments about Islam or Muslims at school….