Hamas-Linked CAIR’s Latest ‘Right to be Different’ Report

One of the problems (or advantages, depending on your point of view) with the civil rights reports of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is that no one actually reads them. If they did, they would find that CAIR is now classifying “Palestinian narratives” as a civil right.

Civil rights law, like that of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibits discrimination against or otherwise excluding individuals on the basis of race, color, or national origin. That is to say, what is forbidden is discrimination against people on the basis of immutable characteristics, not political positions. CAIR knows this. And they are ignoring it for a particular reason.

The “Palestinian” narratives may include accusing Israel of rape, torture, murder, and genocide. Denying the “Palestinians” a state. All of these accusations against Israel are used to justify what happened on October 7, 2023.

In the three weeks after October 7, CAIR officials appeared on television nearly 200 times. The message was consistent: the only way to stop the violence was to end the alleged “occupation.” Within weeks, this was accompanied by accusations of genocide. Later, it became demands for a ceasefire. And when the ceasefire did arrive, CAIR was on TV around the country nearly a dozen times, calling for renewed fighting. So now, of course, “Palestinians” are a protected class.

CAIR is the American branch of Hamas. It is here to bring support to Hamas in any way it legally can. Redefining “Palestinian” narratives as a civil right is part of that effort.

In CAIR’s previous civil rights reports, Israel appears dozens of times. Hamas appears two or three times. From the same people who brought you “Islam is a race,” now we hear that political narratives require Title VI protection.

Classifying a political narrative as a civil right implies that the narrative in question is being suppressed. The goal here is for universities to be legally required to take CAIR’s side. CAIR might call it “Palestinian” civil rights. It might be better understood as anti-Israel propaganda and self-promotion.

Most of the federal civil rights complaints CAIR filed in the time period covered in this report were with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. CAIR’s report states:

“New Jersey. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that Rutgers University ‘likely operated a hostile environment based on national origin/shared ancestry in university programs or activities without redress as required under Title VI.’ The OCR concluded that Rutgers University failed to respond effectively to discrimination reports made by Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students.” (CAIR, “The Right to Be Different,” 2024, p. 79)

And it does say that. If you leave out the Jewish part. The same letter documents over 104 reports of antisemitic harassment, tent encampments that blocked Jewish students from campus areas, and final exams that had to be postponed because of protests. What the letter actually describes is a campus divided between students trying to protest against Israel and students trying to take their finals.

The letter documents a student posting “go kill him” targeting a Jewish fraternity, eggs thrown at Jewish fraternity members, the Bildner Center for Jewish Studies egged, a “Die Jews Die” comment on Hillel’s social media, a swastika on a dorm room door, a defaced mezuzah, final exams postponed due to encampments, Jewish students blocked from campus areas, and Jewish students exiting a town hall through a back door to avoid protesters chanting “we don’t want Zionists here.”

Out of the three cases considered in the OCR’s letter to Rutgers, only one was about a policy dispute over hanging posters. The other two were about Jewish students.

Calling this a “victory” is CAIR expanding the meaning of the word to being noticed, and nothing more. Imaginary hate crimes and oppression for members of an imaginary country.

There is no evidence that the Danielle Wasserman case was a hate crime, but considerable evidence it is a case of malicious prosecution. CAIR’s report describes it this way:

“Illinois. Danielle Wasserman received hate crimes charges for her violent attacks and defacement of a Palestinian-Mexican solidarity mural in Pilsen.” (CAIR, “The Right to Be Different,” 2024, p. 85)

For example, the detective who interviewed one of the victims noted he could not understand her and had to interpret what he thought she said. That same victim is on video saying she wanted Wasserman to go to jail, to lose her job, lose her house, and be driven from the city. Wasserman is facing seven felony charges, including two counts of aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon, strangulation, and two hate crime charges for an incident in which the victims initiated contact. Danielle Wasserman has already spent more than six months in jail awaiting trial.

At the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, CAIR follows a familiar pattern. As the report states:

“California. In response to the complaint, OCR agreed to address the concerns regarding the treatment of CAIR-LA’s client by superiors and clerkship co-chairs as part of a broader agreement with the University of California which compelled UCLA to resolve complaints of national origin bias filed by Palestinian, Arab, and Jewish students.” (CAIR, “The Right to Be Different,” 2024, p. 81)

That claim does not appear in the OCR letter. It does not appear anywhere else, either. The letter is a voluntary resolution agreement covering discrimination across several groups, including Jewish students, with no mention of addressing any individual’s treatment by superiors. CAIR is so consistently unreliable that it is almost a parlor game trying to figure out what is wrong with every public statement it makes.

Moving to Ohio now, CAIR is boasting about getting Thaddeus Billman fired.

“Ohio: Columbus Community Shelter Board employee Thaddeus Billman allegedly called Muslims ‘crackhead clown individuals’ and expressed support for Islamophobe Robert Spencer on his YouTube channel. He was dismissed from his position. CAIR-OH had previously called for the dismissal of the employee after the YouTube channel came to light.” (CAIR, “The Right to Be Different,” 2024, p. 99)

What CAIR left out is that Billman said this after playing a long video of prominent Muslim influencers, including Ali Dawah and Mohammed Hijab, calling for revolt, the killing of apostates, child marriage, and referring to Christians as “crackhead clowns.” CAIR calls Robert Spencer an “Islamophobe” in their report — that’s an editorial judgment, not a fact, and it’s sitting in what presents itself as a civil rights document. CAIR had Billman fired for saying the same thing its own people said first.

CAIR is a political advocacy group that will advance its agenda even if that means misrepresenting the facts. Despite its pretensions to being a professional, authoritative civil rights organization, it is quite willing to be disingenuous about OCR letters, court cases, and the conduct of private individuals. It should be more widely acknowledged that CAIR functions as a public relations firm, with itself as its biggest client.