CAIR-MN: Recent attacks against Minnesota mosques, Muslims are unsettling. Does anybody care? – Star Tribune
With his daughter playing in the background, I could hear Jaylani Hussein’s concern expressed over the phone days after Dar Al-Qalam, a mosque in northeast Minneapolis, received more than a dozen threatening calls over the weekend. The person who called the mosque also texted a video of the New Zealand mass shooting that killed 51 people when a mass shooter opened fire at two mosques in 2019. Those threatening calls are the latest in a startling trend of hateful acts targeting Minnesota’s Muslim community in recent months.
But as Hussein and I talked Thursday, I paused when the local Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) executive director mentioned this state’s breathtaking status after logging more than a half-dozen incidents of violence and intimidation against Muslims in the last 12 months.
CAIR-NY: Mask Bans Further Empower the Police State – Current Affairs
Plenty, as groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of New York, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (which submitted comments in Nassau against the legislation), and others have pointed out. It’s not just that the mask ban infringes upon people’s right to protest or express potentially unpopular political opinions (although Gallup notes that as of March 2024 polling, a majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza).
Video: CAIR Condemns Racist Anti-Immigrant Posters Targeting Hispanic-Owned Businesses in Iowa
Video: CAIR-FL Seeks Hate Crime Charge for Threat Targeting Muslim Family
CAIR-NY: Resignation of Columbia’s Shafik over Gaza protest widely lauded – The New Arab
In a public statement, Afaf Nasher with the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said, “We welcome the resignation of Dr Shafik, who repeated the worst mistakes of the Vietnam era by unleashing law enforcement on Columbia students instead of giving serious consideration to their more than reasonable demand that the school disentangle its finances from the far-right, openly genocidal Israeli government.”
CAIR: The left and right agree on one thing: Columbia’s president had to go – Politico
Afaf Nasher, director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, “welcomed” Shafik’s resignation in a statement. She criticized the former president for “unleashing law enforcement on Columbia students instead of giving serious consideration to their more than reasonable demand.”
CAIR-CA: Legislators to take up bills on genocide education, campus protest restrictions, DEI training – Los Angeles Times
The bills have faced strong opposition from pro-Palestinian groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as civil rights organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
CAIR-FL: ‘Go back to your country’: Man accused of threatening Muslim family on camera – WFLA
“Why in this particular case, when this family, Muslim family, are victim, you’re dragging your feet?” Wilfredo Ruiz, Outreach Director for CAIR-FL said. “What is happening? Because you seem to be very effective in the rest of the crimes. What is happening this particular one?”
CAIR-NY: Faith-based groups seek removal of ‘anti-Muslim’ tableau depicting Ram temple from New York parade
CAIR: Anticipating Fall Protests, Colleges Adopt a Range of Approaches – Inside Higher Ed
Meanwhile, a report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations that highlighted instances of Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment on college campus since last October, offered administrators different recommendations, including that they engage in good-faith negotiations with protesters, end the practice of sending in police to break up peaceful demonstrations and establish task forces to investigate the doxxing and cyber-harassment of protesters.