The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today commended former White House Religious Liberty Commission member Carrie Prejean Boller for using her position to oppose conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism and encourage solidarity between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. CAIR also expressed its solidarity with Ms. Prejean Boller after she was removed from the commission for her stance.
At the fifth session of the Religious Liberty Commission, Ms. Prejean Boller challenged attempts to define criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the Israeli government’s founding political ideology as antisemitism. In the wake of her comments, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick removed her from the commission.
WATCH: Carrie Prejean Boller challenges definition of antisemitism at Religious Liberty Commission hearing
In a statement, Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said:
“We commend Carrie Prejean Boller for using her role on the Religious Liberty Commission to support religious freedom for all people and oppose all forms of religious bigotry. We also condemn Texas Lt. Governor Patrick’s baseless and predictable decision to remove her from the commission for refusing to conflate antisemitism with criticism of the Israel apartheid government.
“As Ms. Boller correctly noted, Christian, Muslim and Jewish Americans must be able to speak out against the crimes committed by the Israeli government with American taxpayer dollars–and also express intellectual disagreement with the political ideology that Israel uses to justify those crimes–without being falsely labeled antisemitic.
“Ms. Boller is one of a growing number of Americans, including political conservatives, who recognize that corrupted politicians have been trying to silence and smear Americans critical of the Israeli government under the guise of countering antisemitism.
“We encourage Muslims, Christian and Jewish Americans, whether conservative or liberal, to reject hateful attempts to divide us for a foreign government’s benefit and instead come together to support religious freedom and human rights for all people, including each other.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com