Awad, also known as The CEO Lawyer, plans to hold a press conference at 2:30 pm today to refute allegations
The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the use of an altered social media post to launch “dishonest and defamatory” attacks on prominent Georgia attorney Ali Awad, who plans to hold a virtual press conference today to refute the allegations against him.
WHAT: Press Conference with Ali Awad
WHEN: Feb. 14 @ 2:30 pm eastern
WHERE: Virtually at www.facebook.com/CAIRGA
SEE: GSU urged to rescind lawyer’s honor over social media posts (ajc.com)
A group of organizations that objected to Awad’s criticism of the Israeli government and the Gaza genocide have contacted Georgia State University to demand that it rescind its recognition of Awad, a GSU graduate, as one of their remarkable 40 Under 40 alumni.
Awad, who is also known popularly as The CEO Lawyer online where he has over 1.5 million social media followers, plans to present evidence that the key allegation against him is the result of an altered social media post that was reposted by the Canary Mission, an anti-Palestinian hate group, to create a false meaning.
In one instance, Canary Mission showed a graphic that combines an image of Ali with a screenshot alleging that Awad said on Facebook on Dec 3., “All Israelis are terrorists and there’s no such thing as an innocent Israeli.”
However, the manipulated graphic ignores the rest of his post. In the full post, Ali listed a series of commonly expressed anti-Palestinian sentiments, including that all Palestinians are terrorists, that Palestinian civilians are legitimate military targets and that Palestinians should move off the land.
To highlight how offensive such sentiments are, Ali then replaced the references to “Palestinians” with “Israelis” and said at the end of the post, “If this offends you, just switch the countries and you’ll know how Palestinians feel.”
In a statement, Attorney Ali Awad said:
“As a graduate of Georgia State University Law School and a Palestinian-American attorney, I am compelled to speak up against injustice wherever I see it. That includes the gross injustice the Israeli government is perpetrating against the Palestinian people in Gaza, where dozens of my own relatives were murdered months ago. I make no apologies for condemning the Gaza genocide and I will continue to do so.
“The attacks that anti-Palestinian groups have launched against me are dishonest and defamatory; I reject all forms of bigotry, including antisemitism, and I have never said anything remotely critical of the Jewish community. My issue is with the Israeli government and those who enable its injustice.”
CAIR-Georgia’s mission is to protect civil rights, promote justice, empower American Muslims, and enhance the understanding of Islam.
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CONTACT: Azka Mahmood, CAIR-Georgia Executive Director, azkatmahmood@cair.com, 678 653 5822; Nazia Khanzada, CAIR-Georgia Communications Manager, nkhanzada@cair.com, Javeria Jamil, CAIR-Georgia Legal and Policy Director CAIR-Georgia, j-jamil@cair.com