(Headline USA) A radical, Hamas-linked group that celebrated last year’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel is reportedly working with Chicago Public Schools to counter “Islamophobia,” the Center Square reported.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has a long history of anti-Semitism, has been working with the city’s public school district to launch various student initiatives that “promote inclusion and understanding about Islam and the Muslim community,” according to CAIR-Chicago’s website.
These initiatives include “cultural sensitivity training” and a “Muslim background seminar,” it said.
The news comes despite allegations that CAIR works with and is tied to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. In fact, President Joe Biden’s White House had to condemn the group’s director, Nihad Awad, late last year after Awad said he was “happy to see” Hamas terrorists attack and kidnap Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on Oct. 7,” Awad said at the time.
“And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their lands that they were not allowed to walk in,” he continued. “And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense.”
Awad is not the only CAIR leader who has expressed support for terrorism. Zainab Chaudry, director of the group’s Maryland chapter, was temporarily suspended last November from the state’s hate crime task force after she compared Hamas terrorists to “Ukrainian freedom fighters” and dismissed reports of Hamas’s brutality as “fake.”
The next month, the head of CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter, Hussam Ayloush, said in a speech to the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City that Israel “does not have the right to defend itself as an occupier.”
CAIR has already worked to insert this radicalism into Chicago’s education system, according to reports.
Last month, for example, CAIR-Chicago pressured Chicago Public Schools to fire a Chicago Academy Elementary School substitute teacher who referred to Hamas terrorists as terrorists.
“We call on CPS to intensify its investigative efforts, engaging additional witnesses to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the events that transpired,” said Phil Robertson, litigation director of CAIR-Chicago. “This is fundamental in taking appropriate actions to address any misconduct and restore a sense of security for the affected students.”
