Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), retweeted a post by Australian activist and podcast host CJ Werleman, who wrote, “Hamas deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for keeping Israeli prisoners safe from indiscriminate Israeli carpet bombing, which destroyed +90% of all buildings and slaughtered +100,000 people.”
It should be noted that while it sounds patently absurd to award a peace prize to a terrorist organization for not slaughtering hostages taken during a massacre of civilians, Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, accepted the peace prize in 1994 while wearing a military uniform.
It should also be noted that the post referred to the hostages as ‘prisoners.’ The source for “+100,000 people” killed in the Israeli bombing is also unclear as it exceeds even the figures published by Hamas. Also, recent analyses estimate that only 60% of buildings were destroyed in the Israeli attacks on Hamas.
In response to the post, US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) noted the significance of Billoo’s repost of what he called an “outrageous” statement, considering her prominence.
“Never mind that Hamas murdered, maimed, mutilated, raped, and tortured thousands of Jews. Never mind that Hamas has left hostages starved and emaciated after holding them captive for nearly 500 days,” Torres continued. “If the Anti-Israel movement were a country, useful idiocy would be its leading export.”
Canary Mission has denounced Billoo for spreading anti-Semitism and defending the terror organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.
“She has expressed support for terrorists and defended terror financiers,” Canary Mission wrote on its website. “Billoo has also equated Israel with ISIS, spread hatred of Israel, America and Zionism and demonized American Jewish institutions. She has also promoted the Nation of Islam (NOI).”
Werleman is an anti-Israel activist who makes absurd claims. In August, he tweeted, “Israel is deliberately and strategically killing its own hostages in Gaza.” Last month, he tweeted that “Israel is Burning Children Alive.”
CAIR leaders have frequently expressed support for terrorism. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.”
In the 2000s, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
The Biden administration was forced to walk back its decision to include CAIR as part of its “National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism” when the organization’s co-founder and national executive director, Nihad Awad, was caught on video praising the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis by Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists. Awad also blamed the assassination attempt against President Trump on Israel.
