The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) criticized Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Wednesday for condemning an antisemitic protest at a synagogue, arguing the protest was legitimate.
This marked the second protest at a Los Angeles synagogue within three days. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers eventually dispersed the protesters after violence erupted with pro-Israel counter-demonstrators.
CAIR objected to Bass’s condemnation of the protest, which she reiterated on Monday, June 24.
In a statement, CAIR said:
ON JUNE 24, MAYOR BASS SPOKE AT A PRESS CONFERENCE HELD IN RESPONSE TO THE VIOLENCE THAT BROKE OUT WHEN PRO-ISRAEL COUNTER-PROTESTERS CONFRONTED PRO-PALESTINIAN DEMONSTRATORS WHO WERE GATHERED OUTSIDE THE ADAS TORAH SYNAGOGUE IN LOS ANGELES TO PROTEST A REAL ESTATE EVENT ORGANIZED BY AN ISRAEL-BASED AGENCY THAT REPORTEDLY MARKETS REAL ESTATE IN ISRAEL AND THE ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED WEST BANK. DURING THE CONFERENCE, MAYOR BASS CONDEMNED THE PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS AND CHARACTERIZED THE DEMONSTRATION AS ‘VIOLENT’ AND ‘ABHORRENT.’ SHE DID NOT MENTION THE VIOLENCE THAT WAS PERPETRATED AGAINST THE PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS BY PRO-ISRAEL COUNTER-PROTESTERS OR THE REPORTS THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT ON THE SCENE DID LITTLE TO STOP THE VIOLENCE AGAINST THEM.
CAIR denied the protest was antisemitic, stating that Jews participated in the demonstration. They did not clarify why protesters blocked access to a house of worship instead of protesting peacefully nearby.
In 2007-8, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, leading the FBI to discontinue its work with the organization. In 2009, a federal judge ruled that the government “produced ample evidence to establish” CAIR’s ties with Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization. In 2014, the United Arab Emirates labeled CAIR a terrorist organization, a decision opposed by the Obama administration.
CAIR executive director Nihad Awad praised the Hamas terror attack of October 7, prompting the White House to distance itself from the group, which had been involved in drafting Biden’s antisemitism strategy.
The company organizing the event, A Home in Israel, advertised coastal property in local Jewish newspapers, not homes in “the illegally occupied West Bank.”
The company has denied advertising real estate on “stolen” land, stating most of its homes are in sovereign Israeli territory. Previous exhibitions have included homes in three “settlements” in the West Bank that are part of the Etzion Bloc, an area from which Jews were expelled by the Jordanian army in 1948 and returned to after the 1967 war; it is expected to be part of Israel in any final peace deal.
