One of the top executives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said he was “happy” to witness the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Nihad Awad, executive director and co-founder of CAIR, expressed his feelings on the terrorist attack on Nov. 24 at the 16th Annual Convention for Palestine in the U.S.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege – the walls of the concentration camp – on Oct. 7,” said Awad. “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 land that they were not free to walk in.”
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL INVOKES RARELY USED POWER TO DEMAND CEASE-FIRE IN GAZA
Nihad Awad, Council on American-Islamic Relations co-founder and executive director, speaks at the 16th Annual Convention for Palestine in the U.S. (American Muslims for Palestine)
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.”
The convention was held on Nov. 24 and 25 outside Chicago, Illinois.
Hours of footage from the event was posted publicly on Dec. 2 by the group American Muslims for Palestine.
UN AGENCY LED BY CINDY MCCAIN UNDER FIRE FOR ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AMID STAFF REVOLT AGAINST HER
Palestinian terrorists drive back to the Gaza Strip with the body of an Israeli soldier on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas carried out an unprecedented, multifront attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets as terrorists infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations. (AP Photo/Ali Mahmud)
Awad went on to accuse the American Israel Public Affairs Committee of controlling the U.S. government.
“AIPAC and its affiliates have been controlling the United States government and the United States Congress,” Awad said. “And if someone says ‘Oh, Nihad Awad said this about the Congress,’ I tell you, ‘Yes, I say it today, and I will say it tomorrow – unless we free Congress, we will not be able to free Palestine.’”
The CAIR director also lauded the efforts of younger Democrats dissatisfied with President Biden’s continued support of Israel over Hamas.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR HITS 2-MONTH MARK WITH IDF CALLING PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS THE ‘ENEMY OF HUMANITY’
Supporters of Palestinians gather for a rally at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
“Brothers and sisters, young people in the Democratic Party have sent a clear message to this administration and to the Democratic Party,” Awad told the audience. “That you have betrayed our votes, you have betrayed our support, and you have betrayed young people who aspire for the United States of America to reposition itself as a moral leader in the world. They have betrayed us.”
Protests from left-wing groups against the Biden administration have drawn hundreds of attendees in cities such as Washington D.C., New York City and Philadelphia.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations for clarification on its prescription for Israeli response to the Hamas attack and whether the group supports a two-state solution.
Pro-Palestinian protesters march through Brooklyn, New York. Demonstrators marched across the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan to protest the treatment of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. (Stephen Yang for Fox News Digital)
CAIR did not respond to the questions, but Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell provided a statement attributed to Awad.
“During my speech last week in support of Palestinian human rights, I condemned all forms of bigotry, specifically including Islamophobia and antisemitism, and violence against all civilians,” the statement obtained by Fox News Digital stated. “Despite this, an anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian hate website selected remarks from my speech out of context and spliced them together to create a completely false meaning.”
Fox News Digital independently verified the speech given by Awad at the Convention for Palestine in the U.S. and did not reference outside reporting on the remarks in this piece.
KIRBY BLAMES HAMAS FOR BREAKING CEASE-FIRE: ‘WE KNOW THEY ARE HOLDING’ MORE WOMEN AND CHILDREN
Palestinians celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis southern Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah)
“What I actually said while discussing international law: Ukrainians, Palestinians and other occupied people have the right to defend themselves and escape occupation by just and legal means, but targeting civilians is never an acceptable means of doing so, which is why I have again and again condemned the violence against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7th and past Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, including suicide bombings, all the way back to the 1990s – just as I have condemned the decades of violence against Palestinian civilians,” Awad’s statement continued.
Awad also claimed that his reference to feeling “happy” on Oct. 7 did not refer to the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Israelis.
The CAIR director claims instead that he was happy to see Gaza residents briefly enter Israeli territory as a “symbolic act of defiance.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Israeli soldiers search the remains of a torched vehicle for forensic evidence at the site of the Oct. 7 attack on the Supernova desert music festival by Palestinian terrorists in southern Israel. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
“The average Palestinians who briefly walked out of Gaza and set foot on their ethnically cleansed land in a symbolic act of defiance against the blockade and stopped there without engaging in violence were within their rights under international law; the extremists who went on to attack civilians in southern Israel were not,” Awad’s statement reads. “Targeting civilians is unacceptable, no matter whether they are Israeli or Palestinian or any other nationality.”
