The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which blamed the Jewish state for being attacked on Oct. 7 and which the White House removed from its national strategy on Jew-hatred, called on Sunday for the Biden administration to fire Deborah Lipstadt as U.S. Special Envoy to Mission for Monitoring and Combatting Anti-Semitism.

When the Biden administration released its national strategy on countering antisemitism in May, a fact sheet noted that the Council on American-Islamic Relations was one of the entities advising the White House. CAIR has a long documented history of antisemitism, and the White House’s decision to include it in the national strategy on Jew-hatred was like recruiting “male chauvinists for the next women’s rights initiative,” or inviting “some butchers to National Vegetarian Day,” McGill University history professor Gil Troy told JNS at the time.

JNS  Lipstadt, a Holocaust historian, was asked at the Israeli-American Council annual summit in Washington, D.C., to respond to global perceptions that Israel is weak after Hamas carried out its terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7th. Her answer drew big applause from the audience (below):

“Do you want a beeper?”

US State Department Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt cracks repugnant joke making light of the Israeli terror attack which killed children and left thousands maimed in Lebanon, including nurses

Lipstadt, a Biden admin official, was… pic.twitter.com/gJcDEpGEMN

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) September 22, 2024

CAIR stated that the U.S. envoy celebrated “Israel’s recent state terrorism in Lebanon that left a number of civilians, including children, dead or injured.”

“Special envoy Lipstadt’s callous remarks are not only disgusting but also dangerous. At a time when our nation’s government claims it is working to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Lebanon, her flippant celebration of state-sponsored terrorism undermines diplomatic efforts to prevent a broader war in the region,” stated Robert McCaw, CAIR’s government affairs director.

“Joking about the loss of innocent (“innocent” as in Hezbollah terrorists?) lives is a disgrace and should have no place in U.S. foreign-policy discussions,” he added. “It sends a message to the world that the U.S. government condones or even celebrates the slaughter of Arab and Muslim civilians. This is not just immoral; it’s irresponsible.”

CAIR drew extensive criticism for its call to fire Lipstadt.

JNS  Jason Bedrick, an education policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation who focuses on religious liberty, among other topics, told JNS that it is “absurd and outrageous” that the Biden administration consulted “one of the chief purveyors of antisemitism” on its national strategy to combat antisemitism.

“CAIR is still a bad actor that advocates on behalf of vicious Jew-haters and people convicted of supporting terrorism,” he said.

 Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst in homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, told JNS that CAIR’s roots in the 1990s were as a front to support Hamas.

“CAIR has been clear and unapologetic about its willingness to engage in Jew-hatred, even if it occasionally attempts to disguise this as opposition to the state of Israel,” he said. “CAIR’s inclusion would make more sense if the Biden administration was proposing a strategy for promoting antisemitism, instead of a supposed strategy to reduce antisemitism.”

“I’m disappointed and appalled that CAIR—an organization that has peddled antisemitic tropes and has ties to extremist, anti-Israel groups—played any role in the U.S. national strategy to counter antisemitism,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) told JNS.