CAIR-Affiliated Protest: "We Are Hamas!"

Decked out in keffiyahs and stocked with vulgar posters, anti-Israel demonstrators have been descending upon cities across the United States rallying for what they call peace. One such group gathered on Sunday, July 20, 2014, just blocks from the Israeli consulate in Miami.

Photo of protest information card obtained at the Miami protest on July 20, 2014. Note, “Burning flags will not be allowed.” Photo credit: Danielle Avel

The flier for this protest declares, “Stop the bombing – Stop the Killing – Free Palestine” and includes logos from: the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Students for Justice in Palestine, the American Muslim Association of North America, American Muslims for Emergency & Relief, Syrian American Council of South Florida, and the American Muslims Foundation. Some of these groups have thousands of members across the country and their leaders are often featured prominently in the news as being representative of the Muslim-American community.

The event’s Facebook page indicates additional coalition sponsors including: Al-Awda Coalition, National Lawyers Guild (South Florida), CAIR among others. The same page declares the purpose of the event was “to support peace, liberation, and human rights.”

And initially, one mostly heard peaceful-sounding slogans like “Viva, Viva Palestina” and “No more killing, no more war.” These were interspersed with others like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” which means eliminating the Jewish State.

The “peace” aspect, however, was completely forgotten whenever a suspected Zionist appeared. One such man filming the event was accosted in a threatening manner by about six protestors, with one grabbing his arms from behind. The police had to calm the crowd as some rushed towards a passing vehicle carrying an Israeli flag. Later in the day, a small group of about eight Israel supporters arrived. At that point, the anti-Israel demonstrators shifted their focus to the pro-Israel group (watch video):

The anti-Israel protestors became increasingly hostile, to the point of invoking outrageous Islamist slogans.

In Arabic, they screamed:

“The martyr is God’s love.” This encourages one to die while committing Jihad — it is a celebration of terror attacks including suicide bombings.
“Khaybar, Khaybar Oh, Jew. Muhammad’s army will return.” This refers to a seventh-century massacre in which Muhammad’s army attacked the Jewish community of Khaybar in the Arabian Peninsula. The Jewish males who surrendered were beheaded; Muhammad and his soldiers then divided the women, children, and property. Islamists today routinely invoke this battle as a rallying cry to attack Jews.

In English, they yelled:

“We are Hamas!” openly confirming support for a group officially designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, Japan, Jordan, and Egypt.
“We are Jihad!” thereby calling for holy war.
“Hamas kicked your ass.” That makes for an interesting contradiction: While claiming Gazans are being massacred, the group also claims to have defeated the Israel Defense Forces. Which is it?

Eventually, an Israel supporter calls out, “We’re in America, that’s where we are… we’re not Gaza over here,” a self-proclaimed Hamas fan screams back in Hebrew with an Arabic accent, “Son of a bitch” and “Go to Hell!” along with an obscene arm gesture.

These outrageous, vulgar, and violent sentiments provide insight into the real views of groups like CAIR, ICNA, and the others listed on the event flier. “Peace” protestors sponsored by these groups are normally able to stay relatively polite and on message, however, the appearance of Israel supporters sent them into a revelatory frenzy of great importance. Not all of the demonstrations these groups promote will contain such overtly hostile messaging, but as the video proves, peaceful-sounding chants are synonymous with calls to war.

Anti-Israel fanatics are predictable in that they utilize a constant theme of claiming to be victims while simultaneously inciting hatred and violence. What isn’t predictable is what they will chant in public. When similar protests take place, one should keep in mind the true motivation behind these “peace” mobs.

Danielle Avel is a photojournalist and investigative researcher. She can be reached through her website www.DanielleAvel.com, on Twitter @DanielleAvel and on Facebook.