Zahra Billoo criticizes ‘polite Zionists,’ the ADL responds
ADL national director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt deserves credit. On Dec. 7, he posted two tweets. He urged CAIR to condemn their San Francisco Bay area executive director Zahra Billoo for her “textbook vile, #antisemitic, conspiracy-laden garbage attacking the mainstream US Jewish community” and sounding like a white supremacist. Unsurprisingly, CAIR stood by Billoo. They condemned Greenblatt instead.
Days later on Dec. 12, Greenblatt expanded, tweeting about Billoo’s “classic conspiratorial anti-Semitism,” noting that Billoo’s speech “was part of a long campaign to push American Jews out of social-justice and civil-rights spaces. To be clear, Billoo’s speech—and CAIR’s support for it—are both blatant acts of anti-Semitism.” This second response better matched the moment.
But let’s rewind since most Americans won’t know what prompted this pixelated brawl.
On Nov. 27, Zahra Billoo addressed American Muslims for Palestine’s 14th annual Palestine Conference in Chicago. American media ignored it. The Israel-based executive director of Israellycool Israel Advocacy broke the story, which merits more attention.
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melissa langsam braunstein 