Tensions flared in the Maryland General Assembly House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday as legislators and community leaders debated whether the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) should be removed from the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention.
The issue was raised after Zainab Chaudry, CAIR’s Maryland director, was reinstated to the commission in December, just two weeks after she was suspended by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown for social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war that some local Jewish groups and state delegates characterized as antisemitic.
“The CAIR organization has been acting in a bigoted manner towards other groups at risk of hate crimes, other groups they are tasked to work with to minimize hate,” said Del. Dalya Attar (D-Dist. 41). “And I’ve come to learn that this has been a problem with this organization for a very long time … The White House disavowed this organization several months ago. It’s time for Maryland to do the same.”
Attar represents Baltimore and is one of the sponsors of HB0763, which seeks to remove CAIR from the commission and replace it with other Muslim representatives.
The commission was established in 2023 by legislation sponsored by Del. Joe Vogel (D-Dist. 18), who represents Rockville and Gaithersburg. It includes organizations and individuals that represent the Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Asian, Black, LGBTQ+, and disabled communities. Vogel is a co-sponsor of the legislation to remove CAIR.
During a hearing on HB0763, Attar referenced Chaudry’s posts, CAIR’s statements on the Israel-Hamas war, as well as CAIR’s involvement in opposing LGBTQ+ curriculum in Montgomery County public schools as reasoning to remove CAIR from the commission.
But Robert McCaw, director of CAIR’s Government Affairs Department, challenged that reasoning.
“Antisemitism is evil, it’s dangerous and it’s unacceptable, and CAIR has consistently condemned antisemitism for 30 years. We’ve also condemned unjust wars, terrorism and all violence against civilians, including Hamas’ attacks on Israelis on Oct. 7,” McCaw testified Tuesday.
McCaw pointed to rising Islamophobic hate crimes in Maryland. He said CAIR received a 178% increase in reports of hate crimes and bias incidents at the end of 2023.
“CAIR is a trusted resource in Maryland and nationwide for reporting crimes, and we are engaged with officials at every level of government to address this threat of hate,” he said.
Chaudry has been vocal on her public Facebook page in condemning the Israeli government and voicing concern for Palestinian civilians killed in the war. She has called the Israeli government’s actions “genocide” and has called for a ceasefire. She was criticized for these posts by public officials including Vogel and organizations such as the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC), which called the statements “antisemitic.”
More than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war since Oct. 7, and around two-thirds were children and women, the Associated Press reported Monday. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed and about 250 were taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, according to published reports.
One of Chaudry’s posts compared Israel to the Nazi regime in an image she reposted from another Facebook user, juxtaposing Nazi flags on a German building in 1936 with Israeli flags projected on the same building in 2023.
“[T]hat moment when you become what you hated most,” Chaudry wrote in her post.
Chaudry has defended her posts, saying that she is criticizing the Israeli government and that doing so doesn’t break commission rules. According to CAIR, more than 5,500 individuals signed a petition protesting Brown’s decision to suspend Chaudry.
“When we lose sight of our own humanity, we’ve truly lost our way. American Muslims and Christian and Muslim Palestinians across the state, around the country and around the world are grappling with the trauma, pain and horror of witnessing unfathomable violence unfolding at our fingertips for over 138 days, combined with the unprecedented hate bias within our own cities, largely being met with silence,” said Chaudry, who testified virtually, saying she did not attend the hearing in person because she received death threats.
She noted that her office has logged 223 Islamophobia hate incidents in Maryland since December 2023.
During Tuesday’s hearing, several community leaders and constituents voiced support for CAIR to be removed.
“Our mission is to heal the community, not divide it. CAIR is clearly not up to this task,” said Deborah Miller, a commission member and JCRC director of Maryland government and community relations. “A group that espouses vitriol and hatred for the Jewish community does not belong in a commission that has been established to respond to and prevent hate.”
But other speakers urged the committee to allow CAIR to remain on the commission. There was a generally even split in the number of speakers supporting or condemning CAIR.
“There is no legally established criteria to justify this action,” said Dana Vickers Shelley, executive director of the ACLU of Maryland. ”With Islamophobia and violence increasing and hostility to pro-Palestinian speech growing, this is the worst time to exclude the organization and leader advocating for the humanity and rights of Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian Marylanders.”
According to a December news release from Brown’s office, the law “does not provide the Attorney General the authority to remove a Commissioner before the expiration of their term nor the authority to suspend a Commissioner during their term of service,” which is why Chaudry was not removed permanently in December 2023.
The lack of authority in the law inspired Vogel to introduce another bill, HB0809, in the House Health and Government Operations Committee on Tuesday, which would allow members of state commissions, boards and task forces to be removed for “misconduct, incompetence, neglect of duties, or other good cause by the individual or entity that appointed the member under certain circumstances,” according to the draft legislation. A third bill introduced Tuesday, HB0748, proposes creating a code of conduct for members of the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention to abide by.
“Since [the commission] doesn’t have written a specific statute or removal proceeding, then there’s no way to really remove a member,” Vogel said when introducing the bill. “So this would give appointing authorities the flexibility to make decisions to ensure that members of the commission are abiding by the values, missions and Code of Conduct.”
However, some delegates questioned whether the proposed legislation would violate commission members’ First Amendment rights.
“Where’s that line between censorship and free speech? I think we need to be very careful about us treading that line,” said Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Dist. 22), who represents Prince George’s County. “I think we have a lot more massaging to do beyond this bill and making sure that we don’t cross people’s civil liberties.” Each committee will have to decide whether to submit a favorable or unfavorable report on the legislation for a vote by the full House.