Zahra Billoo, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’s (CAIR) San Francisco branch, mourned the death of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, portraying the terrorist as a martyr before calling for Israel's eradication.
"Never say that those martyred in the cause of Allah are dead—in fact, they are alive! But you do not perceive it," Billoo wrote as news broke of Haniyeh’s death in Tehran. "Tonight, we mourn Ismail himself but know his martyrdom is not in vain. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
'Never say that those martyred in the cause of Allah are dead—in fact, they are alive! But you do not perceive it."
Tonight, we mourn Ismail himself but know his martyrdom is not in vain. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
— Zahra Billoo (@ZahraBilloo) July 31, 2024
Billoo is the highest ranking CAIR official to publicly praise Haniyeh, who shortly before his death attended the inauguration of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Chants of "death to America" and "death to Israel" rang out at the ceremony, where Haniyeh was filmed embracing Pezeshkian. Haniyeh was killed just hours later through a reported strike on his luxury home in Tehran.
CAIR is one of the main forces driving anti-Israel protests across the country, with several of its leaders praising Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. Haniyeh watched the attack from a luxury building in Qatar, where he smiled and prayed with other Hamas terrorists.
CAIR has leaned on the Biden-Harris administration to pressure Israel to ink a ceasefire with Hamas and cut off arms shipments to the Jewish state. Last year, the administration tapped CAIR to serve on its "national strategy to counter anti-Semitism" but later scrubbed references to the group after its executive director, Nihad Awad, said he was "happy to see" Hamas terrorists attack Israel.
Billoo, who has labeled Jewish groups and synagogues as her "enemies," also praised Haniyeh for his cavalier response to an Israeli strike several months ago that killed his children.
"Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon. When Israel slaughtered Ismail Haniyeh's children, he said: ‘The blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of the people of Palestine and all the martyrs in Gaza are my children,’" the CAIR leader wrote.
Billoo also took aim at those who highlighted her glowing praise for Haniyeh and referred to the terrorist's death as an instance of Israeli "political violence."
"Her MO is ‘political violence for thee but not for me,’" Billoo wrote of Jewish Insider executive editor Melissa Weiss. "NBD, standard Zionist hypocrisy."
Meet @melissaeweiss, her MO is 'political violence for thee but not for me." NBD, standard Zionist hypocrisy. https://t.co/HhmtTkUnMl
— Zahra Billoo (@ZahraBilloo) July 31, 2024
CAIR, which maintains close relations with Democratic lawmakers such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), has long defended Billoo and her anti-Semitism. After Billoo in 2021 described mainstream Jewish groups and synagogues as "enemies" that "are working to harm you," CAIR lauded her "courage" and accused her critics of engaging in a "smear campaign."
"We need to pay attention to the Anti-Defamation League. We need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues. We need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on our campuses," Billoo said in her December 2021 speech. "Oppose the vehement fascists, but oppose the polite Zionist too."
"They are your enemies. They are organizations and infrastructures out there working to harm you. Make no mistake about it. They would sell you down the line if they could. And they very often do behind your back."
In a Wednesday morning statement on Haniyeh's death, CAIR accused "war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu" of "deliberately trying to torpedo chances of a Gaza ceasefire deal, spark an all-out regional war with Iran, and draw the United States into that conflict, all to maintain his own power."
"Unless President Biden takes swift concrete action to stop this march to war, including freezing military aid to the out-of-control Israeli government, it appears Netanyahu will soon get his wish and that the American taxpayer will pay the price," the group said.