More than 1,700 signatures have been added to a Change.org online petition requesting that the state legislature amend Maryland House Bill 1066, which created the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention, to allow for the removal of the Council for American Muslim Relations and the dismissal of Zainab Chaudry from the commission.
The petition comes after Chaudry was reinstated by the Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, who found that his office legally lacked the power to take such action, after placing Chaudry on a suspension that lasted two weeks for social media posts deemed disruptive to the commission’s goals.
The Change.org petition says that CAIR is a “longtime, pro-Hamas lobby and has refused to condemn Hamas for the October 7th terror attack,” and notes that various statements from CAIR leadership has gotten them removed from participating in the U.S. national strategy on combating antisemitism.
The petition also recounts statements made by Chaudry that led to and have followed her suspension, which Brad Kauffman, who alerted the JT to the petition, described as “vitriolic and hateful posts all without a shred of evidence.”
Chaudry was suspended initially on Nov. 22 after the AG’s Office became aware of several social media posts by Chaudry that compared the Israeli government to the Nazis, described the actions of Hamas as freedom fighters rising in resistance and called babies killed in the Hamas attack “40 fake Israeli babies.”
When reached for comment at the time of her suspension, Chaudry doubled down on her comments about Israel and criticized the treatment of her statements versus those of other members of the committee. She also described Israel as having a “racist and openly genocidal government.”
A recent post on the petition said the signees are looking for an approximately additional 3,900 signatures to match the signatures of a previous petition asking for Chaudry’s reinstatement, before the new Maryland state legislative session on Jan. 10.
