CAIR calls it the “Unhostile Campus Campaign.” Its chapters are challenging antisemitism protections, supplying politically one-sided instructional materials, and urging schools to cut ties with Jewish civil-rights organizations. In Washington, state officials invited CAIR to help rewrite their guidance.
In Washington State, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, aka CAIR, worked with education officials to revise guidance addressing antisemitism. In New Jersey, its chapter promoted a September 11 curriculum whose background resources included *Osama bin Laden’s *** Letter to America. For real. In Florida, CAIR supplied educators with a reading list dominated by authors completely biased against Israel and Zionism. And in Chicago, CAIR’s school outreach program promotes a campaign urging schools to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League.
On October 21, 2026, George Washington University’s Program on Extremism published * The Long Game: CAIR’s Campaign to Influence K–12 Education*, by researchers Asher Stern and David Collins. Collins is a retired FBI special agent whose career included investigations involving Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The report examined CAIR’s activities in Washington, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, documenting how the organization sought influence through state education officials, curriculum campaigns, and school policies. CAIR’s own publications reveal additional activities in Florida, Illinois, Texas, California, and other states.
The organization has also faced significant federal scrutiny. Documents introduced in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing prosecution connected CAIR’s founders to a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network established to support Hamas. In 2008, the FBI restricted non-investigative contacts with CAIR, citing evidence from that prosecution. In 2023, the Biden administration removed CAIR from a national antisemitism strategy partnership following remarks by CAIR executive director Nihad Awad about October 7.
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At the beginning of the 2024–2025 school year, Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction issued guidance titled Preventing and Responding to Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Discriminatory Harassment in Schools. The document addressed student speech, political demonstrations, discrimination complaints, and the responsibilities of school administrators. It also identified the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic and discussed its use by Hamas. CAIR Washington had a tantrum…er…objected to the guidance, including its treatment of the slogan and references to the Anti-Defamation League. The chapter argued that the document threatened Palestinian advocacy and that Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian organizations had not been consulted during its preparation. Wah.
During CAIR’s February 2025 advocacy day in Olympia, representatives complained to state officials. According to CAIR Washington’s account, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction contacted the organization shortly afterward, removed a disputed sentence, and INVITED CAIR to participate in rewriting the guidance. CAIR claims the spent many hours reviewing drafts, consulting community members, and exchanging edits with state education officials. In August 2025, the chapter announced that revised guidance had been issued and would be included in beginning-of-year communications to district civil-rights officers, who help schools respond to discrimination and harassment complaints.
The George Washington University researchers confirmed that Washington replaced the original guidance, although the available revision history does not identify which specific changes originated with CAIR but it’s pretty obvious to us laymen. The organization’s participation in the drafting process is documented in its own publications. CAIR Washington also announced plans to work with the agency on separate guidance on Islamophobia and celebrated the relationships it had developed with education officials. In an August 4, 2025 article, the chapter described the opportunities those relationships created for future cooperation. It called the result “structural change.”
A note about the paywall: I’ve kept these investigations behind a paywall from the beginning because I’m concerned about being targeted by certain entities. I’ve heard enough to take that possibility seriously. I know that sounds paranoid, but I see what they’ve done to Amy Mekelberg of RAIR and others who dare say something. So a paywall offers limited protection, and maybe even a false sense of security, but it’s one precaution I can take while continuing this work. Thank you to everyone who understands and supports these investigations.
