CAIR school guide links 9/11 attacks to U.S. support of Israel

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released an annual back-to-school resource guide for K-12 students that included controversial educational materials. The 16-page guide contained a link to a ‘Muslim Studies Curriculum’ which attributed the motivations behind the September 11 terrorist attacks to the United States’ ‘support of Israel,’ as well as American involvement in the Persian Gulf War and the presence of U.S. military forces in the Middle East.

The curriculum described the perpetrators of the attacks as a ‘group self-identifying as Al Quaeda hailing from the mountains of Afghanistan’ and directed students toward Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America.’ The material also claimed that the post-9/11 era marked a shift toward ‘state-sponsored Islamophobia’ and an ‘erosion of civil liberties’ in the United States. It further argued that Muslims faced unfair media scrutiny compared to ‘white supremacists’ and ‘extreme animal rights activists’ who also used violence.

Following the publication of the guide on Monday, the controversial linked content was removed from the document by the following day.