Petition Drive Urging Mesa Sheraton to Cancel Council on American Islamic Relations Banquet with Anti-Israel Rep. Rashida Tlaib

A petition drive urging the Mesa Sheraton at Wrigleyville West to cancel a Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet featuring Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has garnered more than 6,000 signatures, smashing previous goals.

But it appears the controversial event, slated for November 18, is still on despite pleading from Jewish advocates.

As The Arizona Sun Times first reported, a Phoenix resident has launched the change.org petition that, as of late Monday afternoon, had received 6,311 signatures. The petition, launched on Oct. 22, originally sought 1,500 signatures.

“As a concerned citizen of Phoenix, AZ, I am deeply disturbed by the upcoming event scheduled at Sheraton Mesa at Wrigleyville West,” states a creator of the petition, identified as Y.J. “The hotel is set to host the 2023 Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Conference on November 18th, featuring Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) as a speaker. Ms. Tlaib’s history of antisemitic remarks and her response to attacks on our ally, Israel, are disgraceful and cannot go unchecked.”

On Monday, the petition organizer wrote, “I’m sorry to say there are no good updates at this time. Petition is growing. Not a single employee has bothered to return a message. Anyone have any ideas, that would be great. Thanks.”

An official with the Sheraton Mesa told The Arizona Sun Times, “The hotel has no comment” on the CAIR event.

Tlaib (D-MI-12) has faced criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for her response to Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack that killed and wounded thousands of innocent Israelis, Americans and others. Tlaib, a Palestinian American routinely accused of anti-semitism, has pushed a narrative that Israel was behind a rocket attack earlier this month at a Gaza hospital that reportedly killed hundreds, even after Israeli and U.S. intelligence debunked the claims.

She has yet to correct or delete the post.

U.S. Representative Marjorie Greene (R-GA-14) sent a letter to fellow House Republicans on Monday urging them to vote in favor of her censure resolution against the radical Democrat.

“I do hope that our Republican majority can come together to do what is right. The Constitution offers us a pathway to hold each other accountable for our actions, and Rashida Tlaib must be held to account,” Greene said in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

“This is a critical moment for our party’s values and principles… Supporting my censure resolution of Rashida Tlaib is not just a matter of political necessity but a moral and ethical imperative.”

Liberals in the House responded with a censure against Greene, accusing the conservative of having “repeatedly fanned the flames of racism, antisemitism, hate speech against the LGBTQ community, Islamophobia, Asian hate, xenophobia and other forms of hatred.”

Such attempts at equivalency have been criticized by critics and others concerned about surging incidents of antisemitism in the U.S., and around the world.

Mindy Franklin, an Israel community activist in the Phoenix area with knowledge of the petition, said the “ceasefire” movement led by radical politicians like Tlaib fails to take into account the reality of Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization whose charter is to wipe out Israel, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t support their unholy war.

The petition, Franklin said, should serve as a wake-up call for Sheraton Mesa.

“Hopefully they do wake up,” the activist said. “CAIR is a promoter of hate. So is (Tlaib),” she said. “This is America and we’re all about freedom of speech, but not when you are spreading hate and evil.”

CAIR has not returned The Arizona Sun Times’ multiple requests for comment.

The Arizona chapter of CAIR, based in Mesa, has followed the lead of the national chapter, which, one day after Hamas launched a terrorist attack against innocent Israeli civilians, called for Jihad. The Muslim organization’s silence on the brutal actions of Hamas, the torture, rape, and murder of more than 1,400 human beings, was deafening.

“We all have a responsibility to do what we can for the people in Gaza. Speak out about the injustices taking place, write to your local officials, donate to verified sources,” CAIR-Arizona said on its X account.

Within hours of Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel, CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad tweeted in Arabic, “All Arab peoples must go out on Sunday, October 8, and every day, in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and in rejection of normalization with the occupier and the apartheid regime.”

CAIR was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial that led to the closure of the HLF for funneling millions to Hamas and to lengthy prison sentences for key officials, including HLF chairman and treasurer Ghassan Elashi, who served as a founding board member of CAIR-TX,” Susannah Johnston investigative reporter for Focus on Western Islamism wrote in a recent piece for National Review.

“The Holy Land Foundation 5 are a group of wrongfully convicted humanitarians at the core of one of the biggest cases of US political persecution of the century,” wrote CAIR-FL in 2020.

Other hotels have canceled similar CAIR events.

The Marriott Crystal Gateway hotel in Crystal City, Virginia., located in the shadow of the nation’s capital, reportedly canceled the Council on American-Islamic Relations planned annual banquet.

In Texas, the Hilton Houston Post Oak by the Galleria canceled a conference of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights over unspecified safety concerns.

“This event is a clear indication of support of Hamas, a terrorist organization. Thousands of Jews have been slaughtered, murdered, raped, burned alive, babies decapitated and hundreds are being held as hostages! Jews living in America – including many of in Arizona are scared to leave the house, go to Jewish gatherings, or even send our children to school!” the Arizona petition states. “By hosting this event, Marriott Sheraton shows us that we do not have your support while Jews are being targeted just because they are Jewish.”

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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Rep Rashida Tlaib” by Rep Rashida Tlaib.