MD. AG Anthony Brown today temporarily suspended CAIR’s Zainab Chaudry from the state’s hate crimes commission
sHe stated that social media posts “risk disrupting the work and mission of the Commission.”
Zainab Chaudry is director of the Maryland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown temporarily suspended Zainab Chaudry from the state’s hate crimes commission, citing concerns that her social media posts could disrupt the commission’s work and mission.
Who is Zainab Chaudry?
Chaudry, director of the Maryland branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), was criticized for his Facebook posts on October 7 and afterwards. In these posts, he praised Hamas terrorists, made comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, and referred to Jewish Americans who participated in the March on Israel as “genocide sympathizers.”
Meredith Weisel, a member of Maryland’s hate crimes commission and regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Washington office, expressed disappointment that Chaudry’s posts used inflammatory rhetoric rather than promoting unity. Weisel acknowledged policy disagreements on Israel and Gaza but emphasized that Chaudry’s remarks belittled the majority of American Jews.
In Chaudry’s Facebook post dated October 7, he referred to the events in Israel as “the uprising in Palestine” and described the actions as “resistance”. Two days later he labeled Hamas terrorists “freedom fighters” and criticized perceived bias in Western media narratives. While Chaudry’s views were attributed to him as an individual commissioner, Maryland’s attorney general has stated that they do not reflect the official position of the commission or the attorney general.
