(TJV NEWS) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a controversial Muslim advocacy organization, has condemned U.S. President Donald Trump for his staunch support of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, referring to him as “the new Joe Biden,” according to The Algemeiner.

In a statement issued Sunday, CAIR criticized Trump’s backing of what it referred to as Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and demanded an immediate halt to U.S. aid to the Jewish state. “As the minimum death toll in Gaza crosses 50,000, the Israeli government is completely out of control because Donald Trump is the new Joe Biden,” the group said, according to reporting by The Algemeiner. “A president who supports genocide and puts Israel first in violation of federal law and disregard for the wishes of the American people.”

The organization went further, calling on Trump to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a permanent ceasefire. “If President Trump wishes to be remembered as a peacemaker and not Netanyahu’s poodle, he must act before the death toll crosses 100,000,” CAIR said, as cited by The Algemeiner.

CAIR, long the subject of scrutiny due to allegations of ties to terrorist organizations, including its designation as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing case, continues to stir controversy with its rhetoric. As The Algemeiner noted, U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis previously acknowledged “ample evidence” linking CAIR to Hamas during the 2010 proceedings. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has also flagged current CAIR leadership for historic associations with Hamas-affiliated entities.

Despite those allegations, CAIR maintains that it condemns all terrorism, including acts by groups designated by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist organizations. Still, the group’s statements following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel have reignited outrage.

As reported by The Algemeiner, CAIR executive director Nihad Awad sparked backlash for expressing happiness over what he characterized as Palestinians breaking free from a “concentration camp.”

“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege… on Oct. 7,” Awad said during a speech at the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land.”

CAIR has repeatedly accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide,” including outside Gaza. In December, the group claimed Israel was conducting ethnic cleansing in Syria, according to The Algemeiner, and most recently charged that genocide was now being “moved to the occupied West Bank” amid Israel’s counterterrorism efforts there, dubbed “Operation Iron Wall.”

Since Trump’s return to the White House, CAIR has also accused his administration of discriminating against Arab and Muslim Americans, especially in the context of federal crackdowns on pro-Hamas campus demonstrations. The Algemeiner reported that CAIR described attempts to deport foreign students participating in such rallies as “anti-Palestinian” and decried federal scrutiny of universities for antisemitism as promoting “unconstitutional” censorship and Islamophobia.

Meanwhile, Trump has remained largely unflinching in his support of Israel, recently urging the country to “finish the job” against Hamas. In February, the White House authorized the transfer of a previously withheld shipment of heavy bombs to Israel, a move initially delayed by the Biden administration out of concern for civilian casualties, as highlighted by The Algemeiner.

Despite claims by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry that over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, Israeli and independent researchers have argued that the casualty numbers are inflated and fail to differentiate between militants and civilians—a distinction often overlooked by CAIR in its public statements