Week before Oct. 7 attack, pro-Hamas groups get seat at White House roundtable

(JNS) — A little more than a week before Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, the White House hosted a roundtable with Islamic groups that have since expressed sympathy for Hamas and blamed Israel for the murderous assault, according to an article in Focus at Western Islamism.

“These red flags have been waiving right out in the open for years, and yet these groups were able to get a seat at the table—in the White House no less,” wrote Dexter Van Zile, managing editor of the publication, which is part of the Middle East Forum.

“Will they remain in the White House’s good graces post Oct. 7?” he wrote. “Given that the Biden administration recently promised to send $100 million to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, probably so.”

The groups were part of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security program about how to prevent violence against their communities, which the department held from Sept. 19 to 27. The White House hosted a roundtable on “protecting places of worship” on Sept. 28, which participants in the DHS program attended. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, an umbrella group, were both present.

Both organizations have subsequently blamed Israel for the Hamas attack. CAIR was also an adviser on the White House’s strategy on antisemitism. The USCMO statement didn’t mention the Hamas attacks, instead calling for the exertion of “pressure on the occupation regime to immediately cease these atrocities.”