- The Washington Times - Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown temporarily suspended a state Muslim leader from the state’s hate crimes commission following her social media posts that claimed the 40 Israeli infants killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel were “fake” and other posts comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.

Zainab Chaudry, the longtime executive director of the Maryland branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was named to the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention this year after the panel’s enabling legislation specified CAIR-MD and more than 20 other organizations must be members.

“I will never be able to understand how the world summoned up rage for 40 fake Israeli babies while completely turning a blind eye to 3,000 real Palestinian babies,” Ms. Chaudry wrote on her personal Facebook account on Oct. 26. 

She also posted a graphic stating, “It all started in 1948,” with the words “on Oct. 7th” crossed out. She captioned the graphic with the words “Inconvenient facts.” Her posts are sprinkled with phrases about “apartheid Israel” and references to “Israelis celebrating genocide.”

Earlier, she shared a meme with images of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in 1936 laden with Nazi flags and a 2023 image of Israel’s flag and colors being shown on the gate, saying, “That moment when you become what you hated most.”

Those anti-Israel comments — still on Ms. Chaudry’s Facebook page Tuesday afternoon — were reported by Fox News and Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, apparently provoking Mr. Brown to respond.  

“The commission must serve as a model for the entire state on how to respond to incidents of hate and bias,” he said in a statement. “The commission is facing its first test. How we respond has deep implications. I take this very seriously, and I will do everything possible to bring people together to move forward the critical work of this commission.”

Ms. Chaudry said she will meet with Mr. Brown on Wednesday.

“None of the criticisms that I leveled against Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right, racist and openly genocidal government on my personal social media accounts violated any known commission standards and there is no legal basis for suspending the participation of my civil rights organization, which is mandated by state law.”

Besides suspending Ms. Chaudry, Mr. Brown said his office will “develop a draft values statement about personal communications” by members of the hate crimes panel. He said commission members should “exercise great care in their communications and conduct” in light of their responsibilities.

“Personal postings that could be reasonably perceived as hate speech may disrupt the ability of the commission to accomplish its important work,” a statement said.

Mr. Brown’s office told The Washington Times they “have nothing further to add” about the matter.

• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.

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