Click here to send your email to thank the Marriott Crystal Gateway general manager and Marriott for cancelling the Council on American Islamic Relations banquet and urge them not to book events in the future for terror-linked groups that have had relations with Hamas.  

The Council on American Islamic Relations planned its annual banquet at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington for October 23, 2023.

Reuters reports:    At least two pro-Israel advocacy groups urged members to call on Marriott to cancel the CAIR gathering, including the Endowment for Middle East Truth and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).  "Please join ZOA in calling Marriott to demand that they cancel this dangerous CAIR event," the ZOA said in an "action alert" on Thursday.

Reuters reported the Marriott Crystal Gateway cancelled CAIR's banquet.  CAIR claimed that people made threats to bomb the hotel and kill Marriott employees.  However, Reuters also reported:  Marriott did not confirm specific threats.  "After careful consideration, we have determined that we are unable to move forward with an event planned for this weekend due to significant risks to the safety of event attendees, guests and associates," a spokesperson for the Crystal Gateway Marriott said in a statement.

CAIR has a long history of links to terrorists and Hamas which should have been grounds for Marriott to decline the use of its properties to the group in the first place.

• Nihad Awad, CAIR Executive Director, said "I am in support of the Hamas" movement.
• In 2007, the United States Department of Justice named CAIR and two other Islamic organizations as “unindicted co-conspirators and/or joint venturers” in a criminal conspiracy to financially support Hamas in United States vs Holy Land Foundation.
  
• FBI severed ties with CAIR in 2009 because of the organization’s links to Hamas.  Fox News reports:  The FBI is severing its once-close ties with the nation's largest Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, amid mounting evidence that it has links to a support network for Hamas.  All local chapters of CAIR have been shunned in the wake of a 15 year FBI investigation that culminated with the conviction in December of Hamas fundraisers at a trial where CAIR itself was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator. 
  
• CAIR chapters demonstrated in the streets across America to show their support for Hamas even declaring that “We are Hamas.” 
• The United Arab Emirates’ ministerial cabinet listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as one of 83 banned terrorist organizations on November 15, 2014.
  
• Omar Ahmad, founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations, told a Muslim crowd "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."   At the Islamic Association of Palestine’s third annual convention in Chicago in November 1999, Omar Ahmad gave a speech at a youth session praising suicide bombers who kill themselves for Islam. "Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam — that is not suicide. They kill themselves for Islam," he said.
• CAIR’s news release webpage has many articles that promote support for Palestinians after its Hamas government brutally and savagely attacked thousands of Israelis on October 7, 2023.
  
• More detailed information regarding CAIR associates convicted and/or deported for supporting terrorism.

Unfortunately, were it NOT for the gruesome, horrendous attack on the Jewish people in Israel on October 7, 2023 the hotel would most likely not have considered the magnitude of hate spewed by organizations like this and would most likely not have cancelled the banquet.  Florida Family Association calls to action have targeted hotels providing convention accommodations to Islamist and anti-Semitic organizations over the past ten years with some success but the Marriott Crystal Gateway continued to host the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraising banquet.  However, the Hamas atrocities inflicted on Israelis on October 7, 2023 is a game changer for many Americans and Corporate America giving future tolerance to Palestinian and Islamist anti-Semitic political agendas.   The horror that Hamas imposed on thousands of unsuspecting Israelis on October 7, 2023 opened the eyes and hearts of many people to see the unacceptable dangers of tolerating anti-Semitism.

There is no doubt that many Pro-Hamas, Pro-Palestinian and hardcore Islamists are complaining to Marriott for cancelling the Council on American Relations banquet.  They will pressure the hotel to commit to allowing it to rent their hotel facilities in the future.

Their complaints and demands must be countered.

IT IS CRUCIAL THAT WE THANK Marriott Crystal Gateway for cancelling this event and URGE IT TO HOLD TO THIS DECISION AND POLICY IN THE FUTURE by not allowing terror-linked groups that have had relations with Hamas to hold events at their facilities in the future.

Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to send to thank the Marriott Crystal Gateway general manager and Marriott for cancelling the Council on American Islamic Relations conference and urge them not to book events in the future for terror-linked groups that have had relations with Hamas.  

To send your email, please click the following link, enter your name and email address then click the "Send Your Message" button. You may also edit the subject or message text if you wish.

Click here to send your email to thank the Marriott Crystal Gateway general manager and Marriott for cancelling the Council on American Islamic Relations conference and urge them not to book events in the future for terror-linked groups that have had relations with Hamas.  

Contact information:

Crystal Gateway Marriott
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, Virginia 22202
Phone (703) 920-3230

Regan Linke
Crystal Gateway Marriott General Manager
regan.linke@marriott.com
 

Marriott International Inc
10400 Fernwood Road
Bethesda, MD 20817
United States
Phone: 1-301-380-3000

Anthony G. Capuano
President and Chief Executive Officer
tony.capuano@marriott.com 

Liam Brown
Group President, USA and Canada
liam.brown@marriott.com

Tricia Primrose
Executive Vice President and Chief Global Communications & Public Affairs Officer
tricia.primrose@marriott.com