Arab-American advocacy group demands Washington schools teach students Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre linked to Gaza ‘genocide’

The dispute began after Bellevue School District Superintendent Kelly Aramaki warned families on Oct. 2 about an outside social-media campaign promoting an Oct. 7 student walkout at Sammamish High School. The campaign included statements declaring “BSD AND ZIONIST MEDIA ARE WORKING TOGETHER AGAINST STUDENTS!” and referring to “scheming Zionist bureaucrats.” Bellevue said it did not believe Sammamish students created the material and characterized the rhetoric as antisemitic.

Aramaki reminded families that Oct. 7 marked the anniversary of the 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and warned that holding a demonstration that day could particularly affect Jewish students and “may be experienced or interpreted as antisemitic or as discriminatory harassment.”

The district said classes would continue normally, and students who missed instructional time to participate in the walkout would receive unexcused absences.

CAIR-Washington and Washington for Peace and Justice responded with a letter challenging Bellevue's message. CAIR claimed its office had been contacted by “over 20 families” concerned about Aramaki's Oct. 2 communication. The groups accused the district of conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionist political speech and demanded Bellevue “publicly correct the record.”

They also demanded that the district change how it discusses Oct. 7.

CAIR-WA and Washington for Peace and Justice asked Bellevue that “in future correspondence, when referencing the significance of October 7, 2023, do not invoke the attacks on Israel without also stating that it was the start of the" alleged "genocide" in Gaza.

The Bellevue letter was part of a broader CAIR-WA campaign directed at Washington school districts ahead of the third anniversary of the Hamas-led massacre. In guidance addressed to “Washington School District Leaders,” CAIR-WA instructed administrators, “Do not conflate hate speech with protected political speech,” arguing that anti-Zionism should be treated as political speech distinct from antisemitism.

The organization also declared, “Do not erase the Palestinian experience,” and claimed, “It is factually incorrect that a protest or advocacy on October 7th is in any way antisemitic.”

CAIR-WA urged administrators not to characterize a protest as unsafe or discriminatory based on the political views expressed and encouraged districts to consult the organization when communicating about Oct. 7. “It is crucial that, if providing messaging to students, school district leaders do so while informed by organizations like CAIR-WA,” the letter stated.

CAIR-WA then told districts unwilling to follow its recommendations: “If your district is unable to follow the above guidelines, we ask that you refrain from sending any correspondence regarding October 7th to your district's families and students.”

The latest effort follows CAIR-WA's previous involvement in Washington education policy. Internal emails showed a Washington Human Rights Commission member turning to CAIR allies while crafting the commission's resolution on antisemitism, which included statements on Islamophobia.

CAIR-WA also pressured Washington's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction over statewide guidance concerning antisemitism, Islamophobia and discriminatory harassment. In 2025, CAIR-WA called on OSPI to withdraw and rewrite the guidance, objecting in part to language explaining that the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” had been used by Hamas and could be perceived as antisemitic. CAIR-WA later said it spent “many, many hours of reading, editing, consulting community members, and sending edits back and forth” with OSPI. The organization celebrated the resulting revisions as an example of “how we achieve structural change.”

CAIR's involvement in shaping public-school messaging comes amid longstanding scrutiny of the national organization's alleged connections to terror.

A Justice Department inspector general report said evidence introduced during the Holy Land Foundation trial “linked CAIR leaders to Hamas.” Federal prosecutors also named CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator and/or joint venturer in the case. The Holy Land Foundation and five of its leaders were convicted in 2008 of providing material support to Hamas, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization. Federal prosecutors said approximately $12.4 million was funneled to Hamas through the foundation. The evidence prompted the FBI in 2008 to adopt a policy “intended to significantly restrict the FBI's non-investigative interactions with CAIR,” according to the Justice Department inspector general.

CAIR national executive director and co-founder Nihad Awad drew renewed controversy following the Oct. 7 massacre when he said at a November 2023 event that he was “happy to see” Palestinians in Gaza “breaking the siege” on Oct. 7. Awad later said his remarks were taken out of context and that he condemned violence against civilians. The Biden White House condemned Awad's remarks, and CAIR was removed from participation in the administration's national strategy to combat antisemitism.

The latest CAIR letters were distributed as anti-Israel activists attempted to organize Oct. 7 student walkouts around Puget Sound, where materials circulated to students glorified the Hamas massacre.

Bellevue and Seattle Public Schools both told students classes would continue and that absences associated with the latest walkouts would be unexcused.