Dupage Policy Journal

Amid calls to resign due to links between the Council On American Islamic Relations and Hamas, it appears Hinsdale 86 Board member Asma Akhras is sticking out her term.

In the wake of DuPage Policy Journal reporting on Akhras’ function as both a D86 board member and a board member for CAIR-Chicago many residents have taken to social media to question the link.

Those questions grew deeper in the after an incident at Hinsdale Central High School involving the use of an anti-Semitic slogan in a poster created for a pro-Palestinian fundraiser at Hinsdale Central High School.

Several speakers attended the Nov. 2 Hinsdale 86 School board meeting to discuss the incident, which many called a “teachable moment.”

It involved a poster hung in social studies teacher Sofia Rahman’s classroom.

Parents said the poster was meant to support a humanitarian relief effort for Palestinian children.

However, a slogan used on the poster "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” commonly used by pro-Palestinian activists, is noted by the American Jewish Committee, as inherently anti-Semitic because it implies the elimination of the State of Israel in favor of a Palestinian state spanning from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Akhras took a seat across from the board where other members of the community were speaking in order to address the issue at hand. She was later joined by School Board President Catherine Grenspon.

Akhras notably did not mention the allegations regarding CAIR at the meeting.  

“It pains me when I see things like this flare up,” Akhras told the board.

“When the article that came out against me in the DuPage Policy Journal the first people who actually reached were neighbors who are not of Muslim background and said, 'We are here for you. Are you okay?’”

Akhras, who did not respond to an inquiry from the DuPage Policy Journal about her work with CAIR-Chicago, said she had decided to stay quiet on the matter publicly until the Nov. 2 board meeting.

“I had opted out to stay quiet and my real close friends know I am not a quiet human being – and I know my board members who have said about me that I am not a quiet human being,” Akhras said.

“But I stayed quiet for the larger, greater good and safety and security for all. And at times I have learned that you stay quiet, not out of injustices, but out of security and safety for all. And I continue to think about those 4,000 students in the community that I am representing, and I want everyone to understand that that rule of holding 4,000 students is a very heavy role that one holds. But I encourage all of you – thank you for coming – encourage you to continue coming, to continue engaging us and continue to build bridges and stand for your principles and justice and rights for everybody in our school district.”

Local resident Michelle Cordova-Ptak urged Akhras to either resign from the CAIR or the school board, noting alleged fundraising links between CAIR and Hamas, following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens.

CAIR has been noted for its ties to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was found to have provided $12 million in funding to Hamas.

In 2008, the founders of that group were convicted of providing the funding.

CAIR was named in that case as an unindicted co-conspirator.

In 2007, CAIR Chicago called on supporters to attend the sentencing of Palestinian and former Howard University professor Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar who was instrumental in the founding of CAIR.

“Through its targeting of Mr. Salah and Dr. Ashqar, the Bush administration has attempted to criminalize charitable aid to Palestinians,” CAIR Chicago wrote of the case.

Ashqar spent 11 years in jail for obstruction of justice and criminal contempt after refusing to testify in front of a grand jury in 2006 regarding Hamas.

In the incident prosecutors believed Ashqar had information about a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Regarding his refusal to testify about knowledge of Hamas activities Ashqar said he would rather go to prison than "become a traitor or collaborator.”

Ashqar, who at the time lived in Springfield, and another man, Muhammad Salah, who was living in Chicago, were later found not guilty of racketeering conspiracy in early 2007.

They were accused of funding Hamas’s terrorism efforts in the Palestinian Authority.

Both Ashqar and Salah denied funding terrorism, but said the money was for Palestinian causes.

The Washington Post noted “prosecutors faced the additional challenge of trying to punish activities that occurred before Hamas was declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in 1995.”

During the trial tape was played of Ashqar discussing violent operations by Hamas, but he was not linked to attacks or accused of recruiting those involved.

“Salah, a U.S. citizen, was accused of helping funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to militant groups in the West Bank and Gaza,” the Washington Post wrote of the incident in 2007. “He was captured by the Israelis with $100,000 in cash in 1993 and allegedly confessed to being a military commander in Hamas. Ashqar was alleged to have helped launder money and facilitate communications for Hamas.”

Salah alleged he was tortured into making false confessions after being arrested while the prosecution denied such mistreatment. He was later found guilty of making false statements during a civil lawsuit.

After being released from prison in 2019, Ashqar was involved in a controversy regarding his deportation when federal authorities stopped him from being deported to Israel and opted to offer to send him to Jordan instead.

Hamas put out a press release criticizing the Trump Administration in the wake of the incident.

"As the US extradites the Palestinian scholar Abdul Halim al-Ashqar to the Israeli occupation, Washington confirms its absolute prejudice in favour of the Israeli occupation," Hamas said. "We call on international and human rights organizations to intervene and demand an immediate release of al-Ashqar."

CAIR was notably silent on the issue at the time.