ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — For more than 20 years the Council on American-Islamic Relations has held its annual banquet at the Marriott Crystal Gateway hotel in Crystal City, Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital, according to CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad.
Sporadic protests and angry phone calls targeting the Muslim civil rights group were not unusual.
This week, though, as CAIR shifted the focus of its banquet to emphasize support for Palestinians amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the hotel canceled Saturday’s banquet at the last minute. Awad said was due to thousands of calls — some threatening violence — demanding that the hotel withdraw from the event.
The banquet is going forward, Awad said, but at a location that has not been publicly announced.

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