Zahra Billoo says Biden’s cancer diagnosis is ‘God’s wrath’ for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war
An official with the anti-Israel Council on American-Islamic Relations who also serves on a California state civil rights board is cheering former president Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis and expressed hope that President Donald Trump’s “time will come too,” citing the presidents’ stances on Israel’s war against Hamas.
Zahra Billoo, the executive director of CAIR’s San Francisco branch, said on social media that Biden’s cancer diagnosis was “God’s wrath” for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Billoo added that she’s praying Biden’s cancer will be “as aggressive” as Israel’s military actions against Hamas.
Her remarks came after Biden announced he was diagnosed last week with a highly aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Other anti-Israel activists cheered the grim prognosis. Former Bernie Sanders surrogate Shaun King called Biden a “genocidal monster,” adding that, “I hope his final days are painful.” Former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz wrote that “Hopefully [Biden] rots in hell and rests in piss.”
Billoo’s remarks could put pressure on Governor Gavin Newsom, whose office appoints members to the California Civil Liberties Program, which provides “insight and expertise in ongoing civil liberties and civil rights issues.” Billoo was appointed to the panel in 2018 by Newsom’s predecessor Jerry Brown. A spokesman for the California Library, which oversees the panel, says it has not met since last year due to lack of funding, but that Billoo still serves on the board.
Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Billoo and CAIR have extensive histories of inflammatory rhetoric and terrorist sympathies. Last year, Billoo mourned the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, saying that “his martyrdom is not in vain.” In December 2023, CAIR director Nihad Awad said he was “happy to see” Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 Israeli civilians were slaughtered.
Despite that rhetoric, Newsom’s office has worked closely with CAIR to combat what the organization claims to be an epidemic of “Islamophobia.” Days after the Hamas attack on Israel, Newsom’s office quoted CAIR official Hussam Ayloush in a press release that announced statewide grants to bolster security at houses of worship. Newsom met with Ayloush and other CAIR leaders in January 2024, weeks before Newsom called for an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza.
Newsom, a 2028 presidential hopeful, has claimed to support Israel in its fight with Hamas. But his administration has awarded millions of dollars in state grants under an antiterrorism program to mosques and Islamic groups that have cheered Hamas and called for the annihilation of Israel.
The administration has given $500,000 in grants to the Islamic Center of San Diego, a mosque linked to two 9/11 hijackers whose imam said the Hamas attack was “justified,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
CAIR’s San Francisco branch didn’t return a request for comment.