Change.org is apparently censoring a petition by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.org calling on U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Elan Carr, the U.S. Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism, to investigate the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its connections to Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
The petition is currently not visible to users who search for it on the Change.org site.
“There’s no doubt that Tlaib and Omar have close-knit ties with Hamas affiliated CAIR, and we, as concerned citizens, call on [the] Attorney General and U.S. Special Envoy for Anti-Semitism to investigate these ties,” states the petition, which to date has 33,337 signatures.
Carr’s role, however, is related to fighting anti-Semitism abroad, not domestically. Therefore, the matter would revert to Barr.
Liora Rez, executive director of Stop Antisemitism, said in a statement that the purported move by Change.org is hampering efforts to crackdown on anti-Semitism.
“Faced with a legitimate and a widely supported call to action, Change.org threw Jews and American under the bus by censoring a petition aimed at fighting anti-Semitism and protecting American values,” she said.
The platform censored the petition pending a review of its accuracy, spokesperson David Barre told The Daily Caller.
“A flag on a petition doesn’t automatically lead to action by us. We have to assess each situation individually to determine what response, if any, is appropriate,” he said.
“We actually will conduct moderate research on a flagged petition to see if any of the user claims have any basis in mainstream media,” he added. “Depending on the nature of the flag, we may ask for substantiation from the claimant that would establish their claims, including legal documents or a detailed letter outlining their claims with relevant evidence.”