June 1, 2026
The Jewish American Affairs Committee of Indiana (JAACI), the state affiliate of Coalition for Jewish Values, today supported Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith’s concerns about rising hatred in the Islamic world, and rebuked the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) for joining with other Jewish and allied groups to distract attention from growing Islamic hatred and endorsement of violence in Indiana. JAACI averred that no minority faith community, including the Jewish community, should be exempt from justified criticism whenever it, or significant groups among its adherents, endorses bigotry and hate towards others.
Before issuing a kneejerk condemnation of Beckwith’s comments, the JCRC should thus first have addressed their merits. They are considerable.
In the immediate wake of the largest post-Holocaust mass murder of Jews, the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine at Indiana, Purdue, and Butler Universities all held rallies in support of the kidnapping, rapes, and massacres of that day, branding these despicable crimes as “resistance.” Similarly, 57.5% of American Muslims surveyed in the wake of October 7th claimed the Hamas jihadi attack on Jewish civilians was at least somewhat justified.
The Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), billed as “the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in the United States,” said that he was “happy” to see the atrocities of that day, which he called “self-defense.” In a 2024 survey, CAIR found overwhelming Muslim support for the notion that Israel’s efforts to free hostages from rape, starvation, and torture were actually a “genocide.”
Here in Indiana, Shaykh Mongy El-Quesny, Imam of the Northwest Indiana Islamic Center, called for “annihilation” of those who support Israel, while Sheikh Abdullah Alhajj, Imam of the Highland Masjid, denounced those who neutralized Jihadi terrorists as “enemies of Islam.” Masjid Al-Fajr of Indianapolis hosted a discussion claiming an “Islamic war” against “Zionists” and promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. Is the JCRC claiming to know Islamic beliefs better than Indiana’s leading Imams?
While we may not agree with everything Lieutenant Governor Beckwith says or how he says it, JAACI believes that he has every right to call out hatred within the Muslim community, just as he does for any other group or community within Indiana. The JCRC and its allies cannot claim to represent the Jewish community while ignoring the existential threat to Jewish life in Indiana now festering under their noses.
JAACI touts its own strong record of supporting Jewish rights and opposing antisemitic boycotts, and calls upon all people of good will to condemn the threats to Jews and other Americans regardless of ideology, religion or political persuasion.
https://coalitionforjewishvalues.org/2026/06/jaaci-cjv-in-statement-on-lg-beckwith-remarks