Arizona State Senator Juan Mendez (D-Tempe) did not respond to a request by The Arizona Sun Times for comment on a photograph showing the legislator attending a meeting of the Arizona branch of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that featured Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), or a second photo depicting Mendez wearing a shawl that seems to feature the modern borders of Israel identified as Palestinian territory. The photos resurfaced on social media following the brutal Hamas attack on Israel that began last week.
The photos were shared by Republican Arizona House candidate Ari Daniel Bradshaw to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. “Arizona can’t tolerate anti-semitic Hamas supporters like [Mendez] any longer,” wrote Bradshaw, who is Jewish. Bradshaw promised to support 2024 Arizona House candidate Caden Darrow, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Mendez’s wife, State Representative Athena Salman (D-Tempe), in 2022.
Bradshaw’s graphic, which contains both images, suggests the shawl worn by Mendez (pictured above) is similar to one worn by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Arizona can't tolerate anti-semitic Hamas supporters like @MendezForAZ any longer.
Mendez must not be re-elected. I am placing my full endorsement and energies in LD8 behind @Darrow4AZ to stop radical Jewish hate in the Arizona Legislature.#DoNotReElect #StopJewishHate pic.twitter.com/hd4sz3KqFM
— Ari Daniel Bradshaw (@AriBradshawAZ) October 9, 2023
CAIR joined the United States Council of Muslim Organizations in a statement last week that reaffirmed their “unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their right to freedom from the Israeli occupation” and condemned Israel’s “unprovoked and continuous attacks” on Palestine. The statement urged Arab and Muslim countries to reconsider normalizing relations with Israel. It urged the United States and “global community to exert maximum pressure on Israel to halt is provocations” and “respect Palestinian rights to their lands.”
On Monday, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCraw told Voice of America “the radical far-right Israeli apartheid government” should be held “accountable” for the events that “led to this violence.” McCraw acknowledged “[t]his violence needs to end,” but when asked to condemn the Hamas attack on Israel, he said “every human life had value” before blaming the international community for failing “to address the core concerns of the people of Gaza for 17 years.”
Mendez did not respond to a comment request from The Sun Times seeking to clarify the image’s authenticity, whether he continues to support CAIR, agrees with the Council of Muslim Organizations’ statement, or with McCraw’s statements to Voice of America, prior to press time. The senator has not published a statement about the conflict in Israel, nor did he tell The Sun Times whether he intends to, though the senator shared at least five posts written about other people to his X account on Monday.
It appears the Mendez’s CAIR-Arizona group photo featuring Omar, who was a Minnesota state legislator at the time, was captured in 2017, when The Arizona Republic reported Omar traveled to Arizona and delivered a speech about being “visibly Muslim,” particularly in the United States while former President Donald Trump was in office. It’s unclear whether the photo of Mendez wearing the pro-Palestine shawl is from the same event.
Though neither Mendez nor wife Salman have issued statements about the Israel conflict, the House and Senate Democrats have issued separate statements condemning the violence. The state’s top elected Democrat, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, also condemned the “horrific terrorist attack,” The Republic reported, while the outlet noted that Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) joined a dozen other state attorneys general in a group condemnation of Hamas’ attacks.
However, Representative Alma Hernandez (D-Tucson), who is Jewish, told The Republic she was “disheartened” by the delayed response from House Democrats. She claimed the condemnation only came after she sent “a not-very-nice email” and told the outlet Salman was invited to review a draft of the statement before its release.
The graphic shared by Bradshaw also highlights a controversial 2021 vote made by Mendez against a bill banning antisemitism in Arizona schools. Specifically, the bill banned teaching materials that suggest Israel does not have a right to exist. Mendez argued the bill would “end up upending the Palestinian narrative,” and prevent “Palestinians from obtaining freedom, justice, and equality.”
– – –
Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Juan Mendez” by Juan Mendez. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Wars. CC BY-SA 3.0.
