Bomb, Death Threats Lead Muslim Group To Cancel Event At VA Hotel

ARLINGTON, VA — An annual banquet planned by a prominent Muslim civil rights organization for Saturday will not be held at an Arlington hotel after the hotel received bomb and death threats.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was scheduled to host its 29th annual banquet at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, where it has held events for more than 10 years.

The threats against the hotel come as debate intensifies in the U.S. over the conflict between Israel and Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip. A week ago, a 6-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a Chicago suburb by a man who police say targeted the child and his mother because they were Palestinian-Americans.

The Marriott hotel told CAIR that it had received anonymous calls from people who are threatening to plant bombs in the hotel’s parking garage, kill specific hotel staff in their homes, and storm the hotel in a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol if CAIR was allowed to hold the event.

On Thursday, leadership of CAIR and Marriott met to discuss the threats and concluded that the specific nature of the threats, combined with the inability to secure additional security from local law enforcement agencies, made it impossible to safely move forward with the events.

The FBI told CAIR that it is investigating the reported threats.

“We strongly condemn the extreme and disgusting threats against our organization, the Marriott hotel and its staff,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad, who is Palestinian-American, said in a statement.

“We will not allow the threats of anti-Palestinian racists and anti-Muslim bigots who seek to dehumanize the Palestinian people and silence American Muslims to stop us from pursuing justice for all,” Awad said.

On Friday, CAIR announced that its 29th annual banquet scheduled for Saturday is set to be held on the same day at a secure location.

Any registered guests who already bought tickets for either the Oct. 21 event in Arlington or a separate Oct. 28 event in Maryland are being automatically placed on the guest list for the new Oct. 21 event. The two events are being merged for security purposes, the organization said.

CAIR said it is not publicly disclosing the location of the new venue for security reasons. Only registered and verified guests can receive the location notification after undergoing a verification process.

All attendees will then undergo a security screening and an ID verification in order to enter the event, according to the group.

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