Iran's supreme leader calls for Muslim unity against US and Israel, and other Mideast news

The Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) New Jersey branch released a 2026-2027 "Back to School Resource Guide" aimed at Muslim students. The guide contains sections addressing religious rights, discussing Palestine in the classroom, and a page dedicated to "Muslim Studies: 9/11." This page asserts that 9/11 catapulted America into the Global War on Terror, resulting in an erosion of civil liberties through the Patriot Act.

The 9/11 attacks caused Muslims to be othered in various forms of media, literature, and even the classroom, according to CAIR-NJ and Teaching While Muslim (TWM). The guide includes a link to a 9/11 unit plan, which has since been removed. The now-deleted document provides a detailed account of the 9/11 attacks, stating that al-Qaeda hijacked planes from Afghanistan and crashed them into buildings in the US, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The document claims that al-Qaeda's actions were a response to US support for Israel, America's involvement in the Persian Gulf War, and the large US military presence in the Middle East. However, the CAIR-NJ resource does not explicitly state that 9/11 was an act of terrorism, merely noting that "terrorism is defined differently by different groups of people." The guide also portrays Osama bin Laden as a freedom fighter, citing his support for Afghan rebels against Soviet invasion in the 1980s.