The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations—the largest organization dedicated to Muslim civil rights in the country—is voicing support for Newton’s Muslim community as well as the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland, after a group of people sent an angry letter to Mayor Marc Laredo’s office in response to an Eid celebration being held at the City Hall War Memorial Auditorium.

“We refuse to accept the premise that Muslims must continually prove their innocence and worthiness to celebrate and gather, in ways never demanded of other faith communities,” Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, executive director of CAIR-MA, said. “We call on elected officials, neighbors and interfaith partners: join us in rejecting anti-Muslim bigotry in all its forms.”

The city did not organize the event. A private organization did. And the auditorium has been used by various organizations—religious and secular—for celebrations of all kinds.

Eid al-Adha is a multi-day festival celebrating the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. It’s a time when Muslim families gather and pray.

Around 300 people, including local officials, attended the Eid festival in Newton. They sang, danced and enjoyed time with family and friends.

But in the days leading up to the celebration, a group of people from Newton and nearby communities in a private social media group began circulating a letter to be sent to the mayor expressing outrage that the Eid celebrations was able to take place at all.

The letter contains a lot of unfounded accusations against various Muslim organizations, including claims from more than 25 years ago, and—using a very loose guilt-by-association tactic—attempts to tie them to Newton’s 2026 Eid celebration.

For CAIR and Muslims across the country, the letter shows the extent that Islamophobia is allowed to grow.

“Dehumanizing rhetoric directed at an entire religious community is unconscionable. CAIR-MA remains committed to working with those who seek to build communities rooted in justice and shared humanity,” Amatul-Wadud continued.

The Newton letter, she explained, comes during a rise in anti-Muslim hate crime and propaganda, especially in the three years since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel.

Hate speech and violence against Jewish people in the region have increased since the Israeli military operations in Gaza started immediately after that attack. Reports from the Newton Public Schools DEI Department have shown an uptick in both antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate speech and bullying in Newton’s schools.

And legislation has been proposed, both in state and federal law, addressing antisemitism. The same is not true for anti-Muslim crime and hate speech, which has gotten less attention but is still a problem.