Is there a manual of subversion that trains activists to build personalities, cultivate media influence, and tilt narratives against Israel? Judging by recent events, one would think so. The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) decision to award Mahmoud Khalil its 2025 “Champion of Justice” honor is not simply a recognition of one man’s activism — it is a calculated move within a decades-long strategy to shift the cultural conversation, one “martyr” at a time.
Khalil’s case is instructive. A Columbia graduate student and former UNRWA officer, Khalil has openly defended Hamas, downplayed the horrors of October 7, and excused antisemitism on college campuses as “manufactured hysteria.” Yet instead of marginalizing such rhetoric, groups like CAIR elevate figures like Khalil, framing them as persecuted truth-tellers. By doing so, they create media darlings who repackage extremist ideologies as mainstream “human rights” advocacy.
The Edward Said Model
This strategy is hardly new. Edward Said’s Orientalism laid the intellectual groundwork for recasting the Middle East conflict as one of “colonizer” versus “colonized.” Said’s success was not only in academia but in shaping a generation of activists and scholars who could reframe the Palestinian cause through the language of victimhood and cultural oppression. The lesson: build an intellectual and media ecosystem that makes anti-Israel hostility appear enlightened, inevitable, even moral.
Today’s activists deploy this same playbook. They know the power of narrative. They know how to turn radicalism into a résumé. They know that Western media, hungry for underdog stories, will amplify voices like Khalil’s while ignoring his refusal to condemn terrorism. What was once Said’s ivory-tower theory has become a practical manual for subversion, one that operates on campuses, in NGOs, and across social media.
Manufactured Martyrs, Real Consequences
CAIR’s championing of Khalil is more than symbolic. It normalizes support for Hamas under the guise of free speech. It fuels antisemitism on campuses already rife with intimidation. And it pressures lawmakers and the public to conflate defending Israel with “oppressing” Palestinians.
Groups like CAIR understand the power of turning legal battles into moral theater. By positioning Khalil as a victim of political persecution rather than a propagandist for a terrorist group, they create a cause célèbre that rallies progressives, silences critics, and erodes bipartisan support for Israel.
The Counter-Narrative
Israel and its allies cannot afford to ignore this reality. Winning the war of ideas is just as critical as winning wars of defense. That means calling out the pattern: how organizations deliberately manufacture martyrs, how they recycle Said’s frameworks, and how they exploit Western media to launder radical ideologies.
Defending Israel’s legitimacy is not just about countering rockets; it is about countering narratives. Every time groups like CAIR elevate Hamas sympathizers as “champions of justice,” they are not just telling a story — they are recruiting the next generation of influencers, academics, and policymakers to carry that story forward.
If there is a subversion manual, this is Chapter One: Build the personality, frame the narrative, and repeat it until the lie sounds like truth. The pro-Israel community must be equally committed to exposing this playbook and reminding the world that no amount of rhetorical rebranding can change the reality of Hamas’s brutality or Israel’s right to exist in peace.