(10/18/2025) Less than a year ago, Hillary Cassel was a Democrat. Today, she is the face of Florida’s most aggressive legislative campaign targeting the state’s Muslim community — and she has made no effort to separate the two.
Cassel, who represents House District 101 in Broward County, switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in December 2024, after serving just two years as a Democrat in the Florida House. At the time of her switch, she cited the Democratic Party’s insufficient support for Israel.
Within ten months of changing parties, she filed the most explicitly anti-Muslim bill in the Florida Legislature.
House Bill 119, the “No Shari’a Act,” would ban Florida courts and government agencies from basing any ruling on Shari’a law or any foreign legal code. Cassel filed it on October 7, 2025 — the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel — and released a statement that read more like a declaration of allegiance than a legislative announcement.
“As a Jewish woman, I know exactly what’s at stake when hatred and extremism are allowed to creep into our society,” Cassel wrote. “This bill draws a hard, immovable line: Florida’s laws are written by Americans, for Americans — not by foreign ideologues who reject freedom and deny basic human rights.”
She closed the statement: “I stand strong, proud, and unyielding in defense of freedom, in defiance of hate, and in solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people. This is the free state of Florida — and I intend to keep it that way.”
Shari’a — which translates from Arabic as “the path” or “the way” — is a religious and ethical code rooted in the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Much like Halakha in Judaism, Shari’a guides Muslims in everyday life, including matters of prayer, charity, dietary practices, inheritance, and personal conduct. Its interpretations vary widely across cultures and schools of thought. There is no documented case of Shari’a law being applied in any Florida state court.
The throughline is not subtle. Cassel left the Democratic Party because of Israel. She filed anti-Shari’a legislation on the anniversary of October 7 because of Israel. Her own words frame the bill not as a response to any legal problem in Florida but as a political act tied to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The bill’s sole Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Debra Tendrich of Lake Worth, follows the same pattern. Tendrich is Jewish and has been vocal about her support for Israel, telling reporters she has been personally targeted for her Jewish heritage since October 7. Her presence on the bill reinforces what the legislation’s critics have argued from the start: this is not about protecting the Constitution from a foreign legal threat. It is a response to October 7 — directed not at those who carried out the attack, but at Florida’s Muslim community.
That amounts to collective punishment. Florida’s estimated 500,000 Muslim residents had nothing to do with the Hamas attacks. But Cassel’s bill, filed on that anniversary and framed in her own words as an act of solidarity with Israel, treats their faith as the threat that must be legislated against.
Her bill mirrors a federal version filed a month earlier by U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, another Florida Republican and arguably the state’s most aggressive pro-Israel political figure. Fine was known in the Florida Legislature for social media posts urging “Bombs Away” in Gaza.
Cassel is not operating in a vacuum. Her bill is part of a broader pattern in Florida that has intensified since October 7, 2023. Rep. Chase Tramont has filed legislation to ban the term “West Bank” from state documents and require “Judea and Samaria” instead.
When reporters have tried to question Cassel about the bill, she has either refused to comment or walked away. When asked by the Florida Phoenix why she filed the measure, her only response was: “Did you read the bill?”
The bill has five co-sponsors and no Senate companion. Florida’s legislative session begins in January. But the trajectory is already clear: Cassel has positioned herself as the point of the spear in what is shaping up to be a coordinated anti-Muslim legislative effort in the state — and her own words tell you exactly why.
Hillary Cassel Switched Parties Over Israel. Now She’s Leading Florida’s Anti-Muslim Legislative Push
(10/18/2025) Less than a year ago, Hillary Cassel was a Democrat. Today, she is the face of Florida’s most aggressive legislative campaign targeting the state’s Muslim community — and she has made no effort to separate the two.
Cassel, who represents House District 101 in Broward County, switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in December 2024, after serving just two years as a Democrat in the Florida House. At the time of her switch, she cited the Democratic Party’s insufficient support for Israel.
Within ten months of changing parties, she filed the most explicitly anti-Muslim bill in the Florida Legislature.
House Bill 119, the “No Shari’a Act,” would ban Florida courts and government agencies from basing any ruling on Shari’a law or any foreign legal code. Cassel filed it on October 7, 2025 — the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel — and released a statement that read more like a declaration of allegiance than a legislative announcement.
“As a Jewish woman, I know exactly what’s at stake when hatred and extremism are allowed to creep into our society,” Cassel wrote. “This bill draws a hard, immovable line: Florida’s laws are written by Americans, for Americans — not by foreign ideologues who reject freedom and deny basic human rights.”
She closed the statement: “I stand strong, proud, and unyielding in defense of freedom, in defiance of hate, and in solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people. This is the free state of Florida — and I intend to keep it that way.”
Shari’a — which translates from Arabic as “the path” or “the way” — is a religious and ethical code rooted in the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Much like Halakha in Judaism, Shari’a guides Muslims in everyday life, including matters of prayer, charity, dietary practices, inheritance, and personal conduct. Its interpretations vary widely across cultures and schools of thought. There is no documented case of Shari’a law being applied in any Florida state court.
The throughline is not subtle. Cassel left the Democratic Party because of Israel. She filed anti-Shari’a legislation on the anniversary of October 7 because of Israel. Her own words frame the bill not as a response to any legal problem in Florida but as a political act tied to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The bill’s sole Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Debra Tendrich of Lake Worth, follows the same pattern. Tendrich is Jewish and has been vocal about her support for Israel, telling reporters she has been personally targeted for her Jewish heritage since October 7. Her presence on the bill reinforces what the legislation’s critics have argued from the start: this is not about protecting the Constitution from a foreign legal threat. It is a response to October 7 — directed not at those who carried out the attack, but at Florida’s Muslim community.
That amounts to collective punishment. Florida’s estimated 500,000 Muslim residents had nothing to do with the Hamas attacks. But Cassel’s bill, filed on that anniversary and framed in her own words as an act of solidarity with Israel, treats their faith as the threat that must be legislated against.
Her bill mirrors a federal version filed a month earlier by U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, another Florida Republican and arguably the state’s most aggressive pro-Israel political figure. Fine was known in the Florida Legislature for social media posts urging “Bombs Away” in Gaza.
Cassel is not operating in a vacuum. Her bill is part of a broader pattern in Florida that has intensified since October 7, 2023. Rep. Chase Tramont has filed legislation to ban the term “West Bank” from state documents and require “Judea and Samaria” instead.
When reporters have tried to question Cassel about the bill, she has either refused to comment or walked away. When asked by the Florida Phoenix why she filed the measure, her only response was: “Did you read the bill?”
The bill has five co-sponsors and no Senate companion. Florida’s legislative session begins in January. But the trajectory is already clear: Cassel has positioned herself as the point of the spear in what is shaping up to be a coordinated anti-Muslim legislative effort in the state — and her own words tell you exactly why.