(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/27/2023) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Biden Administration to stop dehumanizing Palestinian civilians and justifying their deaths after a National Security Council official seemed to justify the massive civilian death toll in Gaza and cast doubt on the number of Palestinians killed.
Yesterday, reporters asked NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby about President Biden’s decision to cast doubt on the number of Palestinian civilian casualties and declare that innocent Palestinians dying is the price of waging war. Kirby was also asked about CAIR’s call for the president to apologize for those remarks.
Kirby rejected the request and doubled-down on the President’s remarks. Kirby again dismissed the number of Palestinian casualties released by the Gaza Ministry of Health, calling it a front for Hamas. [NOTE: A list of the gender, age and identity card number of the dead has been released. Humanitarian agencies have determined the figures are reliable.]
In a statement, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“We condemn this continuing dehumanization of Palestinian civilians and the justification of their deaths by Biden administration officials. The same John Kirby who nearly broke down in tears in response to Ukrainian civilians dying is now flippantly justifying the killing of Palestinian civilians without batting an eye.
“This morally bankrupt hypocrisy must end. While Mr. Kirby rightly expresses grief at the deaths of Israeli and Ukrainian civilians, that same human empathy is absent when the victims are Palestinian civilians who are being crushed and blown to pieces in the Israeli government’s indiscriminate bombing campaign.”
“Let’s be very clear with Mr. Kirby: the Israeli government isn’t accidentally killing Palestinian civilians while bombing military targets; the Israeli government is deliberately killing Palestinian civilians while bombing civilian targets, including apartment buildings, churches, mosques, ambulances, marketplaces, refugee camps and the Rafah border crossing.
“The Biden Administration’s dismissal of these Palestinian civilian deaths as the price of war is wrong. So is Mr. Kirby’s suggestion that Palestinians leaving Gaza to avoid death at the hands of the Israeli government would somehow be a good thing. It would not. It would be ethnic cleansing.
“There will be no peace or justice in the region until all parties to the conflict – and their international supporters – perceive each other as human beings worthy of a dignified life.”
Earlier this week, CAIR condemned “shocking and dehumanizing” remarks made by President Joe Biden on Palestinian civilian casualties during a press conference and called on the President to both apologize and condemn the Israeli government’s ongoing targeting of civilians.
When asked about CAIR’s statement at a press briefing, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said in part:
“Well, we all know that the Gazan Ministry of Health is just a front for Hamas. It’s a — it’s run by Hamas, a terrorist organization. I’ve said it myself up here: We can’t take anything coming out of Hamas, including the so-called Ministry of Health, at face value.
“And being honest about the fact that there have been civilian casualties and that there likely will be more is being honest, because that’s what war is. It’s brutal. It’s ugly. It’s messy. I’ve said that before. The President also said that yesterday. Doesn’t mean we have to like it, and it doesn’t mean that we’re dismissing any one of those casualties. Each and every one is a tragedy in its own right, and each and every one we should try to prevent.
“And that is why we’re in close contact with our Israeli counterparts to do everything we can to help them minimize the risk to civilians that are in harm’s way. It would be helpful if Hamas would let them leave — leave their homes, leave the — leave areas, not shelter in tunnels underneath their houses and in hospitals. And let them get out — let them get out of Gaza if they want to leave. We know that there are thousands waiting to leave Gaza writ large. And Hamas is preventing them from doing it. That is what is harsh.”
Video: NSC Official John Kirby Says Gaza Civilians Die Because ‘War is ‘Messy’
[NOTE: Participants in a CAIR congressional action alert have collectively sent almost 225,000 messages to Congress, urging support for a ceasefire in response to war crimes, including genocide, in Gaza by Israel.]
He noted that today, CAIR reported that it has received 774 complaints, including reported bias incidents, since the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine on Oct. 7. Washington, D.C., based CAIR says this spike in incidents is driven at least in part by irresponsible rhetoric from government officials.
SEE: CAIR Reports Sharp Increase in Complaints, Reported Bias Incidents Since 10/7
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com