Muslim civil rights group also condemns the demolition of a Gaza university, attacks near a hospital, video of Israeli troops mocking Palestinian suffering, and Israeli actions forcing women to give birth in the streets
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned what it called the latest “Israeli war crimes of the day,” including a new call for ethnic cleansing of Gaza by a top Israeli government official, the demolition of a Gaza university, attacks near a Gaza hospital, video of Israeli troops mocking Palestinian suffering, and Israeli actions forcing women to give birth in the streets.
CAIR called on the Biden administration to condemn these war crimes and to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
- In an interview on Israel’s Channel 13, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: “Gaza must be occupied. Stay inside it and encourage the voluntary migration of its residents. If we win the war, it will be practically accomplished.”
- Israeli soldiers have been posting video themselves mocking Palestinians on social media.
- Israeli forces intentionally destroyed Al-Israa University, which they used as a base of operations. Video shows the complete destruction of the university.
- Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UN Population Fund, told Al Jazeera that women are often giving birth in the streets of Gaza with no proper medical attention.
- According to a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surgeon in Gaza’s Nasser hospital, “Israeli forces heavily bombed the area close to the hospital with no prior evacuation order, causing patients and many of the thousands of displaced civilians, who had sought refuge in Nasser, to flee in a panic.”
Israel has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“The suffering of the Palestinian people targeted by the far-right Israeli government’s campaign of genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced starvation, disease, and deprivation is on an unprecedented scale not seen in recent history. As United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, ‘Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.’
“These ongoing war crimes must be condemned by the Biden administration, which to this point has largely ignored the suffering faced by Palestinian civilians. Israeli war crimes mandate a demand for a permanent ceasefire and a just resolution to the conflict that respects the humanity of the Palestinian people.”
Yesterday, CAIR said the Biden administration is complicit in the growing starvation in Gaza imposed by Israel’s far-right government after UN experts said, “a quarter of the population are starving.”
CAIR recently condemned the murder “in cold blood” of Hala Khreis, a Palestinian grandmother in Gaza reportedly shot by an Israeli sniper while holding the hand of her grandson who was waving a white flag as the family fled on foot along an “evacuation route” that had been declared safe by the Israeli army.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
If you would like to join CAIR’s media list, please sign up here: https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters — For more information, email: info@cair.com, CC ihooper@cair.com
END
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