Civil rights and advocacy group also reiterates its call on administration to secure a ceasefire to save Americans trapped or held captive in Gaza
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the nation, today called the Biden administration to demand the release of two U.S. citizens reportedly kidnapped overnight in Gaza by Israeli forces and to save other Americans trapped or held hostage in Gaza by securing a ceasefire.
Sky News reports that Israeli forces have detained two American brothers – Borak Alagha, 18, and Hashem Alagha, 20, two brothers born in the Chicago area – and their Canadian father in an overnight raid on their home in Gaza.
According to Sky News and Associated Press:
“Cousin Yasmeen Elagha, a law student at Northwestern University, said Israeli forces entered the family home in the town of al-Masawi, near Khan Younis, around 5am Gaza time today.
“The soldiers tied up and blindfolded the women and children in the family, and placed them outside the home, the cousin said.
The two American brothers, their Canadian citizen father, a mentally disabled uncle and two other adult male relatives were taken away by the Israelis, and remain missing, Ms Elagha said.”
In a statement, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said:
“We are seeing war crimes play out in every shocking granularity, carpet bombing and mass massacres; civilians being terrorized by soldiers, women and children being blindfolded, the men taken and still missing. And then there is the added irony of Israel taking American citizens hostage and the double standard in terms of a lack of outrage from our government, elected officials and media. Will our officials stand up for our citizens or continue to fund and defend their kidnappers?”
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“When the Biden administration provides political and material support for the far-right Israeli government’s indiscriminate campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing, it is endangering the Americans who are trapped or held captive in Gaza, as well as the two U.S. citizens who were just kidnapped by Israeli forces. We call on our government to protect all endangered American citizens in Gaza by demanding and securing an immediate ceasefire.”
He noted that yesterday, CAIR it sent a letter to the State Department and the American embassy in Jerusalem requesting that they demand the immediate release of American citizen and New Orleans grandmother Samaher Esmail, who was kidnapped by Israeli forces on Monday.
SEE: IDF arrests US citizen in West Bank for ‘incitement on social media’
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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