The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a decision by the Biden administration to violate U.S. law by continuing to fund units of the Israeli that have been determined to have committed “gross violation of human rights.”
U.S. officials have determined that five units of Israel’s security forces are responsible for the human rights abuses, but despite American law, the units will continue to receive taxpayer funds.
SEE: U.S. says five Israeli military units committed human rights abuses before war – UPI
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel faced repeated questions from journalists about the department’s own report that concluded five Israeli army units had committed gross human rights violations against Palestinians but will nevertheless retain U.S. military assistance.
Last week, CAIR condemned Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s backtracking on sanctioning the units.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“This decision to ignore our nation’s laws and to continue sending arms to a military that even Biden administration officials say is violating the human rights of the Palestinian people once again shows that there is a clear double standard when it comes to holding the far-right Israeli government accountable for its ongoing genocide. This double standard shows that our nation’s repeated claim that it supports international law and human rights is a cruel illusion.”
Earlier today, CAIR called on members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reject “one-sided, and dishonest” proposals about campus antisemitism that ignore anti-Palestinian racism and conflate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.
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