The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the Israeli government’s systematic torture of Palestinian children in Gaza documented in a new report from a human rights organization and called on the Biden administration to break its long silence about such war crimes.
Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP) reported that Israeli forces are systematically detaining and torturing Palestinian children in Gaza, including using some as human shields.
DCIP says it has recorded at least 31 cases of Palestinian children being used as human shields by Israeli forces since 2000. Children interviewed by DCIP report being beaten almost to death by Israeli soldiers.
SEE: “They were trying to exterminate us”: Palestinian children in Gaza tortured by Israeli military
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“Even for the far-right, openly racist and genocidal Israeli government, torturing children is an incredible low. The Biden administration must respond to this detailed report from a respected human rights group by breaking its silence and ending its unconditional military support for the genocide in Gaza.
“Torturing children, carpet-bombing civilian areas, gang raping hostages, and starving millions of people – these are all documented war crimes literally caught on camera. If the Biden administration does not speak out against the torture of children, it is difficult to imagine any atrocity the Israeli government could commit that would lead the Biden administration to force Netanyahu to stop this madness.”
He noted that yesterday, CAIR said that the Biden administration’s failure to hold the Israeli government accountable for any of its war crimes is enabling the ongoing surge in ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli government and settlers backed by the military.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@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