The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today questioned the Biden administration’s inaction after the far-right Israeli government reportedly confirmed its ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.
In a media briefing on Tuesday night, Israeli Brigadier General Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes.”
Israel’s plan for northern Gaza, called the Generals’ Plan, is designed to empty the northern Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. The plan itself estimated that about 300,000 people were still living north of the Netzarim Corridor — the Israeli-occupied zone that bisects Gaza — although the UN put the number closer to 400,000.
[NOTE: Israeli officials later tried to walk back the general’s clear statement of an Israeli ethnic cleansing policy.]
In May, referring to a proposed ceasefire, President Biden said: “Palestinians — civilians — would return to their homes and neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, including in the north.”
SEE ALSO: Exterminate, expel, resettle: Israel’s endgame in northern Gaza
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“The Israeli government has stated it clear and unambiguous intent to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza and have repeatedly made good on this intention over the past year of displacement, slaughter, mass destruction and forced starvation. The genocidal Netanyahu government is also openly defying President Biden’s statement that Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes. President Biden should not remain silent in the face of this crime against humanity and must not allow the genocidal Israeli government to defy American policy and carry out further atrocities.”
He noted that CAIR recently said there is “no need to wait 30 days” after the Biden administration sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding it allow humanitarian aid into Gaza within the next 30 days or risk facing legally required limits on U.S. weapons transfers.
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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