The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on President Biden to “salvage what remains of his legacy” by upholding U.S. law, which requires the suspension of weapons transfers to the far-right Israeli government after Benjamin Netanyahu flouted Biden’s 30-day deadline to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, where Palestinians in north Gaza have faced a total siege for weeks.
CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said that deadline is set to expire as a UN panel warned that famine was imminent in northern Gaza. The Famine Review Committee reported that “famine thresholds may have already been crossed or else will be in the near future” and called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “extremely grave and rapidly deteriorating” and worst in the north. They said immediate action must take place “within days not weeks…to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation.”
In October, the Biden administration sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding it allow humanitarian aid into Gaza within 30 days or risk facing legally required limits on U.S. weapons transfers. The letter by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer said Israel’s failure to take concrete measures “may have implications for U.S. policy under NSM-20 and relevant U.S. law.” At that time, CAIR said there is “no need to wait 30 days.”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, “This week we will make our judgments about what kind of progress they have made. And then Secretary Austin, Secretary Blinken, the president will make judgments about what we do in response, and I’m not going to get ahead of that.”
Israel has already killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. Just yesterday, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said that Israel killed 24 members of the family of its researcher in Gaza.
SEE: 36 killed, including 13 children, in Israeli airstrikes on northern Gaza’s Jabalia
SEE ALSO: 20 children killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza and Lebanon, officials say – Washington Post
The far-right Netanyahu government has systematically laid waste to residential areas and the civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Almost all Gaza civilians have been forcibly expelled from their homes and placed under a campaign of forced starvation.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“President Biden should salvage what remains of his legacy by suspending weapons transfers to the Israeli government, which has blatantly flouted his 30-day deadline to end its campaign of starvation and slaughter in northern Gaza.
“Although President Biden should have never given Netanyahu an extra 30 days to continue bombing hospitals, murdering children and killing aid workers, he must now enforce the red line he set by upholding American law and suspending weapons deliveries to Israel.
“Anything less than an embargo on offensive weapons will send a message of impotence, illegality and immorality that will loom over what remains of President Biden’s legacy long after he leaves office.”
Yesterday, CAIR welcomed the reported freeze on the delivery of bulldozers to Israel as an “implicit admission” by the Biden administration that the far-right Netanyahu government is using that equipment in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Washington, D.C., based CAIR has repeatedly called on the Biden administration to stop Israel’s extermination campaign in northern Gaza.
Over the weekend, CAIR supported a call by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) for the far-right Israeli government to stop its “systematic attack on journalists and media infrastructure” designed to “prevent the world from seeing what Israel is doing” in its extermination campaign in northern Gaza.
Last week, CAIR questioned the Biden administration’s inaction after the far-right Israeli government reportedly confirmed its ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.
SEE: CAIR Questions Biden Inaction After Israel Confirms Ethnic Cleansing of Northern Gaza
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.
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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