The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed the recognition of the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza by two prominent Israeli human rights organizations.
B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) both issued reports detailing the genocidal nature of Israel’s war on Gaza, which Palestinian human rights groups and other organizations have previously documented.
SEE: Two Israeli rights groups say their country is committing genocide in Gaza – Associated Press
A report by those groups states in part:
“Statements by senior Israeli officials and actions on the ground prove beyond any doubt that, in Israel’s eyes, the entire population of the Gaza Strip is the target. Israel has been leading a systematic policy for almost two years, with clear and visible outcomes: entire cities erased, the healthcare system shattered, educational, religious and cultural institutions destroyed, more than 2 million people forcibly displaced, and masses killed and starved. All this and more, put together, constitutes a coordinated attack on all aspects of Palestinians’ life. It is a clear and explicit attempt to destroy Palestinian society in Gaza and create catastrophic living conditions that prevent the continued existence of this society in Gaza. That is precisely the definition of genocide.”
READ THE REPORT: Our Genocide
PHRI released a legal-medical analysis concluding that Israel’s ongoing military assault in Gaza “meets the criteria for genocide” under the UN Genocide Convention.
In a statement, CAIR said:
“We welcome these detailed reports by B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel recognizing the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Even Israel’s most prominent human rights organizations now acknowledge what Palestinian human rights organizations and other human rights groups have documented for well over a year: the systematic campaign of mass destruction, starvation, ethnic cleaning and indiscriminate bombing perpetrated by Israeli forces under the command of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu constitutes a genocide.
“The findings published by these Israeli human rights groups confirm that the Netanyahu regime’s systematic and deliberate attacks on civilians, destruction of infrastructure, forced displacement, and denial of food, water and medicine are not random acts of war, but components of a deliberate campaign to annihilate Palestinian life in Gaza.
“We urge the Trump administration, members of Congress, and the international community to take immediate action: halt all military aid to the Israeli government, demand a permanent ceasefire deal, recognize Palestinian humanity, and support international accountability measures for those responsible for and complicit with the genocide.
“The lives of millions of Palestinians—and the future of international human rights law—depend on our collective response to this genocide. Silence is complicity.”
Yesterday, CAIR called the Israeli military’s “tactical pauses” in its Gaza genocide as a “farce” that resulted in the slaughter of 53 more Palestinians, as six more Palestinians starved to death in Israel’s campaign of forced starvation.
Washington, D.C., based CAIR also demanded the immediate release of detainees seized by Israel on Gaza-bound aid ship seeking to break the Israeli blockade humanitarian aid entering Gaza. Israeli forces detained more than 20 international activists and journalists and seized all the ship’s cargo, including baby formula, food and medicine.
Also over the weekend, CAIR condemned the Trump administration’s complicity as the Israeli government reportedly starved to death five more people, including two children, and killed at least 42 aid seekers today as part of its campaign of mass destruction, slaughter, forced starvation, and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Last week, CAIR welcomed the French government’s planned recognition of a Palestinian state and urged other nations across the world to take similar action as one way to respond to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
CAIR also says that Israeli soldiers should continue to face arrest when they travel to nation that apply international law to those committing acts of genocide. Most recently, the Brussels-based Hind Rajab foundation called for the arrest of an Israeli soldier on vacation in Cyprus.
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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