The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today reiterated its call for the firing of Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire after he accused a US veteran of lying about Israeli forces killing a child in front of him.
In a video, Green Beret veteran Anthony Aguilar recounted how a 5-year-old Palestinian kissed his hands to thank him for the food Aguilar gave him. Seconds later, Aguilar says, Israeli soldiers shot and killed the starving child while firing on the crowd. In response to a tweet with a video of Aguilar discussing what he saw, Shaun Maguire accused Aguilar of lying.
Aguilar’s account is supported by an ever-increasing catalog of Israeli atrocities in Gaza. Those atrocities led both B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) to issue reports detailing the genocidal nature of Israel’s war on Gaza in recent days. This week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) become the first Republican member of congress to label Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.
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Maguire by comparison has used his social media platform to uplift Amy Mek, an anti-Muslim activist who has reportedly praised white supremacist groups and encouraged her readers to follow a Holocaust denier. Maguire has also engaged with the notorious and proud Islamophobic figure Laura Loomer to promote a false Islamophobic narrative. This week after a tragic mass shooting in New York during which a Muslim NYPD officer was killed, Loomer promoted a false anti-Palestinian racist narrative about the shooter.
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As his source to question Aguilar, a former special forces lieutenant colonel, Maguire points to the YouTube account of the scandal-laden Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The Foundation was only recently established. Very quickly, Jake Wood, its first chairman and also a U.S. military veteran, resigned citing concerns over the organization’s independence and impartiality. A GHF consultant, Boston Consultancy Group, also severed ties with the Foundation. According to news reports, “the UN and aid organisations [have warned] that [GHF’s] plans to take over aid distribution in Gaza failed to meet humanitarian principles and would encourage the forced displacement of Palestinians.”
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In a statement, CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor said:
“Mr. Maguire continues his pattern of engaging in hateful rhetoric to defend the Israeli government’s war crimes by uplifting bigots and accusing a Green Beret veteran of lying about something he says he personally witnessed in Gaza. Mr. Maguire’s unhinged, venomous attitude appears to raise zero concerns with his employer, who has taken no visible action to distance itself from Maguire’s bigotry. We urge Sequoia Capital to part ways with him immediately.”
CAIR previously called for the firing of Shaun Maguire over racist, anti-Muslim remarks posted on social media.
SEE: CAIR Calls for Firing of Sequoia Partner Shaun Maguire After Racist, Anti-Muslim Rants
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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