The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called for the application of the Leahy Law on Israel after a report by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General that found “many hundreds” of possible human rights violations by Israeli military units in Gaza.
The report said that it may take the State Department “multiple years” to review all the possible violations. The report’s findings mark the first time a U.S. government report has acknowledged the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza that fall under the purview of Leahy Laws, the landmark legislation that bars U.S. security assistance to foreign military units credibly accused of gross human rights abuses.
The Washington Post reported:
“The findings by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General mark the first time a U.S. government report has acknowledged the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza that fall under the purview of Leahy Laws, the landmark legislation that bars U.S. security assistance to foreign military units credibly accused of gross human rights abuses.
“U.S. officials, who discussed details of the report on the condition of anonymity because the contents were classified, said the watchdog findings raised doubts about the prospects for accountability for Israel’s actions given the large backlog of incidents and the nature of the review process, which is deferential to the Israel Defense Forces.”
SEE: Classified U.S. report finds backlog of hundreds of possible Israeli human rights violations
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“The State Department’s report exposes what is blatantly obvious to the whole world – Israel has committed horrific atrocities and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Our nation has been stained by the support of administrations of both major parties for these atrocities and the fact that many of them were carried out with American weapons. This must end. The Leahy Law must be applied to the genocidal Israeli government. No more American weapons should be used to slaughter innocent men, women and children.”
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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